"We need every single tell": Andy Roddick rebukes crowd hostility in tennis; sides with players who've put "hours & hours" into perfecting their skill
Andy Roddick has spoken up against calls for crowds attending tennis matches to have more freedom in terms of their movement and the noise they can make. The American said that tennis was much different compared to a sport like baseball, where crowds could move around at will and make a lot of noise without affecting the play.
Recently, controversy erupted after World No. 1 Iga Swiatek urged the Roland Garros crowd to stay silent when points were played. The Pole's comments came following her narrow second-round win over Naomi Osaka.
David Goffin also faced the wrath of the fans during his first-round encounter against Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard. The Belgian later alleged that a member of the crowd spat gum at him. Following these developments, the French Open banned fans from consuming alcohol in the stands.
In the past, there have been others whose opinions have been contrary to those of Swiatek. For instance, in a 2023 interview with Time ahead of the US Open, Frances Tiafoe called on tennis "to introduce fanfare and more fan engagement" by giving crowds more freedom to express themselves during matches.
"The game needs to introduce fanfare and more fan engagement. They (fans) need to be able to move around, talk a little bit. We need to evolve with the times. Otherwise we’re going to be left behind," Tiafoe had said.
Andy Roddick recently touched on the subject in an episode of his podcast "Served With Andy Roddick".
"I get asked a lot, "Well, we can move around like baseball games and we can yell during the play and we can do all this". Yes. You can't hear a pitcher throw a baseball. Our first tell as tennis players is the sound off off the other person's racquet," Roddick said.
The 41-year-old went on to explain his take, as he talked about the incredibly short time players had to react to an incoming serve.
"If they firm it up, if it's off-center, if it's a slice, if it's a thud as opposed to a smack, we need to be able to hear the ball off the racquet. When someone unleashes a serve, we have less than half a second to react, and cover six feet both ways. We need every single tell," Andy Roddick added.
The former World No. 1 also said that players have developed the "instinct" of listening to the sounds of opponents' racquets after innumerable hours of practice.
"We need to be able to track the ball and we need to hear how it comes off the racquet. We've built this instinct over the course of our lives and over the course of hours and hours and hours of playing," Andy Roddick concluded.
Andy Roddick's compatriot Ben Shelton recently laid bare the ruckus that college tennis crowds make
Ben Shelton's opinion of the French Open crowd was a little different to Andy Roddick's. Shelton, during a press conference after his second-round win over Kei Nishikori at the French Open, was asked about his thoughts on the crowd at the clay-court Major. The French Open crowds have garnered a poor reputation for themselves over the years due to their questionable behavior from time to time.
However, Shelton said that college tennis crowds in the US are far worse. The 21-year-old said that more often than not, these crowds are "drunk" while attending matches.
"Obviously, I'm a lot different than a lot of the pros out here because I played college tennis, which pretty much means anything goes. A lot of people show up drunk to those matches, and they can say absolutely anything they want. So what I hear out here obviously it's a lot more people, but it's a lot less than what I've dealt with in the past," Shelton said.
Shelton reached the third round of the French Open before losing to Felix Auger-Aliassime.