Andy Roddick enjoyed a stellar career in tennis that saw him reach world number one and win a Grand Slam title.
There are few names in American tennis bigger than Andy Roddick’s as he remains the country’s most recent men’s Grand Slam champion.
Roddick won the US Open in 2003, taking down Spain’s Juan Carlos Ferrero in the final, 6-3, 7-6, 6-3.
Having done so he reached world number one for the first time, a ranking he held for 13 weeks, before handing it over to Switzerland’s Roger Federer.
The now 42-year-old won 612 matches on the ATP Tour before retiring from the sport upon the conclusion of the 2012 US Open.
Roddick gained notoriety for his powerful serve throughout his career, although it has now been revealed that one tennis legend had his doubts during the American’s younger years.
John McEnroe said Andy Roddick’s serve wouldn’t last long and that he would get injured back in 2001
Speaking on Coach Life, Roddick’s junior coach Stanford Boster recalled what seven-time Major champion John McEnroe said about his serve back in 2001.
“When Andy [Roddick] first came on tour, John McEnroe actually made a comment, ‘that serves not going to last long’,” he said.
“He’s going to get injured.
“That would be a completely normal observation, it’s not like John was being ignorant, [but] there’s actually very little muscle involved in the serve.”
Boster went on to explain how he helped Roddick develop his serve earlier in his career.
“When Andy was young, he was going through a full motion, he had a hard time knowing where the racket was,” he said.
“I would tell him to stop, and I would say where’s your racket pointing, and he would generally have it a little bit wrong.
“He had a hard time knowing, sometimes he’d think the racket was up and it would be down, sometimes he would say it was down and it’d be up, so he had a hard time with this.
“We served half motion every single day.”
Roddick’s serve eventually became one of the best in the sport, leading him to name his podcast, Served with Andy Roddick, after the shot.
Was Andy Roddick the greatest server of all time?
Boster certainly helped Roddick improve his serve, but how does it stack up against the very best in the history of the sport?
Many different calculations have been used over the years to decide who has the best serve on the ATP Tour, but Serve Rating is perhaps the most accurate, combining several different metrics.
- % First serve
- % First serve points won
- % Second serve points won
- % Service games won
- Average aces per match
- Average double faults per match
When looking at the Serve Rating of every player in ATP Tour history, Roddick competes among the very best.
| Rank | Name | Serve Rating | % First serve | % First serve points won | % Second serve points won | % Service games won | Average aces/match | Average double faults /match |
| 1 | John Isner | 312.0 | 69.0 | 78.8 | 56.0 | 91.8 | 18.7 | 2.3 |
| 2 | Ivo Karlovic | 309.8 | 65.5 | 82.7 | 53.3 | 92.0 | 19.8 | 3.5 |
| 3 | Reilly Opelka | 302.8 | 64.0 | 79.2 | 54.7 | 89.8 | 18.1 | 3.0 |
| 4 | Milos Raonic | 302.6 | 62.8 | 81.5 | 55.0 | 91.1 | 15.5 | 3.3 |
| 5 | Andy Roddick | 299.9 | 64.8 | 79.3 | 56.0 | 90.1 | 11.7 | 2.0 |
| 6 | Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard | 299.5 | 64.6 | 79.3 | 53.3 | 89.2 | 18.5 | 5.4 |
| 7 | Nick Kyrgios | 297.0 | 65.9 | 77.4 | 53.4 | 88.7 | 15.1 | 3.5 |
| 8 | Joachim Johansson | 293.4 | 62.1 | 79.2 | 52.8 | 89.3 | 14.3 | 4.3 |
| 9 | Roger Federer | 290.9 | 62.1 | 77.3 | 56.8 | 88.8 | 7.8 | 1.9 |
| 10 | Kevin Anderson | 290.8 | 64.5 | 77.0 | 52.8 | 86.6 | 12.9 | 3.0 |
The 42-year-old is ranked fifth all-time for Serve Rating and sits just above Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard.
Roddick suggested Mpetshi Perricard was ‘changing tennis’ last year, as he complimented the speed of his second serve during his 2024 Basel Open win.
The 21-year-old dropped just one set all tournament, as he beat three seeds on his way to the biggest title of his young career.
- F – Beat [6] Ben Shelton, 6-4, 7-6
- SF – Beat [4] Holger Rune, 7-6, 6-4
- QF – Beat [WC] Denis Shapovalov, 6-7, 6-3, 7-6
- 2R – Beat [8] Felix Auger-Aliassime, 6-1, 7-6
- 1R – Beat [Q] James Duckworth, 7-6, 6-3
Taking down the likes of Ben Shelton, Holger Rune, and Felix Auger-Aliassime on his way to the title, Mpetshi Perricard quickly established himself as one of the most dangerous young players on tour.
Mpetshi Perricard is yet to breakthrough at the Grand Slam level, and will perhaps look to Roddick for inspiration, who was prolific at the sport’s Major tournaments.
The 21-year-old will no doubt have his sights set on the French Open, which begins on Sunday, May 25, as he searches for Grand Slam glory.
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