Brooklyn Decker Began To Fall For Andy Roddick After Watching His Sarcastic Press Conference Following a Thrashing From Roger Federer At The '07 Aussie Open
Every time the US Open rolls around Andy Roddick's name resurfaces. Still to this day he's the last American man to win the tournament, dating back to 2003 when he took down Juan Carlos Ferrero (Carlos Alcaraz's current coach). It was at that point he became a household name and was dubbed the successor to Pete Sampras for American men's tennis. He was the guy and his personality/playing style was easy for fans to embrace. Unfortunately Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic came along to squash those dreams. He'd remain stuck at one slam title for his entire career, despite three runner-ups at Wimbledon and an additional one at the US Open.
Roddick really was a gem of a professional athlete and his interview with GQ that came out the other day really shows it. There are three things that stood out to me in this article. 1) him throwing out most of his trophies 2) Roddick's friendship with a 60 year old London cab driver 3) the hand Federer had in bringing Brooklyn Decker into his life
We'll begin with the trophies. Besides his 2003 US Open title trophy and his 2006 US Open runner up plate, he threw them all out. He uses his '06 trophy as an actual plate where he sets drinks on.
The title trophy, the piece of metal that seemingly defines his entire career, lies away in his home office.
A few years ago, Andy Roddick threw away nearly all of his trophies. “I thought, I don’t really need these,” he tells me. “Anyone who’s in our house kind of knows what I did.” We’re sitting on the screened-in porch of his lodge-like getaway in Cashiers, North Carolina, a remote village in the Blue Ridge Mountains. It’s a house that feels lived-in. Shoes can stay on. Coasters are never mentioned. One of the few prizes he’s kept, his runner-up platter from the 2006 US Open, lies on the living room coffee table, repurposed as a drink caddy, its surface stained with cocktail glass rings.
The trophy he won at the 2003 US Open is displayed even more inconspicuously than his runner-up platter: tucked into a corner of his Charlotte home office. As if to say, “That was just one phase of my life, and that phase is over.” And, yes, since 2012, when he abruptly announced his retirement on his 30th birthday, there have been other phases, other passions and pursuits. Fatherhood being the most obvious and important. His business ventures and philanthropy. His foray into TV commentating, at Fox Sports for a time and currently with the Tennis Channel. But that first phase can never truly end until another American man wins the US Open—or any other major. Until then, he exists to most people as “Andy Roddick: The Last to Do It.”
The moment I read that I thought of Kirk Cousins' secret football room in his house where he keeps every jersey, helmet, football, you name it from his career.
There's nothing wrong with that necessarily. Some athletes just want to hang onto the memories of what got them to this point. Others keep this kind of stuff to boost their ego and brag to anyone who visits the house. Then there's Andy Roddick, who uses the US Open runner up trophy as a food/drinking plate. To be fair, it does look like a serving plate.
Roddick has left his playing days long in the past and doesn't feel the need to hold onto anything.
There's a section in the article about a London cab driver named Stephen Little that put a smile on my face. Now what on Earth would a random cabbie have to do with Andy Roddick's tennis career? Well early on in his playing days Andy and his coach at the time, Brad Gilbert, hopped in Little's cab in London. After Gilbert explained how good Roddick was going to be, Little gave him his number in case he ever needed a lift.
Well just as the grass court season was ending in 2003 and the time to return home to the United States had arrived, Roddick realized he lost his passport. He was stuck in London for the weekend as it was the 4th of July and the U.S. embassy was closed. He called up Little and ended up staying with the cabbie for a few days.
It was the weekend of July 4th, and the embassy wouldn’t be open until Monday. Worried about Roddick spending a few days alone in London, Gilbert asked Little to look after him. And so the 20-year-old American and the 60-something Londoner ate meals together, went to museums, listened to music. “We made quite an odd couple walking around the streets,” Little recalls. At the airport, new passport secured, Roddick suggested the possibility of hiring him again next year.
Roddick returned to the U.S. and won his first grand slam title. Little thought that'd be the last he'd ever hear of him as he had reached the big time. Turns out when Andy returned to London the following year he not only continued to hire Little as his driver, but got him his own bedroom in the Wimbledon house he rented. He also hired Little's son to work for him and Brooklyn Decker in America. All of that is so fucking awesome to me. Despite all the celebrity and fame the man never let it go to his head.
Another interesting part of the article centered around how Brooklyn Decker came into his life. After shooting his shot months prior via his agent and having that fall on deaf ears, Decker gave him a chance after watching his post-match presser following Andy's defeat to Federer in the semis of the '07 Aussie.
Several months passed. Decker’s modeling career was taking off, but she was lonely living in New York with few friends. She Googled Roddick and watched his acerbic press conference from the recent 2007 Australian Open. She liked his humor. They talked on the phone for weeks before he came to New York for their first date.
Here's the interview that charmed her, it's pretty great.
So Roger Federer's tennis greatness that caused Roddick to answer these questions in such a dry, sarcastic manner led Brooklyn Decker to Andy Roddick. Life works in mysterious ways.
Federer denied Roddick that elusive Wimbledon title three separate times, but hey he did open the door for Brooklyn Decker to enter his life. Not the worst consolation prize. Certainly better than the runner up plate most tournaments give out for second place.