‘Is the attention fun?’: Roddick tears apart Djokovic for overshadowing Nadal’s farewell with Murray announcement

‘Is the attention fun?’: Roddick tears apart Djokovic for overshadowing Nadal’s farewell with Murray announcement

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HT Sports Desk

Dec 01, 2024 08:09 PM IST

Speaking on his podcast, Andy Roddick lashed out at Novak Djokovic for the timing of his announcement, where he named Andy Murray as his coach.

Novak Djokovic recently stunned tennis fans, appointing former player and arch-rival Andy Murray as his coach. Murray’s first tournament as Djokovic’s coach will be the 2025 Australian Open in January. The announcement came at the same time as Rafael Nadal’s farewell.

Novak Djokovic announced Andy Murray as his new coach, in the same week as Rafael Nadal’s farewell.

According to former player Andy Roddick, Djokovic’s announcement came at the wrong time as it overshadowed Nadal’s retirement. Speaking on his podcast, the American said, “I get memes are fun, but there is no part of this that’s a joke. I don’t think it’s a vanity project.”

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“Hey, listen, is the attention fun? Is the buzz fun? Is it fun to know that you can create a s**tstorm in the tennis world and override any storyline?

“Oh, oh, oh! Rafa retired this weekend? Should we dominate the headlines at the end of that week?’ There was zero reason why this needed to be announced. Zero,” he added.

The Serbian was also expected to attend Nadal’s farewell in Malaga, but missed it, and then later made his Murray announcement in the same week.

Djokovic and Nadal’s rivalry is the most historic in men’s tennis in the Open Era. They have faced each other 60 times, with the Serbian ace leading 31-29 overall. Djokovic is 20-7 on hard courts, and Nadal leads 20-9 on clay. The pair are tied on grass 2-2. Djokovic is also the only player to defeat Nadal in all four majors.

He also has the most wins over Nadal on clay, defeating him twice at the French open and all three claycourt Masters events, including the 203 Monte-Carlo Masters. Djokovic has two streaks of seven wins vs Nadal, in 2011-12 and 2015-16. They also battled in the longest major finals match ever played, at the 2012 Australian Open, where Djokovic came out on top in five sets, lasting five hours and 53 minutes.

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