“This Guy Just Gets it Consistently!”: When Andy Roddick Was The First To Laud Andy Murray For Big-Hearted Ukraine Gesture

Tanmay Roy
|Published

British tennis star Andy Murray has been in the news for taking a stand for himself. The 3-time Grand Slam winner (two Wimbledon) and 2-time Olympic champion hasn’t been in the best of form of late. This became the point of distasteful criticism for a BBC journalist, which the tennis giant rebuked. He clapped back at the journalist and found vehement support from fellow tennis player Andy Roddick. This wasn’t the first time Roddick wholeheartedly supported Murray.

To give some more context, Andy Murray, age 36, has been going through a lean patch in his career and has remained winless in 2024. He suffered three early defeats at the Australian Open, Open Sud de France, and the ATP 250 tournament in Montpellier. This led the BBC journalist to suggest Murray, albeit in an unflattering and rude manner, to retire and not tarnish his legacy. Murray gave a strong reply to him over on X.

Accepting his current slump in form, Murray promises to make a strong comeback and reveals he is nowhere near retirement. His good pal Andy Roddick also came out in support and bashed the journalist for being disrespectful and a “dumb, thirsty article.”

Loading embed tweet https://twitter.com/andy_murray/status/1752416171511476557?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Loading embed tweet https://twitter.com/andyroddick/status/1752422901750628708?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Loading embed tweet https://twitter.com/andyroddick/status/1752468610784563409?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

With everything that’s going on with Murray, it’s worth noting that this wasn’t the first time Roddick came out in his support. The former World No. 1 from America lauded Murray when he donated his prize money to those war-affected in Ukraine. In 2022, when Murray announced his philanthropic initiative, Roddick couldn’t have been prouder.

Loading embed tweet https://twitter.com/andy_murray/status/1501229314208980994?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Loading embed tweet https://twitter.com/andy_murray/status/1501228739447111685?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Andy Roddick responded to the news by lauding heaps of praise on him.

“This guy just consistently gets it. Like every time,” wrote Roddick on X.

Andy Roddick has always been a strong supporter of Andy Murray

To further stretch the Andy Roddick-Andy Murray friendship and bond, the American tennis star praised Murray back in 2019, albeit in a humorous way. Ahead of the Australian Open that year, an emotional Murray announced his retirement. Hearing this news, the tennis world, including Roddick, paid tribute to him.

Roddick called Murray an “Absolute Legend” and that he wishes for a “healthy” and “strong” retirement for him. Murray was struggling for a long time then with his hip injury and needed surgery.

What followed for Murray was almost miraculous. The tennis star marked his return to the sport, coming out of retirement, emphatically. He won the doubles championship at the Queen’s Club by beating Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury in the finals. This was his first title in two years. He followed it up with the European Cup win by beating Stan Wawrinka in the finals. He also remains one of the few players to defeat the Big Three and Carlos Alcaraz.

If Andy Murray could come back from hip surgery and win back-to-back championships, he can surely make a comeback at the age of 36 now.


Share this article

About the author

Tanmay Roy

Tanmay Roy

Tanmay Roy is a Cricket Journalist at The SportsRush, whose lifelong passion and zeal for the Gentleman's Game landed him this position. A writer with 787 articles under him, Tanmay started out as a fast bowler himself, who played and captained his school cricket team, Tanmay followed the likes of Alan Donald, Kapil Dev, Dale Steyn, Shoaib Akhtar, etc. which peaked his interest in the sport at an early age. Tanmay later on took to batting, although he enjoys hitting in the slog overs as a lower order the most. An ardent fan and follower of cricket since Sourav Ganguly aka Dada waved his shirt off at Lord's balcony, Tanmay's 20+ years of devotion towards cricket brings him the joy and satisfaction required from a job as he pens down articles based on factual knowledge, analysis and his own perspective. Of late, a huge fan of Jasprit Bumrah, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Mohammed Shami, Tanmay enjoys to watch fast bowling more than anything. Among other athletes, he is a huge fan of Lionel Messi, Roger Federer, PV Sindhu.

Read more from Tanmay Roy