By Lori Riley/The Hartford Courant (MCT)
James Blake retired last year. Andy Roddick retired two years ago. The friendly rivals had faced off on the court once this summer before Thursday night, in Team Tennis, and let’s just say things did not go well for Blake.
“We don’t want to bring up the result,” Blake said Thursday afternoon. “Although [my] team won.”
“Speak for yourself,” Roddick said.
“Our team won, so I will bring that up,” Blake added. “We played in Team Tennis. It was fun. He clipped me.”
Blake’s Springfield (Missouri) Lasers team did beat Roddick’s Austin (Texas) Aces team the one night they played each other. But Roddick also beat Blake back in February in Colorado in the PowerShares Series champions showdown, 6-3.
So Blake was hoping for revenge Thursday night in his Legends exhibition match against Roddick, in front of 4,283 at the Connecticut Tennis Center. But it was not to be. Roddick won 3-6, 6-3 (10-8).
Blake was introduced as People Magazine’s ‘Sexiest Man Alive’; Roddick, as National Geographic’s ‘Sexiest Man Alive’, which drew laughter from the crowd. The two bantered during the match. Roddick chatted with fans. “Good job, James,” Roddick said after Blake double-faulted in the first set.
When Roddick served for the first time, fans started yelling out “140.” His first serve hit 133 mph and his third, an ace, hit 139.
Prior to the match, the two reminisced about their 2007 Davis Cup victory and how they’ve dealt with retirement.
Blake, who retired after the US Open last year, won twice in New Haven and lives with his family in Westport. When tournament director Anne Worcester asked Blake if he would play in an exhibition match, he agreed and texted a few of his friends. Roddick and Jim Courier said they would play. Blake beat Courier in an exhibition match Wednesday.
Roddick, who retired two years ago at the Open and now lives in the Los Angeles area, is busy. He works for FoxSports1 network. He’s also a minority owner in World TeamTennis and runs a foundation in his hometown of Austin, Texas.
“I still come out and do this stuff every once in a while,” Roddick said. “Then I do what my wife tells me also. That takes up a lot of time.”
Blake and Roddick were teammates on the 2007 Davis Cup team that won for the first time since 1995.
“I think the long process of not winning the Davis Cup, then to win it, that’s a moment we shared,” Roddick said. “I needed him in my career. I needed him to be that other singles player. That probably brought us closer. We knew we had to work inside of a team environment. That was a huge, huge deal for us.”
The two faced each other nine times during their playing days between 2002 and 2012, with Roddick winning six times. Blake defeated Roddick twice at Wimbledon, in 2006 and 2009 (Roddick retired when the first game was tied at 4) and in the final at Indianapolis in 2006.
“The fun thing about our rivalry was that it was a relatively friendly rivalry,” Blake said. “We played and wanted to beat each other’s brains in on the court but we were perfectly content to go out to dinner that night, too, no matter who won. Unfortunately, that was often him. That meant he picked up the check. That was OK. I won that way.”
The two still go at it when they play. Blake spoke of practicing with Roddick earlier this summer and apparently rackets and water bottles were flying around at times.
“I don’t know if you know that Andy’s a little bit competitive and hyper,” Blake said Wednesday. “So he likes playing whenever he gets the chance. Andy and I have played a decent amount. We had some fun practices out there in LA. Rackets get tossed. Water bottles. It’s still competitive.”
James Blake (left) reacts to a lost point to Andy Roddick (right) during their Legends match at the Connecticut Open in New Haven, Connecticut, on Thu
