Facing Prime Pete Sampras, Andy Roddick’s Off-Season Workout Routine & More | Q&Andy

Summary

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Served with Andy Roddick: "Facing Prime Pete Sampras, Andy Roddick’s Off-Season Workout Routine & More | Q&Andy"

Episode Date: February 12, 2026
Hosts: Andy Roddick, Mike (Co-host)

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Overview

This Q&A episode features tennis legend Andy Roddick and his co-host Mike as they tackle listener questions spanning the evolution of tennis, changes in the sport since Roddick's retirement, training routines, media engagement for younger fans, and Andy's memories of playing against Pete Sampras. With an informal, candid style, the duo provide personal stories, practical advice, and honest takes on the sport's hottest topics while keeping the conversation lively and accessible.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. How Tennis Has Changed Since Andy’s Retirement

• Question: Have you ever realized you "aren't a player anymore" because of a conversation about something now common on tour but unfamiliar to you?
• Andy on being out of touch with some changes (01:57):

  "I was not really around the game at all for eight years. You know, I feel like I needed a break before I could love again... Lots change, I’m sure."

• Topics unfamiliar to Andy: Mixed doubles formats at Slams with shootouts, significant changes in tournament logistics and preparation, especially with roof closures and new equipment standards.
• On equipment and surfaces (03:15):

  "Seb Korda and I were talking about the balls... Wimbledon in the 90s, the court was so fast and the balls were so light that servers just walk back and forth. It’s not that way anymore."

2. Should Masters 1000 & Davis Cup Matches Return to Best-of-Five Sets?

• Context: From 1990 to 2007, some Masters 1000 finals were best-of-five sets.
• Roddick’s firm position (04:16):

  "Not all the Masters had best of five sets. But... I don’t like starting a tournament in one format and then finishing in another format."

• Player concerns: Wear and tear, TV scheduling, lack of player support for longer matches.
  • On women’s five-set discussion (04:49):

    "From what I’ve heard, Coco doesn’t want to. Sabalenka says she doesn’t want to. What are we doing?"

• Unique value of slams (05:32):

  "I think it makes the slams on the men’s side with the three out of five, it makes them this extra special, like, litmus test."

• Summary: Transitioning formats mid-tournament or adding more five-set matches would only exacerbate existing challenges with physical strain and scheduling.

3. Is Tennis Doing Enough to Engage Younger Audiences?

• Question inspired by the NFL’s success at reaching all age groups (06:25):
  • Andy’s enthusiastic aside (06:55):

    "Did we just get called media?... Credentials. Submit it to the slams right now."

  • Accessibility and content delivery (07:48):

    "We can only talk about tennis on a network, we’re missing a huge swath of fans who want it when they want it on their phone, when they’re driving..."

• Mike adds:

  "If you want to watch us on YouTube, you find us on YouTube, but if you want us on Spotify, we’re there too. Like, and I’m an expert on all those socials. So yeah, super big expert at TikTok. I’m not even an expert…"

• Andy’s takeaway (08:51):

  "A buffet of options of how to consume I think is the best way to get to all types of audiences. Five years ago versus now, can you find the spots in tennis for a 6, 10 year old to consume? Absolutely."

4. Andy’s Off-Season Workout Routine

• Question: What exactly did Andy do in his famous track workouts pre-tournament? (09:37)
• Andy details his routine (09:52):
  • Mix of short sprints (10, 12, 40, 60 meters), hurdle work for hip mobility, a lot of core and mobility exercises, repeated 300s ("the worst"), and resisted band training, not heavy weights.
  • Notable advice:

    "Do not put a 7 year old in a weight room. Please don’t do it. Bands are great, resistance training is great. Remember, anything you put on in tennis you have to carry around for an entire match."

  • On mobility:

    "That wiry mobile muscle is, I think, where you look. I mean look at Novak, right? That’s kind of what you want."

• Advice for parents: Do intense training only in the off-season, not during tournaments; focus on functional movement.

5. Adapting Training to Tournament Schedules or Time Zones

• Does Andy train at "match times" to adjust his body clock?
  • Andy’s perspective (11:31):

    "Training in December, when you know you’re going to fly across Earth and be 16 hours ahead or behind makes no... No. But at the US Open, I would always try to get a hit in at night the week before, because I played most of the night sessions."

6. Facing Prime Pete Sampras – US Open 2002 Quarterfinal

• Question: Did a foot injury hurt your movement in that match?
• Andy’s honest recollection (12:29):
  • Had previously beaten Sampras and thought it was winnable.
  • Realized he’d never seen "prime" Sampras until that match –

    "I’ll tell you what I didn’t know. I didn’t know what Prime Pete looked like. And then all of a sudden, about 45 minutes into that match, I was done, cooked. He was all over me, just smothered me. And I’m like, oh, this is like, Major Pete Sampras."

