Andy Roddick: Why Tennis Star Needs to Get Over Himself

Andy Roddick, as skilled as he continues to be, is akin to a child star who plateaued at a young age but continues to get solid yet unspectacular roles as an adult.

He's young but not as youthful as he used to be. He's a media maven but not the juggernaut that swooned America just a handful of years prior. Most importantly, he might be a tennis star, but he's not the superstar in the sense we're judging him by recent accolades, as opposed to his laurels.

Just eight years ago, at the age of 21, Roddick bested every peer in his wake to reign supreme as the top dog in tennis. Since then, the all-American boy next door has been struggling to reach the surface, like a diver rising up, only to bang his head on the proverbial glass ceiling.

Roddick During Better Days

The glass ceiling might crack in different spots, ready to burst, but it never does. It's only an inch or two in thickness, as translucent as they come, enabling Roddick to see and visualize what it would be like to recapture the magic of his halcyon days, but there he remains behind it, confounded and distressed.

The people that put him there, just on the "edge of glory" (available on iTunes), leaving him fed but not overly satiated, are his arch nemesis on the court, Roger Federer, and the ineffably gorgeous Brooklyn Decker, whose assets are sure to distract any warrior from other life pursuits.

Decker Decks and Dashes Roddick's Game

The stoic but deadly Federer just had to stymie Roddick's chance at immortality on not one, two or even three occasions, but several times over!

Recounting what is sure to draw the ire of Brooklyn Decker's husband are the mind-mashing memories of, for instance, the Wimbledon Finals in '04, '05 and '09, the latter of which was especially painful after being so agonizingly competitive.

Undermining Roddick's game (and knees) further is the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit sapphire Brooklyn Decker, whose undulating curves, sultry lips and gold-plated hair have incessantly hypnotized Roddick's game—in effect lulling him into a contented stupor—since April 2009.

It's Time for Roddick to Mature in More Ways Than One

These confluence of events—age, Federer and Decker—led up to the angry crescendo displayed in full force by Roddick following an embarrassing defeat to South Africa's Kevin Anderson in the first round of the China Open.

After drowning in two straight sets—6-4, 7-5—Roddick was needled by a Chinese reporter about the possibility of retirement.

Unsurprisingly, the incensed Roddick shot back like a cannon at full throttle, asking—actually, demanding—the reporter retire instead before storming off like a toddler predisposed to flailing tantrums. Where's mommy?

In the end, the reporter may have gotten his "comeuppance," in verbal-jousting fashion, but Roddick still has some soul-searching (the soul exists above the nether region) and growing up to do before he can be triumphant in knowing he rode the crest of time, as a tennis star, as gracefully and adeptly as possible.