Andy Roddick reasons why he hired a ‘recluse’ Jimmy Connors who cried inconsolably after Roddick’s Wimbledon loss

Jimmy Connors had cried inconsolably after Andy Roddick lost to Richard Gasquet in Wimbledon 2007.

Andy Roddick reasons why he hired a ‘recluse’ Jimmy Connors who cried inconsolably after Roddick’s Wimbledon loss

Andy Roddick (L), Jimmy Connors (R) (Image via Sportskeeda)

Former American tennis star Andy Roddick was known for his strange choices. But the strangest of all was the onboarding of his idol Jimmy Connors as his coach in 2006. It was hard for fans to fathom that a world-class player like Roddick would seek help from someone who has no prior experience in the domain. But he had his reasons. 

Roddick knew that he lacked a lot of qualities that the world’s best players possess despite being aware of the fact that he might be one of the best servers of his time. The American knew what he had to change and hence sought help from Connors. While it seemed like an odd move back then, it did yield results for Roddick.

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Now, years later, Roddick has explained the rationale behind his decision to hire a ‘recluse’ Jimmy Connors as his coach. In an interview with GQ, Roddick revealed that although Connors lacked experience in coaching, he knew a lot of things many would not at that time, and he thought Connors was huge at that time.

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“He had been gone 15 years,” Roddick said about Connors who was nowhere near the scenes after the mid-90s. “He’s like a recluse, right? He didn’t know the players. But he knew technique, knew footwork. Jimmy, for that moment in time, was huge.”

Also Read: Caroline Wozniacki talks of her daughter’s growing passion for the sport as she aims to succeed like her champion mother 

Jimmy Connors reciprocated the love Andy Roddick showed to him

Andy Roddick Jimmy Connors
Andy Roddick (L), Jimmy Connors (R) (Image via The Independent)

Hiring Jimmy Connors turned out to be a great decision for Andy Roddick as he moved up from No.10 to No.3 in the rankings only a year and a half later. But even Connors could not help Roddick end his search for the second Grand Slam title and it did affect the coach equally. 

The GQ reporter who interviewed Roddick claimed that Connors was equally invested in his American student and it reflected after the American’s quarterfinal loss at 2007 Wimbledon. The reporter claimed that Connors cried inconsolably after Roddick lost to Frenchman Richard Gasquet in a five-set thriller. It was a huge upset and Connors could not believe Roddick had lost.

 “Jimmy was just sitting there and he was crying his eyes out. He was convinced he could make Andy win Wimbledon. He believed in him,” the reporter quoted Stephen Little who saw Connors cry near the locker room.

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