Andy Roddick and controversy seem to go hand in hand. Roddick simply cannot catch a break when it comes to extreme reactions from followers of Novak Djokovic on social media. The 2003 US Open champion started his podcast this year, ‘Served with Andy Roddick,’ and that seems to have played a role in his comments gaining more attention, especially when it comes to Djokovic.
Here are four instances where Roddick’s comments did not sit well with Djokovic fans.
Roddick ridiculed Djokovic’s announcement of Murray as coach (2024)
A few days ago on his podcast, Roddick questioned the timing and manner in which Djokovic confirmed one of his biggest rivals in the past, Andy Murray, as his coach for the Australian Open 2025.
Roddick brought up Nadal’s retirement at the Davis Cup 2024 and the fact that only a few days later, Djokovic apparently took the limelight from him with his own announcement. The former World No.1 was quoted as saying,
“Is it fun to know that you can create a s**tstorm in the tennis world and override any storyline? ‘Oh, oh, oh! Rafa retired this weekend? Should we dominate the headlines at the end of that week?’ There was zero reason why this needed to be announced.”
This is not the first time, though, that Roddick has accused Djokovic of being an attention-seeker.
Roddick feels Djokovic wanted publicity for injury before Wimbledon (2024)
Prior to Wimbledon 2024, Roddick, on the Tennis Channel podcast, recalled suffering from a similar injury that Djokovic did at the time. A week after the Serb was diagnosed with an injury, the American presumed that Djokovic was enjoying the attention he was gaining by keeping a mystery around his condition.
“I had a torn meniscus once upon a time and I wasn’t doing this. He is not like us. He is a little bit different. The fact that he’s posting this, he wants the attention of flirting with a Wimbledon bid and being healthy.“
However, after the 24-time Grand Slam champion made it to the Wimbledon final and won the Olympic gold medal, Roddick ate humble pie and conceded that he was the GOAT.
Roddick called out apparent bias towards Djokovic at Monte Carlo Masters (2024)
Roddick was not happy when the chair umpire did not penalize Djokovic for losing his temper and yelling words like ‘Shut the F*** Up’ to the crowd in Monte Carlo. The reason the umpire did not take action against Djokovic was that the crowd repeatedly attempted to provoke and distract him.
However, Roddick also pointed out that in the same tournament, Holger Rune received a warning from the umpire simply for questioning a decision.
Roddick: I don’t care who it is, Novak or anyone else, they should get a warning for swearing at the crowd. Novak swore three times and didn’t get one warning. pic.twitter.com/rL8867VM5Y
— Yin Nooy RN (@YinNooy) April 13, 2024
Djokovic’s fans did not spare him, as one of them even incited other followers of the Serb to defame Roddick publicly. They pointed out the American’s apparent hypocrisy by recalling that Roddick himself was no saint as a player and had his moments of anger and mockery.
Roddick claimed Djokovic had 16 injuries during US Open 2008
When Roddick was a player, he decided to play mind games with a young Djokovic. He had seen the Serb struggle in the tournament by calling his trainer multiple times due to injury concerns. Unfortunately, the mind games did not work!
After silencing Roddick with a win to make it to the semifinals, Djokovic brought up that point in the press conference. He was quoted as saying,
“Well, obviously Roddick was saying I had 16 injuries. Obviously I don’t, right? That’s not nice anyhow to say in front of this crowd that I have 16 injuries and that I’m faking it.”
In response, Roddick admitted to trash-talking and that he nearly got into an ugly altercation with Djokovic in the locker room.
“So he comes straight (into the locker room), I went right up to him, had him up against the locker. But then I realized his trainer was a little bit bigger than Donovan (McNabb) and I kind of checked myself.”
Roddick might not be concerned about the perception of Djokovic fans, but he might need to consider how to get publicity in his favor. Perhaps criticizing a player with such a passionate fanbase may not be the best approach.
