Andy Roddick and the Biggest Disappointments in Tennis History

Tennis history is filled with players who have never lived up to their hype. Just about every year we see one of those stories where the question is asked, "What happened to them?" 

It's not easy to pinpoint why some players fall off on their path to greatness. Some are marred by injuries, others simply have mental or emotional issues they aren't able to work out.

Maybe it's their training, who knows?

There have been several players, however, that really stood out at one point in their career, but have ended up being a disappointment one way or another.

Andy Roddick

Well this one is no surprise. Andy Roddick has been the face of American tennis for years now. That statement is a good indication of the lack of success U.S. players have had recently.

At the age of 21, Roddick became the No. 1 ranked player in the world after winning the 2003 U.S. Open. His ride at the top was short lived. The following year Roger Federer won the 2004 Australian Open and became the new No. 1 in the world.

The 04' Australian Open was the only Grand Slam that Andy Roddick ever received the No. 1 seed. 

He has been to three Wimbledon finals and four Australian Open semifinals, but has never been able to accomplish anything more. His most recent Grand Slam final was in 2009 at Wimbledon. He played 77 games in the final match against Roger Federer, losing the final set 16-14.

This is as close as we will probably ever see Roddick to winning another Grand Slam. He is now ranked No. 21 in the world. He just turned 29 in August, so we know he is past his prime.

Roddick has always been held in such high regard for his monster serve. He's been able to reach 150+ mph in the past. With a serve like this, people always expected great things from Roddick, but nothing ever happened.

Marat Safin

Marat Safin has always been revered as a player who could have been one of the best in history. He had tremendous talent, but several things hindered his journey in the tennis world.

Safin reached the No. 1 ranking in 2000 when he won the U.S. Open. This sounds a lot like the first slide doesn't it?

Unfortunately, injuries held Safin back throughout most of his career. He missed a good part of several tennis seasons and could never really get to a consistent level of playing.

He has also cited other issues that prevented him from playing his best at times. Safin has said he has been too nervous or not in the right shape to compete at the level he was capable of.

His temper was another aspect that was much more apparent to fans. The video shown is basically a montage of Safin losing it.

Safin had a monster backhand and powerful groundstrokes. If you ask anyone who's watched tennis over the years, they will probably list him as one of the greatest players who never lived up to full potential.

He won the 2005 Australian Open title, defeating Roger Federer in the semifinals and native Lleyton Hewitt in the finals. This was going to be his glorious return to the top, but what happened next? More injuries of course.

Lleyton Hewitt

Lleyton Hewitt is yet another player that showed brilliance at such a young age. The Aussie won his first ATP event at the age of 17 against Andre Agassi in 1998. 

In 2001, Hewitt became the youngest player ever to be ranked No. 1 in the world. At the age of 20 he won the U.S. Open, defeating Pete Sampras in straight sets, and jumped to the top of the rankings shortly after. 

Now after accomplishing this much is only a few years, you would think he was on pace to do something big. However, things didn't turn out like fans expected. He didn't have any major injuries until later on in his career, so you can't blame how things turned out on that.

Hewitt simply did not progress like he was supposed to. He won Wimbledon in 2002, and that would turn out to be his only other Grand Slam title. After being named the ATP Player of the Year two straight years from 2001-02, Hewitt never produced any similar results.

Today, at the age of 30, Hewitt is ranked No. 165 in the world. Bernard Tomic, a rising Australian star, reportedly turned down an offer from Hewitt's crew to hit with the former No. 1.

Apparently Tomic didn't think Hewitt was even good enough to practice with. 

Amelie Mauresmo

Amelie Mauresmo became the No. 1 woman player in the world in 2004 despite never winning a Grand Slam. This was often a main point of criticism in her career, the fact that she often faltered in the big tournaments.

Mauresmo was named Junior World Champion in 1996 after winning the Junior French Open and Wimbledon titles. She would not win a Grand Slam until 2006.

She's often been said to be the greatest woman to never win a Grand Slam before 2006. It was publicized that Mauresmo didn't have the mental toughness to win a major. Everyone agreed that she was an extremely talented player, that was never the question. The question was, would she ever be able to get past the vulnerability to pressure?

Mauresmo eventually silenced her critics, winning the Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2006. She even joked afterwards about the fact that she didn't want to hear about her nerves anymore. She knew what people were saying, but could you blame them?

She retired in 2009 with two Grand Slam titles for her career, but most tennis fans will agree that with the talent she had, Mauresmo could have gone so much further in the record books.

Marcelo Rios

Marcelo Rios is probably the least-recognizable name listed. There was once a time the young Chilean was destined for greatness. Unfortunately, another case of chronic injuries depleted his career.

Rios claimed the No. 1 ATP ranking in 1998 at the age of 23. Just four weeks later, he suffered his first setback. A back injury kept him out of the Master Series tournament at Monte Carlo, costing him his top ranking.

Several months later, he regained No. 1 status, but again it would be short lived, finishing second in 1998 to Pete Sampras.

Over the next couple of years Rios dealt with several more leg and back injuries, and in 2004, he finally decided to retire. His back plagued him throughout his career. He attempted to make a comeback in 2007, but retired again due to the same back issues he had experienced in the past.

Patrick McEnroe commented on Rios when he was playing, saying he didn't even look like he had a strategy on the court. McEnroe said he seemed to just rely on his talent and go out there and swing away. You can find all this information at thebiofile.com in an article titled, "Marcelo Rios: The Man We Barely Knew."

Rios was undoubtedly an amazing talent. Fans loved watching his jumping backhand. We can only sit here and wonder what he could have done with a healthy body.

Justine Henin

Now before you start writing hate comments, hear me out on this one. Justine Henin has by far achieved much more than everyone else on this list. But the reason she is on here is because of the fact that she could have accomplished so much more.

Henin was a dominant force in women's tennis, but she retired abruptly while she in her prime. At the age of 25, Henin had already won seven Grand Slam titles and was No. 1 in the women's rankings when she called it quits for the first time.

The sudden retirement caught everyone off guard. Her announcement came just 11 days before the French Open was set to kick off, a tournament she had won the past three years.

How dominant was Henin? Let's put it this way, she won back-to-back French Opens in 2006 and 2007 without losing a single set. We'll never know how many she could have won.

Henin returned in 2010 and reached the Australian Open final, but came up short losing to Serena Williams. Henin injured her elbow at Wimbledon that year, and officially threw in the towel for the second time early in 2011.

Call me crazy for putting her on this list, but she was one of the biggest disappointments to me. Not because she failed to accomplish anything, but the fact that she shocked everyone by retiring at the height of her career.

She could have gone on to win maybe twice as many Grand Slams as she finished with.