Mandatory Credit: Amber Searls-USA TODAY Sports

‘Took Me 10 Weeks To Change My Mind About You’ – Andy Roddick Recalls First Encounter Against Rafael Nadal, Raves About the Evolution of “King of Clay”

Andy Roddick praises Nadal during his Served podcast interview with the 22-time Grand Slam Champion!

Mandatory Credit: Amber Searls-USA TODAY Sports

When two legends of a sport come together for a sit-down interview after the end of their glorious careers, it can mean only one thing. This is the time when the sporting icons share a heart-to-heart connection and praise each other’s game, mental strength, and physical attributes, while discussing how the opponent made them elevate their own game to a higher standard.

Tennis fans witnessed a similar occasion when former tennis great Andy Roddick invited 22-time Grand Slam Champion Rafael Nadal for a one-on-one discussion on his ‘Served with Andy Roddick’ podcast.

The two tennis maestros shared a deep and heartwarming discussion in which Roddick pointed out how his opinion of the Spaniard changed ever so quickly within a span of just 10 weeks.

Roddick’s First Impression of a Young Nadal Changed Within No Time

At one point in the discussion between the two players, Roddick alluded to his thoughts on a young Rafael Nadal who was just bursting onto the scene. The pair met on court for the first time at the 2004 US Open when Nadal was just 18 years old and Roddick was already an established star, having won the 2003 US Open.

During their first career encounter, Roddick mentioned how he felt after the match that Nadal was a good player, who had already beaten former world number one Carlos Moya the previous year.

“The first time that we played, I’d heard your name. You had beaten Moya the year before. I had to (serve into the body), and every time I played a young player at Arthur Ashe, I did the same thing. Normally, you do that to someone who’s on Ashe for the first time, and they laugh, and you didn’t give me anything. It’s like you just looked away, and acted like I didn’t hit it at 150 (mph). ”

Andy Roddick and Rafael Nadal talk about their 2004 US Open match when Andy "almost killed" Rafa with the serve. pic.twitter.com/XcA2WwitJl
— asud (@asud683385) March 12, 2025

But, following that US Open match in 2004, Roddick also felt that Nadal hadn’t developed a troublesome serve yet, and the American thought that he could bully the youngster on court.

“We played ten weeks later. I remember after the US Open, I said that this kid is really good. He doesn’t serve big enough yet. There are some things that I feel like I could bully him around the court, and obviously it’s a fast, hard court.”

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However, fast forward just ten weeks and the pair met once again at the Davis Cup Final between Spain and the United States in a round-robin clash on an indoor clay court. The story this time was quite different as Nadal stormed to a 6-7⁽⁶⁾, 6-2, 7-6⁽⁶⁾, 6-2 win over the American.

And it took me exactly ten weeks to change my mind about you in a completely different way. We play at Davis Cup. You made me win every point five and six times. And I remember sitting down and I go – I need to find a way to get something easier. My body is hurting. This kid’s body isn’t hurting. And I walked off the court that time, and I went – Oh okay, he will be great!”

The evolution of an icon 🎾

You can catch the full story and so much more in our latest episode with Rafa Nadal, on YouTube and wherever you listen to podcasts! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/FbVAmfagoa
— Served with Andy Roddick (@Served_Podcast) March 12, 2025

Roddick and Nadal Rivalry

The two matches that Roddick spoke of in this discussion were the first two matches he played against Nadal. Since then, until the American retired in 2012, the pair met 8 more times, with Nadal winning 6 of those.

The overall head-to-head between the two stands at 7-3 in favor of the 14-time French Open winner. Of course, when Roddick played against Nadal for the first time and witnessed his game, he felt the Spaniard would be a great player, but little did he know that in 20 years time he would be sharing a mic with one of the most decorated players in the history of the sport.

Andy Roddick

Andy Roddick served podcast

Rafael Nadal

Devavrat Kulkarni

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I am a content writer for the NFL team, and joined The Playoffs after working with Sportskeeda and NFL Analysis as an NFL writer. After starting my professional career as a French-to-English translator, working as a content writer is a new adventure for me. I started out in the sports media field for two main reasons: my love for sports in general, especially the NFL, NBA, and Tennis, as well as my passion for writing. The best part of this job is that I get to write a variety of pieces with the freedom to explore content from various angles. It also enables me to stay up to date with the sporting world, which otherwise can be difficult to do in the day-to-day grind. In a world full of chaos, sports unite and entertain like nothing else!