From the moment I heard that I’d been elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame, I've been trying to connect the pieces. I've asked myself how the 7-, 8-, nine-year-old version of myself, who was this insane tennis fanatic, and the people inside the walls of the Hall of Fame – who all were super heroes to me – could possibly have become connected. But they have; that’s the reality.
To be a Hall of Famer is an extraordinary honor, a dream come true. I know it’s real—they’ve given me the jacket and it’s too late to take it back. But I'm not sure it will ever be real in my mind.
The best part for me is sharing the honor with my close friends, tennis fans, my team and my family. As I said to them when I learned I had been voted in, “We're all getting into the Hall of Fame.”
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t surprised to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer. You look at the numbers of the people who are in. ... I knew I had a shot, but to be honest, I couldn’t have expected it. I hoped I would, but I was never that concerned about it.
But when I knew that Kim Clijsters was the other person being voted on, and obviously she was going to get in, it really made me want to get in as well, so that I could share the weekend with Kim. She has always been a remarkable talent and a great friend. I have a very simple way of putting it. If you have a problem with Kim Clijsters, I blame you.
As anyone who’s ever been lucky enough to get to this place will attest, you don't get here alone. You need a lot of help. It takes a village. The life of a tennis pro is a bit of a selfish existence. I was fortunate enough to have amazing people in the orbit of my career. I was always appreciative, but that appreciation has grown as I've moved away from tennis. I realize they took years out of their lives and spent time away from their families to help me achieve my goal.
My friend Doug Spreen who introduced me during the induction ceremony in Newport, was my trainer before we became great friends. Of course, when you spend 260 nights each year eating together and hanging out together, it’s hard not to become best friends. Stim, ice, wraps, all that time adds up. First he was my trainer, then a trainer and a friend, then a trainer-friend-therapist. I’m appreciative of all of it.
My brother John helped to make the tennis world smaller for me. When you're a kid, the tennis world and the pros who populate it all seem so far out of reach. But having the opportunity to see John on a junior national team, see him play Kalamazoo, get to go to the junior Slams to watch your brother; all of that made things easier to deal with when I got there. My brother was my first tennis super hero.
I've had a lot of coaches—that’s what happens when you’re not very talented. Brad Gilbert was a huge help to me—what a tennis mind. The way he’s able to simplify terms, make them easy to grasp very quickly. If he’d ever get over his shyness problem, I’m sure he could be a great coach.
Dean Goldfine helped me a lot with on-court stuff, but I learned much more from him away from the tennis court. He was a model for me for a long time in terms of how to act and how to carry yourself and what was expected of you. I think the world of him.
Lance Hooton, my strength coach, who wasn't on the road with us, never looked for the spotlight or needed the credit. It was just pulling up to Club Field or Travis Track, wherever those terrible places were where he made me work out. A lot of sweat equity involved. Lance was always the man behind the scenes.
If I had to start playing again tomorrow, I'd beg Larry Stefanki to coach me all over again. A lot of coaches will take what they did well, and they try to put that on their player. That's their specialty. But Larry worked with a lot of different people and a lot of different personalities. McEnroe, Rios, Henman, Gonzales, people that came in, people that stayed back, people that were cerebral, people that were nuts. He was always able to look at tennis through the player's eyes. Every day was a real learning experience and it was always a real honor being around him.
My agent Ken Meyerson was as loyal as anyone has ever been to me. Ken passed away in October, 2011. At that point I had never had anyone close to me pass away before. It rocked me. I still miss Ken every day.
It's obvious the things that tennis has given me. What's not obvious is how the legends of the game have shaped how I view the world. It's touched every part of my life. Growing up a tennis fan was a lot of fun. It was also an education.
I so admire the absolute icons of our sport who were never scared to stand for something they believed in, from Martina, to Arthur, to Andre, to Billie Jean King. Roger's work with UNICEF. There are a million other examples. But tennis does not get the credit it deserves for the social changes that it's helped curate over the years.
