Andy Roddick has watched many tennis matches since retiring from the sport, but he was even mesmerized when he watched Novak Djokovic win his first Olympic gold medal.
Interestingly, Roddick and Djokovic did not have the best relationship during their playing days. In the early stages of his career, the Serbian was known to retire from matches with nausea or injuries.
That led to Roddick mocking the future 24-time Grand Slam champion in a press conference, famously listing "bird flu" as one of the problems Djokovic was probably struggling with during his matches.
The 2003 US Open champion was not the only top player to comment on Djokovic's issues. After the Serbian physically struggled during his 2009 Australian Open quarterfinal loss to Roddick, Roger Federer mentioned it had "happened before."
However, Roddick's opinion of Djokovic could not be more different now. The Tennis Channel analyst holds the former world No. 1 in very high esteem, as evidenced by his comments after the Olympics.
Djokovic's 7-6, 7-6 triumph against Carlos Alcaraz in Paris secured the gold medal at the Olympics, the only major achievement missing from his career. It was a moment that strengthened the argument of those who think he is the greatest of all time.
Although Djokovic has refused to answer questions about the GOAT debate, some think the conversation about it is over. Even Toni Nadal called Djokovic the greatest in recent comments he made after the Olympics.
Roddick outlined his respect for Djokovic and Alcaraz's exceptional level of tennis in Paris but reserved particular praise for the 37-year-old after his recovery from the physical issues he has had this season.
“This f**king match with Novak and Alcaraz, dude I have goosebumps. Words will fail me when trying to express the respect that I have for Novak. [He's] been physically compromised all year, he said during the off-season last year with John Wertheim he would take a gold medal over any tournament in 2024 and I believe him."
The American, who possessed one of the greatest serves in tennis history, reserved special praise for Djokovic's serving performance against the Spaniard. He said it was exceptional that he did not give Alcaraz consistent looks on his serve on a clay court.
“He willed himself to this win. Served phenomenal. Carlos not getting consistent looks at your serve on a clay court when it's warm out, masterful! This was as masterful a performance as I’ve seen from him. It just felt like Novak was a man on a mission. He willed himself to this win and yeah, he was like an animal."
Roddick also pointed out how focused Djokovic was. The seven-time Wimbledon champion is known for getting into heated exchanges with disrespectful crowd members, but Roddick noticed how he ignored fans calling out between his first and second serves.
"But this match, how much it meant to him you could see it, you could feel it with the way he was grunting, crowd yelling between 1st and 2nd serves. Didn't get into it with them, you could feel like there was a weight around this."
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