Andrew Stephen "Andy" Roddick (born August 30, 1982) is an American professional tennis player and a former World No. 1. He is the top-ranked American player and the only American inside the ATP top 10. As of June 7, 2010, he is ranked World No. 7 by the ATP rankings. He became a Grand Slam singles champion when he won the title at the 2003 US Open, defeating Juan Carlos Ferrero in the finals. Roddick has reached four other Grand Slam finals (Wimbledon three times and the US Open once), losing to Roger Federer each time. He and Federer are the only players to have been ranked in the Association of Tennis Professionals top 10 at year-end from 2002 through 2009 consecutively. Roddick is known for his powerful serves and holds the fastest serve recorded in professional tennis, measured at 155 mph (249.5 km/h).

Roddick has been on the United States Davis Cup team for several years, helping the US win the 2007 Davis Cup, the first win by the US since 1995. He is married to Brooklyn Decker, a Sports Illustrated swim wear model.

Personal life

Roddick was born in Omaha, Nebraska to Jerry and Blanche Roddick. Roddick's father was a businessman and his mother was a school teacher. She now directs the Andy Roddick Foundation. Roddick has two older brothers, Lawrence and John (All-American tennis player at University of Georgia (1996–98) and head tennis coach at the University of Oklahoma), who were both promising tennis players at a young age.

Roddick lived in Austin, Texas, from age 4 until he was 11, and then moved to Boca Raton, Florida, in the interest of his brother's tennis career, first attending Boca Prep International School, but graduating from the Highlands Christian Academy in 2000. Roddick played varsity basketball in high school alongside his future Davis Cup teammate Mardy Fish, who trained and lived with Roddick in 1999. During that time period, he sometimes trained with Venus and Serena Williams; he later moved back to Austin.

Roddick began dating singer and actress Mandy Moore in 2002. Moore, after reading a magazine article about him, thought he was "really cute", so she sent her mother, who was attending a tournament in Toronto, to invite him to her set on a movie she was shooting nearby, How to Deal. Roddick accepted and they began dating. Roddick ended the relationship in March 2004.

It was while Roddick was flipping through a previous swimsuit issue of Sports Illustrated that Roddick first noticed Brooklyn Decker, to whom he is now married. The two had been dating since at least the 2007 Davis Cup, and on March 31, 2008, Roddick announced on his website that he and Decker had become engaged. The couple were married in Austin on April 17, 2009.

Career

Roddick seriously considered quitting competitive tennis at the age of 17, when he had a losing streak in the juniors. Roddick lost a match to the last seed, Alex Harold Rachlin, barely winning one game throughout the match. His coach, Tarik Benhabiles, talked him into giving tennis four more months of undivided attention. Roddick finished as the #6 junior in the U.S. in 1999, and as the #1 junior in the world in 2000. He won six world junior singles and seven doubles titles, and won the US Open and Australian Open junior singles titles in 2000.In March, in Miami, in the first round Roddick had his first major victory as he beat world # 41 Fernando Vicente of Spain, 6-4, 6-0. In August, in Washington, D.C., he beat world # 30 Fabrice Santoro of France, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. Roddick played the Banana Bowl in the city of São Paulo and won, beating Joachim Johansson in the final. Roddick also won the Australian Junior Open, defeating Mario Ancic in the final. In 2001, Roddick defeated former French Open champion Michael Chang in 5 sets in the second round of the tournament, despite clay being Roddick's worst surface. During the following Wimbledon, he further showed potential by taking a set from eventual winner Goran Ivaniševic. He also defeated 7-time Wimbledon champion, world #4, and fellow American Pete Sampras, at the age of 19, at the Miami Masters, 7-6 (2), 6-3, and world #1 Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-2 in August.

Roddick's breakthrough year was in 2003, in which he defeated Younes El Aynaoui in the quarterfinals of the 2003 Australian Open. Roddick and the Moroccan battled for five hours, with the fifth set (21-19 in favor of Roddick) being the longest fifth set in a Grand Slam tournament during the open era, at 2 hours and 23 minutes. (This was surpassed in 2007 during a Wimbledon men's doubles second round match, when Brazilians Marcelo Melo and André Sá beat Paul Hanley of Australia and Kevin Ullyett of Zimbabwe in a 3 hour 5 minute set, winning it 28-26.) Despite a lackluster French Open, Roddick enjoyed success in the United Kingdom by winning Queen's Club, beating World #2 Andre Agassi 6-1, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (6) along the way, and reaching the Wimbledon semifinals, where he lost to eventual champion Roger Federer in straight sets. He avenged that loss in August, beating then World Number 3 Federer in Montreal, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (3). It would ultimately be only one of two times that Roddick was able to defeat him in an official ATP tournament.