The 2003 US Open champion also possessed one of the greatest serves ever seen on the ATP Tour.

During his playing days Andy Roddick had six different coaches before he hung up his racket in 2012, and one of them is an all-time great in Jimmy Connors.

What did Andy Roddick say about being coached by Jimmy Connors?

Roddick was coached by eight-time Grand Slam champion Connors from 2006 to 2008.

When this partnership began, Roddick had gone almost three years without a Grand Slam and following a third round loss to Andy Murray at Wimbledon Championships, he fell out of the top 10 for the first time since 2002.

After that tournament, Roddick needed a change and soon formed an all-star partnership with Connors, who had been away from tennis for some time that he was unaware of who was even playing.

But just two months after they began working together, Roddick reached the US Open final, and it was the start of a short but successful partnership.

“I brought in Jimmy Connors. It was one of the first times when a top player who had won a slam brought in a former player who had won a bunch of slams,” Roddick said on his ‘Served’ podcast. “Jimmy did not even know the players. He had been gone forever.

“But he knew the moments, he knew what I was feeling and how to use a crowd in a specific moment. Jimmy could tell me the exact same thing as someone else who wasn’t Jimmy Connors but when he said it I felt it in my soul. I was like he is not guessing.

“He knows exactly why I am asking this question, what the insecurities are which created this question and he’s going okay I have this bank of information I haven’t forgotten.

“I needed his insights because maybe there are one or two things which I wasn’t doing or trying, we started to come in a bit more. And it was largely a successful relationship.

“We started and I was borderline outside the top 20 and then in no time at all I was number three in the world and had a couple of slam finals and a semi behind me.”

What were Andy Roddick’s results under Jimmy Connors?

Roddick’s results certainly improved while he was coached by Connors. He won 85 matches and lost 25 during their partnership and reached seven finals, winning four of them. 

Roddick won the penultimate Masters 1000 title of his career in Cincinnati in 2006, his first with Connors, before winning Washington and Queen’s in 2007. His final title working with Connors came in 2008 when he won San Jose.

Roddick also climbed to number three in the World and changed his game by coming to the net more frequently with Connors. The 72-year-old, who resigned as Roddick’s coach during his run to the Dubai Open title in 2008, spoke fondly of his time coaching the player.

“It was very cool when I worked with Andy Roddick. Travelling with him. He had already won a Grand Slam, so the change that was going to be made to a former Grand Slam champion was minute,” Connors said during an episode of his ‘Advantage Connors’ podcast in August.

“It was interesting finding just that little bit that would try to help him get to the next level. I think I wanted him to win more than he wanted to win! I was so proud of him because he listened and he knew. I said if you trust me, I want you to get better.

“I am one of those guys who wants him to go and win and win every time he gets out there. But I said if you trust me I can help you. If you doubt me, tell me now, it’s not going to work out.

“He did and he had for the time we’re together, had some pretty darn good success. Plus he’s a really good kid. It was fun.”

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