Andy Roddick: "I regret not being able to have conversations with my father after I was a father"

Andy Roddick recently opened up about his relationship with his father Jerry, admitting that he regrets not being able to have conversations with Jerry after he became a dad himself.

Jerry Roddick died of a heart attack when his son was 32, in August 2014. Andy Roddick and his wife Brooklyn Decker had their first child - a son named Hank - in September 2015, following which they had a daughter, Stevie, in 2017.

Speaking to GQ Sports, Roddick, who did not have the best of relationships with his father, said about his belief that he would have been easier to deal with as an adult than he was as a youngster.

The former World No. 1 also said that his father Jerry would have been easier to deal with as a grandfather than as a father.

“I think I would’ve been an easier adult to deal with than a young adult to deal with,” Andy Roddick said.

“And I think he would’ve been a better grandfather to deal with than father. Maybe I just want it to be that way. I don’t know. … I regret not being able to have conversations with my father after I was a father.”

As for his father's penchant to be overprotective of him, Roddick was more forgiving now than he was in the past, conceding that he "understood" his methods even if he did not always entirely agree with them.

“It wasn’t a control thing,” Andy Roddick said. “It was a worry thing. He was just so protective. I don’t agree with his methods, but I now understand them.”

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Andy Roddick on possibilty of coaching American male tennis players in future: “The kids would have to be grown up to where if I left for two weeks they wouldn’t really notice I was gone"

Andy Roddick, 2011 US Open - Day 7

Andy Roddick also opened about the chances of him becoming a coach for an American male player on tour in the future. He said that he would be open to it 10 years down the line after his children are all grown up.

If such an opportunity arises, the 2003 US Open champion would look forward to helping someone 'break his own curse' -- being the most recent American man to win a Grand Slam with his triumph at Flushing Meadows in 2002.

“The kids would have to be grown up to where if I left for two weeks they wouldn’t really notice I was gone,” Andy Roddick said.

“So that’s ten years away. If there are still no winners, and there’s a guy you can help and maybe you break your own curse? That’d be interesting. I want someone to do it.”