  • Classic moment (13:18):

    "He came in... so quick, and he’d knock off a volley. And then he kind of looked at me like, ‘This is what you’re gonna deal with.’ …I just froze. My foot had nothing to do with that loss. It was all Pete Sampras."

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On being left behind by the game:

  "I feel like I needed a break before I could love again." – Andy Roddick (01:57)

• On media credentials:

  "Did we just get called media?... Team, write that down. Submit this for credentials." – Andy Roddick (06:55)

• On children’s workouts:

  "Do not put a 7 year old in a weight room. Please don’t do it." – Andy Roddick (10:14)

• On facing Sampras:

  "I didn’t know what Prime Pete looked like…about 45 minutes into that match, I was done, cooked. He was all over me, just smothered me." – Andy Roddick (12:48)

• Summing up his loss:

  "My foot had nothing to do with that loss. It was all Pete Sampras." – Andy Roddick (13:43)

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Key Timestamps for Major Segments

• 01:32 – First listener question: Changes since retirement
• 03:56 – Should best-of-five return to Masters 1000?
• 06:25 – Does tennis engage younger audiences?
• 09:37 – Andy’s track workout explained
• 11:31 – Matching training to match times/time zones
• 12:29 – Memory: Facing prime Pete Sampras

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Tone & Style

The episode flows with playful banter, Roddick’s characteristic candor, and a healthy dose of honesty about tennis’s quirks, both past and present. Andy and Mike’s rapport creates an accessible yet occasionally irreverent tennis conversation that goes beyond stats to the lived experience of pro tennis.

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Transcript

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[Andy Roddick]

Welcome to Q and Andy. Again, thank you for all the questions in advance. And Mike, tell us where they can send questions for next week's episode or any week, really.

[Mike (Podcast Co-host)]

Yeah, you can email into [e-mail] or go to surfpodcast.com click on the link and submit your questions there. Or hit us up on socials. We'll find them.

[Andy Roddick]

Just hit us up.

[Mike (Podcast Co-host)]

Hit us up.

[Andy Roddick]

What? What do we got?

[Mike (Podcast Co-host)]

First up, we got a question from Oscar asking about, since you retired in 2012, have you ever been in a tennis conversation discussing a specific topic when you realized you are not a player anymore because you haven't heard about it? Meaning, like, since 2012, what's kind of changed? What conversation have you potentially been in where you're like, you know what? I never experienced that. I don't know how to comment.

[Andy Roddick]

I'm sure I have. And also, I was not really around the game at all for eight years. You know, I was. You know, I feel like I needed a break before I could love again. Yeah, I guess, like, timing with roofs closing, like, they didn't have a wet bulb. They just threw us out there to, like, wet bulb to, like, melt into the court. Yeah. So I mean, essentially the question is like, has stuff changed that you didn't experience? And the answer is for sure yes. Right. Like, I'm trying to think of specific advance. I think the tenants of tennis are all kind of the same. But. But yeah, like, did I ever Play mixed doubles at a, at a. At a slam, in, like, a shootout? No. You know, so you have to think about those things and. But. But the conversation is, would you have done it? I got asked that a lot at the, like, the mixed doubles last year at the US Open. I go. I don't. I don't know, because it wasn't my groove to. I was kind of like, coco, I'm like, I'm not disrupting preparation for this, but, yeah, for sure. Like, I have not experienced everything because I've been gone 14 years now. Lots change, I'm sure.

[Mike (Podcast Co-host)]

Is there anything about surfaces? When I read this question, I was kind of thinking a lot about surfaces. Is there anything about surfaces that have changed a lot that you just have to have played on it at scale?

[Andy Roddick]

Well, I get asked also, like, stuff changes, and you're trying to compare contrast and see what the similarities. I was talking with Seb Korda in the Dallas locker room the other day, and we were talking about the balls and, like, how they fluff up and when did it switch? And, you know, at Wimbledon in the 90s, the court was so fast and the balls were so light that servers just walk back and forth. It's not that way anymore. So something changed. And so you're trying to find. You're trying to dissect, like, what's court, what's balls? When did it switch? When were the most extreme switches? What years? Yeah, so, like, I think it's always changing. And Seb was interested in, like, what was it like before? And I'm like, what's it like now? And so then you try to kind of find the middle ground of. Of whatever it is.

[Mike (Podcast Co-host)]

Next up is from our friend Rupert. And this just has a little bit of context that from 1990 to 2007, Masters 1000 had best of five set finals. His question is, should we bring that back for Masters 1000s in the Nita ATP Finals, or maybe even at all the matches during the Davis Cup?

