"I lapped the field in this category" - Andy Roddick jokes about his career racquet smash tally
Former American tennis star Andy Roddick recently reacted to a social media post about players’ racquet smashing records. Laid out in the post were the tallies of racquets broken by Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, but Roddick jokingly suggested that he had lapped everyone in this particular category.
A twitter user posted the number of times the 'Big-3' have smashed their racquets. Another user tagged Roddick asking what his record was in this regard, to which the American, not one known for curbing his emotions on the court, responded with a hilarious take.
@WesHanna Afraid I lapped the field in this category
"Afraid I lapped the field in this category," tweeted Andy Roddick.
Interestingly, the user of the original tweet later admitted to having just made up the numbers for fun. While the numbers may have been made up, they certainly do reflect some truth. Rafael Nadal has never smashed a racquet, at least as far as in the public eye. Roger Federer, contrary to popular belief, has indeed broken a few racquets out of frustration.
Novak Djokovic, on the other hand, does not shy away from releasing his frustration by smashing a racquet or two, most recently seen doing so in his loss against Carlos Alcaraz in the Wimbledon final.
Andy Roddick, for those unaware, is often considered a great of the game whose Grand Slam record does not reflect the talent he had, thanks to a certain someone named Federer.
The American won a solitary Grand Slam title (US Open 2003) in his career but also lost four Majors finals to the Swiss -- three at Wimbledon and one at the US Open. These days, he features as an expert on a variety of tennis shows when he is not joking around on Twitter.
Incorrect line calls at Wimbledon frustrate Andy Roddick
Wimbledon has a habit of sticking by its traditions and not always adapting to changes. The same is the case with the electronic line calling system, which has been adopted by the Australian Open and US Open. The All England Club, however, has continued with human line judges, a fact that has irritated Andy Roddick.
Watching the human referees make some incorrect calls over the course of the Wimbledon final between Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz, Roddick took to twitter to express his frustration.
"If you kept the humans when their job was being done for them, it’d be a charity. This tech has existed for 15 years. Not exactly some new AI situation," Roddick tweeted.
@thisisliam If you kept the humans when their job was being done for them, it’d be a charity. This tech has existed for 15 years. Not exactly some new AI situation
Apart from Wimbledon, Roland Garros has also refrained from adopting the technology, preferring to continue with the traditional method of calling shots. However, with the ATP now having reached an agreement to integrate the system across the Tour, it’ll soon become a norm and fans might, in all likelihood, see the same happen across the four Grand Slams as well.