Former World No. 1, and one of America’s more popular Tennis players, Andy Roddick has been elected to receive an honourable spot in the tennis world – an induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
Speaking at a press conference in Melbourne during the Australian Open, Roddick humbly admitted, “It’s really, really hard for me to look at myself in the context of the people that are in the Hall of Fame; I feel like they are Michael and I’m Tito,” Roddick said, referring to late singer Michael Jackson and one of his older brothers. “Tito got to play some pretty cool venues, too, but it’s weird for me.”
“I honestly didn’t know,” he said. “I’m not Serena. I’m not Roger. I’m not one of those people where it’s almost a formality. I didn’t think it was a foregone conclusion.” he explained of receiving the surprising honour.
Roddick won his first grand slam, The US Open in 2003, and went on to reach four other Grand Slam finals (Wimbledon in 2004, 2005, and 2009, and the US Open in 2006).
Despite his success in the past, Roddick said he is genuinely proud that he will be joining the leading members of the great American generation that preceded him, including Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Jim Courier and Michael Chang.
“I was never, ever, going to replace that generation,” Roddick admitted. “I would have had a hard time replacing any one of those guys. But they spoiled me when I was a kid. I got to watch them all the time, and you always had someone to be inspired by. And to kind of play that forward and to know them all has been amazing. I don’t know that a lot of people get to meet their heroes, much less spend time with them and get to actually have real conversations with them.”
See the rest of the interview below.
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