Andy Roddick is a big admirer of Spanish superstar, Carlos Alcaraz! Just before the 2024 US Open started, he was heard saying, “This kid is dynamite. He’s my favorite player to watch. He is great for the game.“ Even after seeing his performance at the Laver Cup, Roddick literally didn’t even hesitate to put Alcaraz at nearly the same level as all-time greats, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic. Recently, we saw him yet again putting Carlos Alcaraz’s name beside these superstars. However, this time the topic of discussion was more about Carlos Alcaraz’s incredible stardom!

He’s just 21 years old and this young lad from Murcia, Spain has already won 4 Grand Slam titles in his career! Carlos Alcaraz is a complete entertainer on the court and that’s why he has fans literally in every part of the world. However, the craze for Carlitos is perhaps a little bit different in America from other places. Recently, we saw a sellout crowd of over 19,000 people at the Madison Square Garden for the Garden Cup. Then later on, it was a similar picture at the Charlotte Invitational event. Looking at the craze for Alcaraz, one could hardly predict that he’s not an American!

What does Andy Roddick think about Carlos Alcaraz’s massive fan base? Well, during a recent episode of ‘Served with Andy Roddick,’ the American legend recalled a few things from their previous chat. “He’s very curious…He was asking questions as if I had a relevant opinion.” During the same podcast, Roddick went on to add, “I think he’s very real you know, very quickly realizing what he is you know, and what people need from him frankly and there’s a lot of responsibility.” After that, Andy Roddick spoke about how different is his personality from someone like Jannik Sinner.

Speaking on Alcaraz, he further added, “Carlos is like you can’t take your eyes off of him when he’s playing right coz he does all these crazy sh-ts and he’s able to pull off anything. So, therefore he often tries to pull off everything you know, and off the court, he has got this smile and you know I think there’s this just a magnetism in him that I think everyone and the other players like hum. You know it started with Roger & Rafa where there is no push back or jealousy from the players because there’s an underlying decency.“

No matter whether he wins or loses a match, we always see Alcaraz putting up a wide smile on his face. He enjoys living his childhood dream and there’s always a different kind of aura, and energy inside the stadium no matter where he plays. We saw that in America recently! However, this isn’t the first time that we got to see this moment between Alcaraz and the American fans. During the 2022 US Open, he was heard hailing the NY crowd as the “best in the world“.

Then a year later, he said that the energy he gets from the fans in NY is completely different from other places. So, the love is quite mutual between Carlos Alcaraz and the American fans! However, recently Andy Roddick also spoke about why Carlos Alcaraz needs to “disappoint” some of the people in 2025! 

Andy Roddick speaks about why Carlos Alcaraz needs to learn “how to say no“

This year, we saw Carlos Alcaraz leading the chorus of criticism directed at the pack tennis schedule. During an interview, the Spaniard even went on to say, “During the next few years, it’s going to be even more mandatory tournaments. Probably they are going to kill us in some way.” After hearing all these things and then seeing Alcaraz taking part in several exhibition events in America ahead of the 2025 season, Andy Roddick stated that there is one thing he doesn’t want to hear from the Spaniard in the upcoming months.

What is it? “Carlos [Alcaraz], let’s say it how it is, he finished December 6, he had a vacation in the Caribbean with some buddies for a week before he played these exhibitions. He’d already done his relaxation, got in some reps, obviously got paid a lot of money…What I don’t accept is ‘Hey, I didn’t have a long enough off-season’. I don’t want to hear about it in Australia if he’s not feeling great, that’s it, I don’t want to hear about it.” The AO is all set to begin on January 12 and this is the only Grand Slam tournament that Carlos Alcaraz has never won.

Can he win it this time? Time will tell! However, according to Roddick, Carlos Alcaraz needs to address this issue pretty quickly and manage his workload much better. What is his advice to Alcaraz on this? “He’s (Alcaraz) fully aware of what he is now. He’s one of the biggest global sports stars we have, he’s the celebrity in the room amongst sports celebrities. I think people are thirsty to see him, thirsty to watch him,” said Andy Roddick.

The American further added, “He’s sort of at the point where he doesn’t want to disappoint anyone, and that’s a tough situation, it really is. He’s going to have to learn how to schedule, how to say no, maybe slightly disappoint someone, sometimes to keep his sanity over time.“ What are your thoughts on this though?