Encore: Roddick relives induction speech in HOF chat
On Thursday, 2017 Hall of Fame inductee Andy Roddick joined the International Tennis Hall of Fame host Blair Henley to answer burning questions from fans.
Tennis enthusiasts have been seeing a lot more of the American on their TV screens recently, on Tennis Channel Live. Does Roddick enjoy talking more about the sport than usual?
"I really enjoyed it," Roddick said. "You know, tennis is my first love and to be able to walk through that again and have it be apart of the day-to-day experience again was really nice for me."
Roddick didn't have much control over his schedule during his playing days, and enjoys that change as well. The 2003 US Open champion didn't make any promises about returning to TV, did say fans could potentially see more of him if the logistics work.
"I always said I don't want to travel 30 weeks a year to sit in a box and talk about it, but I certainly enjoy it when I do it," Roddick said.
Roddick went on to answer a series of rapid-fire questions. He revealed that Andre Agassi was his toughest Hall of Fame opponent that he faced during his career. He also chose Arthur Ashe, Rod Laver and Serena Williams as the three Hall of Famers he'd like to have dinner with.
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"I know Serena's not in the Hall of Fame yet, but it's a matter of time. I would love to throw her in the mix too," Roddick said laughingly.
The former world No. 1 also discussed the special moment of making his Hall of Fame speech three years ago. Roddick did not write every word down, but instead wrote points he wanted to touch on and spoke from the heart.
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"The only thing I was really intentional about was I didn't want to talk about matches, I didn't really care about reliving specific events or anything like that," Roddick said. "I wanted to just express the journey of being a fan, and that you don't really get there without people who are selfless to help you."
Roddick, now a father of two, talked about how it deeply impacted him that his coaches and supporters left behind their families to help and take care of him when he was coming up in juniors.
"I wanted to talk about my heroes and I wanted to talk about all the people that helped," Roddick said.
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Roddick also gave a piece of advice that extends far past the tennis court.
"Control what is controllable," Roddick said. "Especially right now, there's no shortage of reasons to be anxious or worried or uneasy. But, the one that we can control, we tell our kids this, you can control your attitude and how you deal with something."