[情報] Roddick excited to make Austin home again
Roddick excited to make Austin home again
'What's not to like about Austin?'
By John Maher
Friday, October 3, 2003
Blanche Roddick remembers the time her youngest son attended Valley View
Elementary School in West Lake Hills and made a little booklet about the
top-10 players in his favorite sport, tennis.
"Brad Gilbert is a push," the young Andy Roddick wrote, dismissing Gilbert's
soft strokes and deft strategy.
In September, the former and future Austinite won the U.S. Open with Gilbert
as his coach, and today the 21-year-old Roddick will be honored at a dinner
and silent auction at Barton Creek Resort & Club. The affair will benefit the
Andy Roddick Foundation, which helps at-risk children, including those who have
been abused or abandoned. Roddick, who lives in Boca Raton, Fla., also is
closing on a house in West Austin.
"Right now I'm planning on moving to Austin after the Masters Cup tournament
in Houston (from Nov. 8-16)," Roddick said. "I plan on spending as much time
as possible here . . . tennis has me on the go for most of the year, but
whenever I can snag a few days of down time, I will definitely be heading to
Austin."
Roddick's house in West Austin isn't far from where he grew up. He lived here
for almost six years, until the age of 10, after arriving from Nebraska with
his mother, his father, Jerry, and his two brothers.
"It's so neat to drive around and see how things have changed, but yet at the
same time stayed true to what makes Austin so cool," Roddick said.
Roddick returns to town as tennis' top young gun. He's armed with a serve that
can top 130 mph and a killer forehand. He also makes headlines for dating actr
ess Mandy Moore.
Roddick, now 6 feet, 2 inches, has certainly changed since he left Austin. Back
then he was first known as John Roddick's kid brother, a tag-along at tourna-
ments who would beg older kids to hit with him.
"He had no serve," said Blanche Roddick, remembering the days when Andy wasn't
much taller than the net. As a 9-year-old here, he played in some 16-and-under
events, driving the other kids nuts with his get-everything-back style.
Blanche recalled one match where a frustrated older player yelled, "You didn't
tell me I was playing Dennis the Menace!"
The early potential, though, wasn't completely realized, even as John was moving
up in the tennis world.
"We moved to Florida and bounced around a couple of places, and I couldn't
figure out why it wasn't clicking," Blanche Roddick recalled. Then she read
Gilbert's book, "Winning Ugly."
"The light went on," Blanche Roddick said. Gilbert "said a player cannot reach
his potential until all the people around him believe in him. Some of those
programs want every foot to fit the same shoe. I changed everything. I wanted
to find the right people."
Andy Roddick eventually hooked up with coach Tarik Benhabiles and his aspiratio
ns changed from a player looking for a college scholarship to one thinking
about making it on the pro tour.
Roddick and Benhabiles parted ways after a first-round loss this year in the
French Open. Gilbert and Andre Agassi split in 2002 after Agassi had won six
Grand Slam titles working with Gilbert.
Roddick and Gilbert hooked up in June.
"We can win Wimbledon, and we can win the U.S. Open," Gilbert quickly announced.
Roddick said, "Brad and I just click. He knows what to say to me and when to
say it. He has streamlined the process, and that works for me."
Roddick made it to the semifinals at Wimbledon before scoring the biggest
victory of his career in the U.S. Open final over Juan Carlos Ferrero.
"It was incredibly sweet to win my first major on my home soil. Obviously you
can't pick or choose when or if you win a major, so to achieve that goal is
an unbelievable experience," Roddick recounted.
Roddick isn't the first member of his family to return to Texas. While mom and
dad reside in Florida, John, an All-American at the University of Georgia, now
lives in San Antonio, where he has opened his own tennis facility. Eldest broth
er Lawrence, a former University of Nebraska diver, is a chiropractor there.
Roddick, however, wanted to relocate a little farther north.
"What's not to like about Austin? It's got such a great vibe about it," he
said.
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