12/27/2023 0 Comments Jerry roddickThis was the same time Andy started working full-time with Frenchman Tarik Benhabiles, a former Top-25 player who had made a name for himself molding the games of countrymen Cedric Pioline and Thierry Champion.Īndy tinkered with his ground strokes and serve during the 1999 season. His strong wrists boosted his serving speed further and added pace to his booming forehand. His shoulders broadened, enabling him to pack on muscle in all the right places, and his timing came together. He had grown some nine inches since his 15th birthday. His old first serve, meanwhile, became his second serve (and would one day be a lethal weapon, too).Īndy attained his full height of 6'2" the summer he turned 17. He increased his speed up to 100 mph, then 110 mph and eventually 120 mph. He reproduced this serve several more times and, certain he had stumbled upon something, began to build on the basic mechanics. That happened during a practice one day, when Andy walked to the baseline and, out of frustration, threw the ball up and swung as hard as he could. Used to firing spin serves as an undersized “tween,” he was now tall enough to cream the ball, but couldn’t find his groove. Much of what Andy mastered at 15 he had to relearn at 16. ![]() When he sprouted another foot over the next few years, the resulting changes in his body played havoc with his game. The relationship worked out nicely for both parties, as Andy moved through the juniors at steady pace.īy 1996, Andy finally began to grow, inching over five feet by December. Reebok inked Andy to play in its junior program. ![]() Incredibly, that is exactly what happened. Andy’s brashness was in full flower by the age of 10, when, during a tournament in which John was competing, he spotted a Reebok exec and offered him the deal of a lifetime to sign a “great tennis player.” But older brother John was tall and talented, which gave him confidence that he would achieve the same stature sooner or later. Also, like his new hero, Andy was not a big kid. Agassi too had the fire in his belly that Andy so admired. That was the same kind of passion the youngster felt for the game.Īfter Connors retired, Andy latched on to Andre Agassi as his favorite player. He marveled at the veteran’s ability to stir up the crowd and then feed off its energy. That was the tournament that featured 39-year-old Jimmy Connors’s incredible run to the semifinals. In 1991, Andy’s parents gave him a fantastic birthday present: a trip to the U.S. That left an opening on the other side of the net for Andy, who by the age of eight could hold his own against his brother and other kids much older. John stuck with the sport after the move (though he eventually was forced to quit because of a back injury), while Lawrence became more interested in competitive diving. There, John and Lawrence were able to hone their tennis skills year-round on a backyard court. That was the same year the Roddicks left Omaha for Boca Raton, Florida. After he turned five, his mother found a legal pad with the words, “I can run faster, I can hit a ball far, I can catch every ball.” ![]() Andy had the skills and the bravado to back up just about any career aspiration. His brothers were convinced their hammy younger sibling would become an actor. No one gave Andy much thought as a potential tennis star. By his fourth birthday, he was banging the ball against the garage door, playing imaginary matches against Ivan Lendl and Boris Becker. Naturally, Andy wanted to do whatever his siblings were doing, and mimicked their strokes whenever he found an extra racket lying around. ![]() Older brothers Lawrence and John showed early promise in tennis, and their parents did what they could to foster their ambitions. To his mother’s amazement, Andy was lifting his head after just two hours. Rambunctious even as a newborn, Andy earned the nickname “Tiger” from the nurse who helped deliver him. Blanche was a schoolteacher and Jerry was a businessman who struck it rich accumulating Jiffy Lube franchises. Andrew Stephen "Andy" Roddick was born on August 30, 1982, in Omaha, Nebraska to Blanche and Jerry Roddick.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |