Andy Roddick, Men's Tennis | featured news

Always a fan favorite at the United States Open, and the 2003 champion, Andy Roddick headed into retirement with a 6-7 (1), 7-6 (4), 6-2, 6-4 loss to Juan Martin del Potro... More than an hour after hitting one last shot as a professional tennis player, then delivering one last, voice-wavering speech to an adoring U.S. Open audience, Andy Roddick exited the locker room one last time.

Andy Roddick, the top American man for the last decade, and the last American man to win a Grand Slam event, will retire from tennis after the US Open. Roddick made the announcement in a news conference Thursday.

The gate-minders at Court 13 erected barriers to control the ticket-holders racing over from 10,103-seat Louis Armstrong Stadium, desperate for a spot on bleachers designed to hold 584. Those who made it inside Court 13 before an usher shouted, “No more people!” got the rare privilege of watching world-class tennis in a high school-size venue Thursday at the U.S. Open.