Andy Roddick has been reviewing the inaugural Netflix Slam on his podcast, just days after he was a pundit at the event.
The former world number one sat beside Andre Agassi as they spoke about the clash of two tennis titans, past, present and future: Carlos Alcaraz against Rafael Nadal.
As an all-Spanish clash in Las Vegas, the match did not disappoint, with a final-set tiebreaker the only thing separating them.
Roddick has now been offering his thoughts on the groundbreaking event.
Andy Roddick on the Netflix Slam
Speaking on his Served with Andy Roddick podcast, the former tennis star was surprisingly cutthroat in his analysis of the first-ever Netflix Slam, postponed from last year due to Nadal’s injury woes.
Well, this delay only added to the anticipation, and culminated in a pulsating affair between two of the sport’s greatest players right now.
Roddick would note that, whilst the quality waned at times, the drama ensured that no viewer went disappointed.
He claimed: ‘I don’t think it was a great match from the balls and strikes of it, but the drama was high, Rafa saves five match points, it was a great event considering they’d never done it before.
‘At least in the arena, I can’t watch because I’m doing the television, but in the arena I thought it went off 10/10 high drama, went to the tiebreaker, they both seemed happy and into it, and they came out and were actually playing from the word go.’
Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz put on a show
As an exhibition clash, there was every chance that this could have devolved into something of a joke match, especially given the astronomical sums on offer for the participants.
However, it was anything but, and as Roddick notes the two pulled no punches from the off.
Whilst there were some lapses in concentration, resulting in some spectacular mishits and awful serves, it was ultimately a successful venture.
The match was seen by millions and has likely opened up a huge new group of viewers to the sport. After all, with the success of Formula 1’s Drive to Survive series on the same platform, it was worth a try.
The likelihood is that this will continue to be a yearly event, as the announcer stated just after the match.
And with Nadal and Alcaraz setting a fine precedent, hopefully the event can go from strength to strength.
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