American teenager Andy Roddick is seen by many as the pretender to the throne of Pete Sampras and he has a chance to prove his credentials when he competes at Wimbledon later this month. Roddick is one of the up-and-coming stars in men's tennis and at only 18-years-of-age but with back-to-back tour wins to his name, he is eager to live up to his promise in tennis' most prestigious Grand Slam event.
"I remember as a kid we used to wake up and watch Breakfast at Wimbledon," he recalled. "It was delayed in the States. I always watched it. I watched all the Slams. I was a big fan. But I won't be too picky. I'll take any one I can get," he added cheekily.
Roddick made a dramatic exit from Roland Garros when he injured his hamstring in a fall during an intriguing third round encounter with fellow rising star Lleyton Hewitt with the scores standing at one-set apiece at the time. However, Roddick has gotten over the disappointment of his French Open outing and is hoping that he can renew his fledging rivalry with Hewitt very soon.
"I definitely think myself and Hewitt have the potential to be a rivalry. We're both competitors. He's been putting up good results. He's going to hold up his end of the bargain. I just hope I can keep playing well. We have contrasting styles and we were really going at it when I fell in Paris. It definitely would have been a battle. I wish we could have finished it. I was having a lot of fun," he said.
Roddick has only ever played ten times previously on grass but he's not going to let that worry him ahead of his first round match at SW19. Although he has played at Junior Wimbledon, this will be his first outing in the main competition. "I like grass. It helps my serve. I think it will be good for me because I've improved my returns a lot over the last year since I last played there. I'm very excited. I'm looking forward to it."
Roddick already has a major fan in former Wimbledon champion Andre Agassi. "I love Roddick's game," revealed the American. "He has some tremendous weapons - a big forehand, especially when he's set and he moves well. His serve is as big as anybody's and has potential to be even bigger. I don't think he utilises it yet as well as he could. He can slam it huge," enthused Aggasi.
"He seems to have the ability and confidence to hit every corner and he's ready to win at an early age. That's always good to see. Even though Atlanta and Houston were not big tournaments, they're still wins. It's surprised me that he won so early. But it's a long road. He's coming after one of the most accomplished group of Americans that we've ever had and that's going to be a lot of pressure but I think he has the mind to overcome it," he added.
Filed by Amanda Fennelly
