Andy Roddick calls for a major change in tennis that he knows TV networks will hate
Andy Roddick has called for a change to the way final ceremonies are conducted at tennis events.
The American former pro, turned pundit, is the latest commentator to call out the strangeness of players who finish runner-up in a final being forced to give a speech.
Tommy Paul made headlines when he suggested the change earlier this year, stating: “I don’t think the runners-up should receive a trophy and go on stage to speak in front of everyone. There’s almost no other sport that forces you to do that.”
That’s an opinion that Roddick half concurs with, although he would make a minor change to the suggestion from his compatriot.
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Speaking on Served, Roddick said: “So, giving a speech in your worst moment, it’s not easy. The only time I’ve really, really, really struggled was 09 Wimbledon. I knew if I broke that it was over, right? If I got emotional that I wasn’t going to be able to get through it.
“And so you just kind of head down. There’s two things. It’s impossibly difficult and you can focus on that part of it. And in that moment where people know that you are torn apart, if you are even just okay, you’re going to get a lot of credit and change a lot of minds about you.
“I thought Ben Shelton in the speech he gave was maybe his be best front-facing moment that I’ve ever seen post US Open. I thought the things he said, I thought who he said them to. I thought the fact that both of the players went to the other teams, I thought kind of the the post-mortem of the US Open right after it finished, I thought they were both fantastic. So, it does suck. It’s not the easiest thing.
“If you can get through it and deliver something of substance, something authentic, something emotional, I think it does a lot for the way that people view you. But that might just be me. Maybe I’m too close to it.”
Roddick believes the runner-up speech should be a decision made by the player who has lost the final, however.
“I think I’ve come to a a conclusion on should they, shouldn’t they? Okay. It should just be the option of the runner up,” explained the Grand Slam champion.
“Just if they want to or not. Yeah, ‘I’m sorry. I’d like to say thanks to my team. Thank you for the opportunity’. Or: ‘I don’t think I can do it right now.’ I don’t know. Pretty simple. I know the TV networks won’t like that.”
It would be a change that would likely go down very well with the locker room. However, Roddick is probably right, the television networks will not like the pagaent of finals being toyed with too much.
