Andy Roddick remains the last American men’s tennis star to win a Grand Slam. Roddick, a big server during his playing days, has endured many controversial calls, most of them against him. However, one wrong call ended up in his favor but sparked chaos.
The moment came during the 2005 Davis Cup tie against Belgium. It was played in Leuven, Belgium, between September 23-25, 2005.
Roddick discussed the moment in the latest edition of his ‘Served’ podcast. He explained the aftermath of the situation after Olivier Rochus’s smash was called out, but according to Roddick, it was in.
“It was the single worst call I have ever been the beneficiary of,” Roddick told Bryan Brothers. “I remember walking up to correct it and I remember you all and Patrick yelling at me ‘turn the f*** around, go back’. I ended up breaking.
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“We were literally playing in front of 2500 people. It wasn’t the biggest stadium ever. But we were going to be relegated and we win, but they called an overhead out that was maybe six inches inside the line," he continued.
After the match, the crowd in Belgium threw all kinds of things because of the wrong call.
“So I held serve, and we got trash thrown on us as we were leaving. They started throwing things. That was a weird situation,” Roddick added.
Andy Roddick also recalled earlier that same year that when he recorrected the call, he lost that match. So when he was about to do the same thing again, his teammates wanted him to let go of this call.
“I corrected a call earlier that year and gave a match away, so I started walking up and my entire bench just started yelling at me. 'It’s not about you! Move, get back,"' Roddick said.
Andy Roddick explains why he didn't celebrate the Davis Cup tie win against Belgium
Andy Roddick would go on to win the deciding match in the Davis Cup tie against Belgium's Olivier Rochus, 6-7(4), 7-6(4), 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-3. Since tiebreaks were introduced, the grueling four-hour and 32-minute match was the longest ever for a U.S. player in the Davis Cup.
Following this match, a dead rubber was played as USA's James Blake defeated Belgium's Steve Darcis to complete the 4-1 tie.
During the same segment of the podcast, Roddick also recalled why, seeing the reception from the crowd as he was leaving, his team decided not to celebrate the tie win.
“It would have been unprofessional,” he said. “You don’t want that quality of a match to end like that. You would not want to rub it in people’s faces.”
Andy Roddick, the 2003 US Open winner and former World No. 1, played his last singles match at the 2012 US Open, losing to Juan Martin del Potro in the Round of 16.
