"His forehand was nuclear"- Rick Macci reminisces on his time coaching Andy Roddick
Renowned coach Rick Macci fondly remembers his days coaching Andy Roddick and hailed the American's forehand, calling it "nuclear."
Macci has had a distinguished career, having coached the likes of Venus Williams, Serena Williams, Andy Roddick and Maria Sharapova. He runs the Rick Macci International Tennis Academy in Florida.
In a recent interview with Eric Han, Macci recalled the days he first met Andy Roddick. The veteran coach revealed that since the former US Open champion was "fiesty" he nicknamed him "Little Mosquito."
"I saw this little mosquito (in him)- that’s what I called him," Macci said. "Like a mosquito, he was just always bothering everybody but in a good way. He was just always there, pesty, feisty."
Elaborating on Roddick's forehand, Macci said the former World No. 1 had an "ATP forehand" which he decided not to change because it "worked" for Roddick. The veteran coach also admitted that Roddick's forehand "taught me a little bit!"
Young Andy Roddick with Rick Macci fb.me/7v7VwfVND
"When I worked with Andy (Roddick), he had this forehand where he led with the elbow back. He kinda had the ATP forehand. He actually taught me a little bit! I’m thinking this looks very different but it worked, so I didn’t change it. His forehand was nuclear!" added the coach.
Rick Macci reveals an area of Andy Roddick's game that needed improvement
Although Andy Roddick had a brilliant forehand, Macci said there were other areas of his game that needed improvement. One such area was his serve, which was "all over the place."
Macci concluded the interview by talking about how much he enjoyed coaching Roddick and that they were "cut from the same cloth".
“His serve was kinda all over the place. I did a lot of work on the serve... Of all the boys, I really enjoyed coaching Andy. He was a competitor. We were cut from the same cloth," Macci said.
Andy Roddick retired from tennis in 2015, winning 32 singles and four doubles titles on the ATP tour.
Also read: Andy Roddick believes Novak Djokovic "owns" Roger Federer & Rafael Nadal in every major statistic apart from Grand Slam count