[Andy Roddick]

Not all the Masters had best of best of five sets. Just some did. But, like, I remember Rome, Aoria, Nadal. Here's what. Here's where that goes sideways, right? We talk about wear and tear on our players. We talk about. Also, I don't like starting a tournament in one format and then finishing it in another format. Like all of these conversations, and they're even having the conversation about the win. Well, maybe from quarters on, it should be three out of five. I'm like, that's a completely different tournament.

[Mike (Podcast Co-host)]

That's what Craig Tyler just said about women's. Right.

[Andy Roddick]

It's a. Well, one. The whole women's playing best of five thing, just so like. And you can't say anything without someone being pissed at you. Like, it's. From what I've heard, Coco doesn't want to. Sabalenka says she doesn't want to. What are we doing? What are we doing? It's easier to package tennis when it's two out of three. It's more predictable. It's not, it's not as if you're going from an hour and a half potential finish to six hours. Like, it's not easy for TV scheduling and so to add more, more stress tests to that, more outliers to the TV schedule. And oh, by the way, it's not something the players are pushing for. What are we, what are we trying to solve?

[Mike (Podcast Co-host)]

Yeah, like Davis cup already has a participation problem. If all of a sudden they're moving everything to five sets, you're like, geez, I'll put this.

[Andy Roddick]

You're less likely to want, like, no, I. If you start a tournament best of three, it should finish best of three, Davis Cup. Do we need to fly across earth to random locations to play five sets and then go somewhere else and sw. Like, I think we need to make things less physically taxing. And also what I do, I think it makes the slams on the men's side with the three out of five, it makes them this extra special, like, litmus test. Right. I think it. Not a single person playing those masters 1000s would get to the finals and be like, oh, you know what? I'm pumped about five sets today.

[Mike (Podcast Co-host)]

Yeah. When it's just random.

[Andy Roddick]

Yeah. I think we're in a good spot.

[Mike (Podcast Co-host)]

I mean, they got rid of it for a reason, right?

[Andy Roddick]

They did. And I don't, I don't know that anyone's going. There's not a single person that's playing the finals of Rome going, gosh, if this was only. If we only had the potential for six hours today, that'd be great. Going into Roland Garros in seven days. No.

[Mike (Podcast Co-host)]

Next up, we got a question from Racket Lifestyle. Being in tennis media, do you think the sport does enough to engage younger audiences that consume media in a completely different way than the generation above them? I wanted this question in here because after watching the super bowl this week, they, The NFL has figured it out, right. Of how to engage a 5 year old up all the way through a 65 year old in the same programming. So that's why I wanted to Insert this question. What's your overall thought?

[Andy Roddick]

I'm pretty pumped.

[Mike (Podcast Co-host)]

Yeah.

[Andy Roddick]

You ready for this?

[Mike (Podcast Co-host)]

Yeah.

[Andy Roddick]

Did we just get called media?

[Mike (Podcast Co-host)]

We did.

[Andy Roddick]

We did.

[Mike (Podcast Co-host)]

Team, write that down. Submit this for credentials.

[Andy Roddick]

Credentials. Submit it to the slams right now. Get us.

[Mike (Podcast Co-host)]

Good job.

[Andy Roddick]

Some credentials. Cuz someone thought we were media.

[Mike (Podcast Co-host)]

Thanks. Racket Lifestyle.

[Andy Roddick]

Racket Lifestyle. What up? I. I don't know. I think it's trending that way. I, I think, I don't, I don't want to say we're ahead of the curve. I think frankly with like this, all this now. We started podcast two years ago and there weren't really many or there were few and now it's feels like every 10 seconds someone is, is, is, is now starting one. But, but that's great. I think people can. You know, one of the things when we started this show, I remember when we were chatting, it's like we have to meet people where they consume their information.

[Mike (Podcast Co-host)]

Right.

[Andy Roddick]

We can only talk about tennis on a network. We're missing a huge swath of fans who want it when they want it on their phone, when they're driving, when they're like, we can't just hope that they're sitting in front of a TV at all times. Like that's not the way that any media is going. I mean, but you have a better feel for this. I mean you have a, you have the background and actually how to deliver this. You, you would have a better opinion than I would.

[Mike (Podcast Co-host)]

Yeah, I mean, I think, I think ultimately exactly what you just said, right? Like meet people where they are. I think that's been our strategy from day one was if you want to watch us on YouTube, you find us on YouTube, but if you want us on Spotify, we're there too. Like, and I'm an expert on all those socials. So yeah, super big expert at TikTok. I'm not even an expert, but I do think the, the gen. The age gap for interest in tennis is very large. Right. I think, I think there's 16 year olds that want to watch and listen to what you have to say about strategy and respecting what, what you've been through. And I think there are fans that, you know, watched you growing up that want to come in and listen, but at the end of the day they all still want to watch tennis. I think it's about meeting them where they are.

