Andy Roddick under fire from Wimbledon doubles champ's coach for 'disrespectful' comments about doubles players, American refuses to apologize
Harri Heliövaara and Henry Patten won the 2024 Wimbledon men's doubles championship. Andy Roddick mentioned the backstories of both players during his podcast. However, according to Patten's coach Calvin Betton, Roddick's portrayal of the stories was disrespectful to everyone involved.
During a recent episode of 'Served with Andy Roddick', the former American player was joined by Jon Wertheim and they discussed how Wimbledon played out this year.
The pair stumbled upon the topic of the doubles event and Wertheim explained how Patten was previously working as an analyst for Wimbledon, while Heliövaara worked at the airport in Helsinki before they became Wimbledon champions.
Roddick joked that he 'should have sidestepped the lifetime of training to study maths' while also claiming that 'this sort of story proves the negative stereotypes about doubles'.
Betton was offended by how the conversation played out during the podcast. He took to X and opined that Roddick was disrespectful.
"You [Roddick] tried to make the point that doubles is rubbish because a data analyst and an airport worker can win a Wimbledon title. It’s a nonsense false narrative, it’s disrespectful to them, it’s disrespectful to your listeners, and it’s disrespectful to the lads they beat in the final."
Roddick instead called it a 'great story' and asked if he had got the backstories wrong. Betton replied with an affirmative and explained that Patten and Heliövaara were in the jobs mentioned but it was for a very short period and it was irrelevant.
Betton listed their achievements and Roddick claimed that he would not want to 'work against the parts of the story that could make mainstream tennis/sports fans pay attention to it'.
Further, Patten's coach quoted Roddick's words from the podcast and claimed that the 41-year-old was not doing any good for the doubles event with his words. However, Roddick saw no need to apologize.
"You can choose to believe me or not believe me on what my intent was. I’m not going to convince you and I’m also not gonna apologize for something I didn’t do," Roddick wrote.
"I often say a bunch of stuff tongue in cheek and joking" - Andy Roddick
Andy Roddick and Henry Patten's coach Calvin Betton's argument lasted through several posts on X. After Betton quoted Roddick, the 41-year-old claimed he could use a similar technique and use quotes to help his argument.
"You can if you want. The issue is that everyone can hear you on your podcast, mocking, laughing and disrespecting professional athletes. They can then see you on here trying to claim that you weren’t doing that. And now you’re taking issue with being quoted," Betton responded.
Lastly, Roddick claimed that Betton had personal problems with his podcast and he understood the issue.
"My podcast isn’t personal. Your problems w it are. I get it and understand where you’re coming from. It’s close to you. I often say a bunch of stuff tongue in cheek and joking... I said what I said. It’ll live. No sweat man. We don’t have to agree. I wish you and your guys luck," Andy Roddick wrote.
Soon after, a fan suggested that Roddick invite Betton to his podcast and they can discuss the topic better there. However, Betton claimed that Roddick would not do that but invited the former American player to his 'UnfilterTennis' podcast.