Andy Roddick will retire after US Open

It is hard to believe that it was 12 years ago that Andy Roddick was considered the next great US male tennis player. He was supposed to be the heir apparent for Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi. It looked like he was fulfilling that promise with a US Open win in 2003. But that will be the only Grand Slam title of his career, as Roddick announced at a press conference on Thursday that he will retire once he is done playing in this year’s US Open.

Matt Cronin of Tennis Reporters was the first to report the story.

Roddick will probably be thought of as someone who didn’t live up to the hype, but the truth may be that he just happened to be a really good tennis player that showed up at the wrong time. Roger Federer began to dominate the game, and Roddick just wasn’t on his level.

The 30-year-old will retire with career wins of over $20 million. He did reach the #1 ranking following the US Open win in 2003, and is currently 20th overall. He reached the 3 Wimbledon finals, losing to Federer each time.  The US is still waiting for the next great tennis player.