At the ripe old age of 30 (barely), American tennis player Andy Roddick announced he will retire from the sport after this year's U.S. Open, the Grand Slam going on now in Flushing Meadows.
The announcement surprised me Thursday, and I'm guessing I wasn't alone. Roddick made the move on his 30th birthday, which I thought was a nice touch. If your birthday falls during your home country's grand slam tennis tournament, you might as well leave your mark to make it memorable somehow.
From what I gathered, it sounded like it was just the right time for Roddick to retire. He said he can't put everything into it like he has before, both physically and emotionally. Some athletes retire and then come back to the sport because they can't stay away or want to give it one more shot. I don't know if I see that happening with Roddick.
Success that didn't happen
Roddick won his only Slam in 2003 at the U.S. Open. His career appeared to be on the upswing with lots of wins and other Slam titles to follow. Unfortunately, no such luck.
Like many other elite men's tennis players, Roddick had the unfortunate reality of playing in the same era as the greatest tennis player ever: Roger Federer. This was all too clear in the 2009 Wimbledon final when the two played an amazing match as Federer won his record-setting 15th Grand Slam. It was a heartbreaker for Roddick.
There's also been the Federer, Rafa Nadal rivalry, plus the rise of Novak Djokovic. I'm certainly not saying these are entirely the reasons why Roddick didn't have more success. He had his own problems, too. Plenty of times he would have early exits and get upset by opponents. He would choke, essentially.
Tough times for American tennis
Coming on the heels of American tennis greats like Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi, it's really too bad that Roddick couldn't continue that trend for men's tennis. The U.S. men's tennis drought, as some have called it, has been well documented. It's something worth nothing, but I'm not all about the country. I want to watch good tennis players, and they come from all over the world. Good enough.
Roddick is a fine player, and no one knows better when it's time to set the racquet down for retirement than the player himself. If Roddick feels this is his time, I'm fine with that. I'd much rather see players stop before they reach that point where it's obvious they need to stop and often don't know when to hang it up.
Happy birthday, Andy. Here's to a memorable final U.S. Open before a happy retirement.
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