"She was in this wave of controversy and I asked her to come" - When Andy Roddick asked Serena Williams to join him in a lip-sync battle amidst Naomi Osaka US Open controversy
Andy Roddick and Serena Williams filmed a Lip Sync Battle together in 2018, just days after the latter's controversial US Open final against Naomi Osaka. In a 2021 podcast, Roddick divulged the details of how it all went down.
Speaking about Williams' surprise cameo, Roddick admitted he wasn’t the most comfortable doing the lip-sync battle. And so when he was approached for the gig, he asked Williams if she was available for doing something “fun”.
“One of our friends, the host of the show, made someone cancel and were like, we need a favor and we owe them like 70,000 favors. Doing that thing is like my nightmare, so I talked to Serena and I said, if you’re bored and around, you know, we could do something fun,” he revealed.
The former American men's World No. 1 further revealed that the episode, which was televised in 2019, was in fact filmed in 2018. At that time Williams was still dealing with the Naomi Osaka US Open controversy, which saw the 23-time Grand Slam winner engage in a heated argument with the chair umpire and Osaka dissolving into tears after winning her first Major title.
“So, they actually filmed that episode six days after the Osaka meltdown at the US Open, ya. But they showed it like six months later. So, she’s in like this wave of controversy and I asked her to come to this stupid little show. But like, the effect of the crowd, right? That (the controversy) was kind of the main thing in the news for weeks afterwards, right? And typical with anything (to do) with Serena, they have to nitpick every little thing,” Roddick said.
The American also recalled that the crowd wasn’t aware that she was going to participate, but amidst the controversy, Serena Williams showed up as promised and lit up the place.
“So, six days later (this all happens). She [Serena Williams] walks out and the crowd doesn’t know she’s going to be on the show. The place just falls apart. It was cool, and it’s like, you realize in those moments, like I’m a tennis player on a show like that (but) Serena is like a cultural staple. Like it’s just, it’s a different effect outside of our little tennis bubble. To kind of see that up close in the middle of like, one of these mini controversies, where, she said she’d do it, so she showed up. It was cool of her,” Roddick said.
“She was busy but made the effort to come” – Andy Roddick on Serena Williams visiting him after birth of his first child
Andy Roddick recently revealed that Serena Williams took time out of her busy schedule to pay him a visit after he had his first child with wife Brooklyn Decker.
“When we had our first child, Hank, and Serena was just in Austin when we were living there at the time, and she goes, ‘I want to come meet the baby!’ And we live way out of town, she was busy but made the effort to come out, and so little things like that,” he remarked.
Roddick and Williams have known each other since they were young. The duo used to train together at Rick Macci’s tennis academy in Florida.