Roger Federer is one of the most talented and recognisable sportsmen in history, revered by all.
However, during his playing days, there was one man who might not have shared that same worldwide love for the Swiss superstar, given all he took from him.
Were it not for Roger Federer, Andy Roddick would certainly have been a multiple-time Grand Slam champion.
Alas, in his retirement, there seems to be no bitterness from the affable American, who has transitioned into punditry with remarkable ease.
He is now one of tennis’ foremost figures and has recently been discussing Federer’s career and what is actually overlooked by many fans about it.
Andy Roddick discusses Roger Federer’s career
Speaking on the latest episode of his Served with Andy Roddick podcast, answering questions about the Big Three, Roddick was asked what facets of Federer’s game are perhaps underappreciated by everyday onlookers.
He made the key distinction between what it was like to watch him, as opposed to actually competing against him.
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Roddick claimed: “Not a lot gets overlooked.
“I mean, the one thing that I think people always talk about… players always mention how good of a server he is. Fans always mention all the other stuff.
“Like when you’re like, ‘What does Fed do well?’ It’s like the slice and the poetry, and everyone knows the forehand, and it flows.”
But, he insisted that there’s more to it, adding: “Two things. One, he was maybe the first person in history to be simultaneously the best offensive and defensive player at the same time, right, during his prime, and now we’ve seen that with, you know, a bunch of players since, but I think that first time, because, like, you think about before.
“It’s like Leyton Hewitt was number one. I was number one. I certainly wasn’t the best defensive player of all time, or anything of all time. Hewitt, you look at Pete [Sampras], Pete’s one of the greatest. And there was no defence. Only if he absolutely had to was he gonna ever play defence, right? Andre [Agassi], you know, was good defensively, but he wanted to be on that front foot. [Bjorn] Borg wasn’t gonna, you know, [John] McEnroe…
“So it was always you excelled at one of the skills, and I think he was maybe one of the first that melted those two together, where it’s like, can’t go through me, can’t go around me. What are we doing here?
“And then, obviously Novak and Rafa, and they all kind of have developed that gear, and Carlos and Sinner now, at least on the men’s side.”
This comes days after Roddick claimed Jannik Sinner is doing something absurd in tennis right now.
Andy Roddick explains what his tactics were against Roger Federer
Later on in that same episode, Roddick was asked what his tactics were against Federer.
There was a pause when the question was posed to him, before both he and his co-host laughed. Of the 24 matches he played against the 20-time Grand Slam champion, Roddick won just three, losing the other 21, seven of which came in major semi-finals or finals.
| Year | Event | Winner |
| 2009 | Wimbledon | Roger Federer |
| 2006 | US Open | Roger Federer |
| 2005 | Wimbledon | Roger Federer |
| 2004 | Wimbledon | Roger Federer |
Even he would admit he is far from an expert on this topic, despite enjoying a hugely successful career, and Roddick swiftly explained why he struggled so much against him and the other elite players breaking through at the same time.
The 43-year-old claimed: “So the thing where I would get exposed against the greatest players is that once we were neutral, when I was neutral against most players, I felt kind of comfortable. I could play a cat and mouse, I could hit a chip. I basically could get the ball out of their hot spots, right? I could chip line where I knew if I could get them this way, that they weren’t coming in, right? There were certain ways to kind of solve the riddle.
“When I got to neutral against Fed, Rafa, Novak, Murray, I was actually behind.
“So you’re trying to play from a place where you’re not totally neutral all the time.
“I tried coming in a ton, against him, I tried staying back a bunch. Actually, the last Wimbledon final I lost, I actually stayed back, and that was maybe the only match that we ever played where I felt comfortable in backhand rallies.
What would have happened if Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner played at the same time as Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal?
“And for whatever day, that on that day, the court was playing hot, I was able to kind of keep space between us. And it was like a weird feeling for me. Yeah, so everything.
“I try to keep the ball down, try to get it up, serve massive on second serves. I basically had to take shots at certain points and risk at certain points, because if we were neutral, then I was actually behind.”
