His biggest moment came after winning his lone Grand Slam title at the US Open in 2003 and to this day, Roddick is the last American man to win a Grand Slam.

Andy Roddick was a strong competitor in his own right, but he gave the title of the best competitor he has played to a fellow Grand Slam champion.

Who did Andy Roddick name as the ‘best competitor’ he has faced?

Roddick played against some of the best players of all time, such as Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

He even played against 14-time Grand Slam winner Pete Sampras, and won two of their three meetings in 2001 and 2002.

But it was two-time Grand Slam and former World number one Lleyton Hewitt who Roddick named as the greatest competitor he faced.

“We are fine now… I think mutual respect eventually wins out. But we had a lot of ugly moments, someone who is probably the best competitor I ever played against.,” Roddick said on his ‘Served’ podcast.

“He’s never in his professional life had the best shot on the court, as far as pace or speed or spin, and yet he got to No 1 and won two majors — is Lleyton Hewitt.

“Tennis IQ… imagine, like, not serving hard at all and winning doubles Slams, winning singles Slams, beating Pete [Sampras] in the US Open final.”

What was Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt’s head-to-head record and ‘ugly moments’ on court?

Roddick and Hewitt produced one of the most compelling and close rivalries throughout the 2000s into the early 2010s.

The pair played one another on 14 occasions, and split their head-to-head record with seven wins apiece. Hewitt claimed six of the pair’s first seven, while Roddick evened the score by winning six of their last seven contests.

The pair shared some gruelling battles on court, such as their five set classics at the 2001 US Open, which went Hewitt’s way, and at Wimbledon in 2009, which was won by Roddick.

Two of their contests have also ended with the other benign unable to continue. At the 2001 French Open, Roddick fell and pulled a muscle with the score locked at one set all, and could no longer continue playing.

In their final meeting at the 2012 Australian Open with Hewitt leading two sets to one, he advanced after Roddick retired from the match due to a hamstring injury.

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