And the lessons keep being taught, and I remain anxious to learn. I've been around Rod Laver a couple times this year, in the vacuum of the Hall of Fame process, and I dare you to find a more humble icon in any industry. He's just a great representation of everything that tennis is.
American men's tennis was my greatest responsibility, along with James and Mardy, who I’m thrilled to say were on hand to share my Hall of Fame induction weekend with me. The toughest thing about my career was following the giants of American tennis. But it motivated me to work as hard as I possibly could in their very, very long shadows. I took the responsibility of taking the torch that they tried to pass, and take very seriously what they built every day of my career. I was never going to live up to those guys. I'm thankful for their successes because it was directly responsible for any success that I had. It gave this childhood tennis fanatic a lifetime of memories—and most people don't get to have personal memories with their heroes. I was most fortunate in that regard.
The first match I ever watched was the Chang-Lendl fourth-round match at the French in 1989; an instant classic. Chang is cramping, hitting underhand serves and everything, but ends up winning. Fast forward to 12 years later; it’s 2001, and I'm playing my first main draw in Roland Garros. I go up against, Michael Chang. Fifth set, young kid is cramping again, but it's me. We're at the net shaking hands. He's giving me advice on how to overcome cramps. I lost in the next round.
John McEnroe, I’ve gotten to know a little bit. It's been fun playing against him on the Power Series Tour the last couple years. I still get a sly little grin when he does something amazing with the tennis racquet. He's also told me what I should have done in my own career to be dominant. I should have played guys 25 years older.
I snuck into the players’ lounge at the US Open in 1991, through the door where they would take the trash out. No one was paying very strict attention to credentials back then, and I found my way in. I guess if you're an eight-year-old and you look like you know what you're doing, they figured I didn’t pose much of a security threat. Next thing I know, I’m playing video games with Pete Sampras. I didn't say a word, I was so scared. That was a great memory.
Fast forward 11 years later, I'm on a Davis Cup team with Pete. Who gets to do that? I remember flying to an event with him, we’re on this small plane and he couldn't go anywhere, so I had him trapped. I got to talk to him for an hour about the way he viewed tennis, matchups, what he thought about today, what he thought about the guys he was playing against, what his special sauce was for being able to throw down a 127 mph ace, not thinking about it.
And those are the moments that I just loved over the course of my career. The matches, tournaments, those are all great, but getting to know your heroes is another thing.
I recall practicing with Andre Agassi when I was 17 years old. He had an unbelievable ability to put complex issues into very short sentences. I remember complaining about the heat one time in Australia, and Andre just said, “You only got to feel cooler than one guy.”
That made sense….
Maybe most important, Andre was the inspiration for our foundation. He let me ask him a bunch of questions. I asked him what his biggest regret was, not knowing at the time that might have been a loaded question. He said he didn't start his early enough, and off we went. Now, I consider the Andy Roddick Foundation as one of my greatest and most important achievements. Nothing is greater than to be able to lend a hand to those who need it most; to enhance the lives of others is the most life-enhancing thing you can imagine.
I recall watching Jimmy Connors that same year, during his magical run to the Open semis. I recall looking down on his match against Patrick McEnroe as we were flying over the stadium. I remember seeing the lights on, being in awe of how enormous the stadium looked and thinking that if it looks that big when you're flying over in a plane, what would it be like when you're down there.
Fast forward and I’m in the final of the 2006 US Open with Jimmy as my coach and he’s telling me to use the crowd. Let them be a part of it. The master of the US Open was trying his best to pass it down. It was a surreal moment.
Jim Courier is probably the player I most identified with because we both had horrible backhands. He agreed with my logic that it's not wrong if you're correct. We were up against the Mt. Rushmore of our sports. We were grinders, we worked hard and we tried hard to figure it all out. I consider myself lucky to have been able to lean on him for very, very, very frank advice.
