Andy Roddick Retires From Tennis On 30th Birthday

Andy Roddick Retires

Former U.S. Open champion Andy Roddick called a press conference on his 30th birthday last Friday to announce his retirement from professional tennis.

"I’ll make this short and sweet: I’ve decided that this is going to be my last tournament," Roddick said. "I just feel like it’s time. I’ve always wanted to, in a perfect world, finish at this event."

Below are some excerpts from the tennis star's announcement:

"I have decided that this is going to be my last tournament. I don’t know if I’m healthy enough or committed enough to continue another year. I’ve always wanted to, in a perfect world, finish at this event. I have a lot of family and friends here. I’ve thought all year that I would know when I got to this tournament. When I was playing my first round, I knew.

"If I’m being honest, I would have bet against myself on getting through this without tears today. I must have already gotten them out earlier. This has been a huge part of my life always. But I don’t know that it’s always been my entire life. I do feel very confident in the things and the people that I have to fall back on.

"For 13, 14 years, I was invested fully, every day. I’ve seen a lot of people throughout that time be invested for a year, kind of tap out for a year, come back. I’ve been pretty good about keeping my nose to the grindstone.

"I feel like I won a lot of matches from hard work and persistence, even maybe when I had better options as far as shot-making.

I think I wanted an opportunity to say goodbye to people, as well. I don’t know how tomorrow’s going to go, and I hope it goes well, and I’m sticking around."

Roddick became a Grand Slam singles champion when he won the title at the 2003 US Open, defeating Juan Carlos Ferrero in the finals, which currently makes him the last North American male player to win a grand slam singles event. Roddick has reached four other Grand Slam finals (Wimbledon in 2004, 2005 and 2009, and the US Open in 2006), losing to Roger Federer every time.

In 2004, Roddick produced what was then the fastest serve in professional tennis: 249.4 km/h (155 mph) during a Davis Cup semi-final match with Vladimir Voltchkov on hard court in Charleston. Roddick's record serve has since been superseded by Ivo Karlović, who served at 251 km/h (156 mph) playing at the Davis Cup in March 2011. Roddick also had the fastest serve in U.S. Open history: 244 km/h (152 mph) against American Scoville Jenkins. Roddick also won the 2004 ESPY Award for Best Male Tennis Player.

That same year he won the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award of the Year because of his charity efforts, which included: raising money for the survivors of the tsunami following 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake through Serving for Tsunami Relief and other efforts; auctioning off several rackets and autographs to raise money for UNICEF; and creating the Andy Roddick Foundation to help at-risk youth. The foundation is partly funded through the sale of blue wristbands inscribed "No Compromise", inspired by Lance Armstrong's yellow Livestrong wristbands.

In 2007 Roddick and the Andy Roddick Foundation was awarded by the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health. Roddick was the first male tennis player ever to receive the award.

Roddick is married to Brooklyn Decker, a Sports Illustrated swimwear model and actress.

Source: Wikipedia, AndyRoddick.com