Andy Roddick, Martina Navratilova and Tennys Sandgren react to US shooting down alleged Chinese surveillance balloon
Grand Slam winners Martina Navratilova and Andy Roddick, along with fellow American player Tennys Sandgren, recently reacted to the US shooting down an alleged Chinese spy balloon.
Earlier this week US defense officials confirmed they were tracking a Chinese balloon in American airspace, while accusing Beijing of spying on sensitive military sites. But Chinese authorities refuted the claims, claiming it was a device for meteorological research that had simply drifted off course.
Now, tennis stars including Roddick, Navratilova and 2020 Australian Open quarterfinalist Tennys Sandgren have shared their thoughts on the incident.
Roddick, 40, turned to social media to enquire if anyone had shot down the balloon yet or not.
"So has anyone shot it down from their backyard yet? Confidence seemed high," Roddick captioned his tweet.
So has anyone shot it down from their backyard yet? Confidence seemed high
Navratilova, an 18-time Grand Slam singles winner, shared Roddick's tweet and hinted at the recent action taken by the US government.
"Ha!," Navratilova wrote.
Ha! twitter.com/andyroddick/st…
But Tennys Sandgren, a two-time Australian Open quarterfinalist, had a different perspective towards the "spy" balloon. The 31-year-old expressed his displeasure with the event being treated as a genuine problem.
He further asked if there was any evidence of the balloon being a spy device.
"Do we have a problem yet? Is this a big enough problem to even be considered an agreed upon problem? Is this a partisan ballooon? A non issue, or a paramount one? Can we even agree that it isn’t good," he wrote on Twitter.
Do we have a problem yet? Is this a big enough problem to even be considered an agreed upon problem? Is this a partisan ballooon? A non issue, or a paramount one? Can we even agree that it isn’t good?
The balloon was shot down by an American fighter jet in US territorial waters off the coast of South Carolina. The incident has added further strain to the fragile relations between the two countries.
Andy Roddick often shares his opinion on social media
Former World No. 1 Andy Roddick has been pretty active on social media over the last couple of years. The 2003 US Open winner hung up his boots in 2012, but that hasn't stopped him from giving his opinion on the hot topics of the tennis world.
Roddick recently stood by his criticism of Novak Djokovic during the 2021 Indian Wells Masters. During an interview, the American spoke about the importance of being vaccinated to be able to take part in future tennis tournaments.
"This virus doesn't care what plans are made....safety first, hopefully the players make responsible decisions. It looks like a personal decision, but listen, you have to be vaccinated to go," Andy Roddick said.