So in 1992, Switzerland plays the USA in the Davis Cup Final. I think we won some raffle at our club and we got to go. That changed my life forever. Agassi, Sampras, McEnroe, Courier. Sampras and McEnroe didn't play singles – it was the best Davis Cup team of all time. It began a love affair for me.
And having had the chance to share that dream with James, Mardy, Bob, Mike, Sam, John, Robby, we were all on this ride together. It culminated in us achieving a dream in 2007. And it also created a lifetime of friendships. Patrick and Jim, thank you for being our captains.
I still sometimes don't believe that this is all real. I made all the unfortunate wardrobe choices right with Andre when I was nine. I found a T-2000 at my neighbor's garage sale for four bucks. He didn't even know what it was. I realized that was my first no-brainer investment opportunity. I must’ve hit thousands of balls inside our garage against imaginary versions of Becker, Edberg, Lendl, being undefeated against them. I thought the Pro Tour would be a bit easier.
I can't believe the level of tennis that I got to see in my career. The shots hit, the records that were broken, the records that continue to be broken. Thanks to Andy Murray, Novak, Roger and Rafa for playing the game at a higher level than it's ever been played. It sucked being in your vacuum at times, but I still consider myself lucky.
I got to guard Jordan, I went the distance with Ali, I pitched to Babe Ruth. I feel like I know what it must have been like to watch Picasso. I saw it all. I won a couple times, not a lot, but a couple. The big four guys really pissed me off most of the time when I played them. But I'm absolutely proud to have my life and career associated with such quality individuals.
My family are workers in every sense of the word. Humble beginnings on a farm in Wisconsin. Lawrence had it pretty tough. John had it a little less tough. I was lucky. I was the spoiled baby who had every opportunity. I also knew the cost of those opportunities, not in a financial sense, though that's definitely part of it. I was always aware of sweat equity, all of those minor moments and decisions that could potentially lead to a major moment.
My parents busted their asses for us. My mother Blanche literally got in our car at 5:00 a.m. on most days. It was a long day of different school drop-offs, pick-ups, tennis practice here, some sort of other lesson there, different locations all across Austin, juggling everyone's ridiculous schedules, breakfast, lunch, dinner. To be honest, it's the kind of thing you completely take for granted as a kid. But my brothers and I all know that we’re not here without her, and we love her.
My father Jerry died suddenly on August 8th of 2014. It was the toughest day of my life. He was a man who always invested in the long game of respect. He didn't need you to like him in a given moment. If he thought a lesson was worth teaching, he would accept the temporary scar tissue it might create.
Every couple of months now I smile to myself because I just figured out why he did something the way he did. Maybe it took fatherhood for me to understand the methods. It would have been meant the world to me to know he approved of the way my life turned out. I would have loved hearing it. It won't happen, but I know that he would have been proud and satisfied – and he wasn't an easy man to satisfy.
My wife Brooklyn, most people don't know, but she’s kind of nuts. She’s my partner in crime. In a life full of good fortune, being around her has been by far the luckiest part. What started with me stalking her has progressed to marriage and kids. Who would have guessed?
I don't know how she juggles it all. I see it every day and it still doesn't make any sense to me. She’s an unreal artist, businesswoman, mother, wife, sister and friend. You hear a lot of guys who find it very tough to walk away from professional sports, but she’s the reason why my personal transition into a quasi-normal, everyday life has been gratifying and full. Our son, Hank, and our daughter who’s on the way will someday realize how lucky they are.
I'm not the best of all time. I'm not going to win Wimbledon. I'm not the best of my generation. I'm not the most well-behaved. I'm not the most polished. I'm also never going to take this honor for granted. I'm never going to forget those who paved the way before us. I'm never going to forget the innocent parts of this game we all love.
I may not be a lot of things, but from this day forward, I'm never be anything less than a Hall of Famer. To all the people in my life who helped to make that possible, I thank you from the deepest parts of my heart.