[Andy Roddick]

Yeah, that's it. And it's like some people want to watch clips, some people want to watch tennis. So you have to just make that available. And I think if we do anything. Well, because it's probably not the content of our show very often but like I think we kind of this week's show a buffet of options of how to consume. I think is the best way to get to all types of audiences. But yeah, if you five years ago versus now, is it easier for, or can you find the spots in tennis for a 6, 10 year old to consume? Absolutely without. I mean I remember, I like it's hard for when you're seven years old and you're a fan of the game to sit down and watch seven hours of a match or four hours or two hours and you know, I, I don't, I don't think we should have that expectation for, for young fans.

[Mike (Podcast Co-host)]

Speaking of young fans, Dunstan Nell sent in. Andy speaks a lot about how we could go. How he would go down to the track every morning when prepping for tournaments. Exactly. What exercises would Andy do which I could encourage my kids to do when prepping for his tournaments?

[Andy Roddick]

That's, that's, it's, it's. It wasn't the same thing every day. Mondays were like 10, 12, 40, 60. So short bursts. We did a lot of hurdle work. So for like hip mobility.

[Mike (Podcast Co-host)]

Like, like you do the lower hurdles.

[Andy Roddick]

No, it would be like you'd like, you would do one over, one under, one over one under. So it's basically different types of movements. The worst days were like repeat three hundreds. Those were the worst. You'd want to like vomit A lot of natural, like tennis. You don't really need like I don't know, med ball, functional rotation stuff where it's like you're, you're going against that. Bands are great. Do not get. I don't know how old she said her, her kids are, but do not put a 7 year old in a weight room. Please don't do it. Bands are great, resistance training is great. Remember anything you put on in tennis you have to carry around for an entire match. Right. So it's like that wiry mobile muscle is, is I think where you look, I mean look at Novak, right? Like that, that's, that's kind of what you, you want. But it was different all the time in. So we'd have a five day Monday through Friday where we'd get sent at the beginning of the week if it was off season. So not like in the middle of a tournament. Parents don't go to the track the day before. You have to play. Like that's not, that's not the one. But yeah, a lot of mobility A lot of core work, a lot of hurdles, a lot of sprints, a lot of short. I want to. I want to vomit thinking about it.

[Mike (Podcast Co-host)]

You know, it's. When I was covering UFC stuff and covering mma, what I always thought was interesting, they would train at the time that they knew they were going to fight because they would come out late. When you're prepping for a tournament, would you go out and train knowing you were going to be in a different time zone?

[Andy Roddick]

No.

[Mike (Podcast Co-host)]

Soon?

[Andy Roddick]

No.

[Mike (Podcast Co-host)]

Like, would you ramp your body up if you had the lead in time?

[Andy Roddick]

I would. I mean, training in December, when you know you're going to fly across Earth and be 16 hours ahead or behind or whatever it makes. No, it's. No. But I like. To your point, I think at the US Open, I would always try to get a hit in at night the week before, because I played most of the night sessions for a while. So, yeah, I think you would acclimatize once you got on site, but I wouldn't do track workouts at night. I didn't need to do that, especially because the time zones aren't the same either.

[Mike (Podcast Co-host)]

We have a last question from Phil, and I thought this was appropriate. I liked it. Especially shout out to Lindsey Vaughn. Skiing without an acl. Tragedies here fall and get hurt. But, you know, speedy recovery to her. But what are your memories of your 2002 U.S. open quarterfinal with Pete Sampras? There was talk at the time that you perhaps had a foot injury which hurt your movement. Any truth to that?

[Andy Roddick]

Everyone always has something. I'll tell you what happened that match. You ready? There's no. There's no. I had beaten Pete twice, and so it was the year before. He was like, three in the world. And then I beat him that year in a final in a tournament in Houston. And I was pretty convinced that, obviously, I understand the greatness of Pete Sampers. I grew up watching it. Like, I saw it, and I was like. As far as, like, great players go, I was like, it doesn't feel like the worst matchup for me because my serve can kick up out of his zone. There were different things. I had played four sets and won four sets against him. I was like, oh, okay. I have general understanding. I'll tell you what I didn't know. I didn't know what Prime Pete looked like. And then all of a sudden, about 45 minutes into that match, I was done, cooked. He was all over me, like, just smothered me. And I'm like, oh, this is like, major Pete Sampras. He came in on, like, a first serve, and he get like he was. He would come in, he was so quick, and he'd knock off a volley. And then he kind of looked at me like. Like, this is. This is what you're gonna deal with. And he gave me that little brow. He used to just flick it. And he just gave me a little flick and I. I just froze. My foot had nothing to do with that loss. It was all Pete Sampras.

[Mike (Podcast Co-host)]

That's it. That's all we got for Q and Andy this week.

[Andy Roddick]

Great job, Mike. We'll see you next week.

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