"People always looked at Andy like ‘Is he the next Pete Sampras or Andre Agassi": Macci on his time training Roddick

The coach for former world number one Serena Williams, Rick Macci, believes that America’s Andy Roddick overachieved in his career.

The 41-year-old remained famous for his big serve and became the world number one for a brief period of time in November 2003.

Macci was quoted in a report where he stated that everyone looked at Roddick as the next Pete Sampras or Andre Agassi whereas in reality, it was never going to be the case.

"People always looked at Andy like ‘Is he the next [Pete] Sampras or [Andre] Agassi?’ You know he was never gonna be that in my opinion. But I think, he overachieved, and I tell him this," he said.

"He’s just a great guy. With competition, everything changed around him. I think he overachieved, very few bad losses and people didn’t really appreciate him as much, and till we’ve never had any other American Grand Slam champion.

"He was just a great competitor. Everybody’s competitive… but there was a different level. I mean he took out Federer, Nadal, Djokovic… he beat all those guys now and then and if it was a boxing match, they would probably win 18 to 20 in the tale of the tape.

“But he was just as competitive, had a big serve and the forehand. So, one of my all-time favorites. He was a mosquito. He just would not let you alone and I love that in a player.”

Roddick’s only Grand Slam triumph came in 2003 when he won the US Open on his home soil after beating Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain in the final with a score of 6–3, 7–6(7–2), 6–3.

Other than that, he also reached the final of Wimbledon three times — 2004, 2005 and 2009 — where on each occasion, he was defeated by Switzerland’s legendary tennis star Roger Federer.