Where is andy roddick originally from

But alas, Federer would win six straight points to level the match. Both players fought on magnificently, into a fifth. Roddick served from behind, ten times holding when a game from losing. But on the eleventh, at , after more than four hours, Federer at last broke Roddick. Though naturally despondent, Roddick would rapidly grasp the magnitude of his magnificent effort.

After that, though, I felt that at least there was a bit of general respect. You would never have thought that an obnoxious, opinionated American and Wimbledon would get along so well.

Yet if even in defeat, Roddick had left his mark on Wimbledon, it only made sense that he would conclude his career on native grounds. On August 30, , the day he turned 30, Roddick announced that he would retire at the conclusion of his homeland Slam. And it had been a long road, longer than most even knew. The world knew that Roddick had won the US Open in But go even further back. With a hint of gutsiness and mischief, that little boy had stepped into forbidden territory, pondered his future — and eventually turned his dream into a reality.

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Historic Grounds. Tennis in Newport. The Casino Theatre. In , Reebok signed Andy to play in its junior program and he won six world singles and seven doubles titles but he soon started to lose matches due to physiological changes and he thought of quitting tennis. In , with encouragement from his coach Tarik Benhabiles, Roddick concentrated on tennis and became the No. In , he was named the top-ranked junior player in the United States and the world, and turned pro that same year.

Roddick had a successful early professional career, winning three tournaments, including the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington, D. That same year, he made his first appearance as a member of the Davis Cup team. Later that year, he took over the No. Davis Cup; the team lost to Spain in the finals in Seville. In , he suffered foot injury and lost to Andy Murray in Wimbledon, which led him to drop out of the Top 10 for the first time in years.

That same year, he established a record by claiming his 18th consecutive tiebreak victory. He made it to the final at Wimbledon in , his fourth Grand Slam final since the U.

Open, but lost to rival Roger Federer. He would lose to Federer at Wimbledon again in Roddick had suffered a knee injury in , which set him back in training, and endured a serious shoulder surgery following his Wimbledon loss in Later that year, he announced that he had mononucleosis, a viral infection that includes symptoms similar to that of the flu.

Around the same time, he experienced a groin and separate shoulder injury. In August , the year-old announced plans to retire from tennis. Just days after the announcement, he played in his last tournament, the U. He was regarded as one of the best young players in the world. At one point, Roddick was ranked number one among junior players in the world in This success left Roddick with two choices: He could attend college as his brother, John, had and play college tennis, or turn professional.

Roddick did not even consider going to college—he turned professional even before he completed high school in , but only when his coach believed he was ready. One of his first tournaments he competed in as a professional was the U. Open, where he lost in the first round. In , Roddick began to live up to his reputation as a great young American tennis player. He beat one of the best players in the world, Pete Sampras, at a match in March of At that spring's French Open, Roddick played well.

One match, against Michael Chang, gave the world a glimpse of how tough he could be. Despite suffering from debilitating cramps in the fifth set, he beat Chang. Roddick was later eliminated from the tournament. Roddick won his first professional men's singles title in , the Verizon Tennis Challenge. His victory marked the first time an American teenage player won an ATP tournament since He also won the U. By June of , Roddick was ranked number 21 in the world, and was in the top 20 by the time of the U.

At the U. Open, Roddick reached the quarterfinals before losing, but was seen as a brat after yelling at the umpire and arguing a bad line call.

By the time Roddick was succeeding as a tennis player, he stood 6'2" and weighed about lbs. His serve was up to m. While he was no longer a small boy on the court, he also had adult concerns that reflected his outgoing personality and generous nature. In , he started the Andy Roddick Foundation to help children in their educational and economic lives.

Roddick played tennis with passion and great ability to focus. A number of commentators noted how different he really was. He gets excited, he gets into it, he gets ticked off.

People want to see the kind of passion he brings to the game. He makes no attempt to fit into a tennis—player mold. Roddick's success and media attention hurt his game in He struggled more that year, and was unable to live up to the hype of being "the next great thing" in tennis. While he still won at least two singles titles in ATP tournaments, he was unable to break though at Grand Slam tournaments. Roddick was still able to finish in the top ten rankings for the year.

The beginning of was also rough. While Roddick was able to make the semi—finals at the Australian Open, he lost in the first round of the French Open.

This compelled Roddick to make a coaching change. In June of , shortly before the beginning of the Wimbledon tournament, Roddick fired Benhabiles and hired Brad Gilbert. One of the first changes that Gilbert made was adding more self—confidence to the already—competitive, speedy Roddick. Gilbert told Roddick that he had to believe he could win; he also helped Roddick work on his backhand and his play at the net, the weakest parts of his game.

The short—term results were impressive. Roddick went on to win four events in the summer of As time went on, Gilbert worked on other aspects of Roddick's game. He helped Roddick learn to adjust his game in matches and not just rely on his power to win.

He also believed Roddick could improve in all areas of his game, especially his serve return and making his hard serve even harder.