Andy Roddick Wants To Get Better, Picks Federer Over Raonic And Says It’s Impossible To Compare Tennis Generations

Andy Roddick suffered another tough loss last night falling to Tomas Berdych 63, 46, 62 in the third round at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells.

Afterward, the outspoken Roddick said that despite closing in on 30 and his ranking slipping, the former No. 1 still wants to get better.

“I’m not 19,” Roddick said. “I want to get better and I want to be better right now. I want to play better. I’m not looking at it with some grandiose vision. I have always kind of looked at tomorrow throughout my entire career, and that’s not any different right now. That’s kind of the mindset I have always had.”

Roddick said that his recent ankle and hamstring injuries were not a concern, though they still may be affecting his play. “If you play, you’re fine,” he said. “I played, I competed, and he beat me.”

Roddick also addressed tonight’s big Roger Federer-Milos Raonic match in which he favors Federer.

“Roger is favored,” Roddick said. “I think it’s a little‑‑ I think being at night probably favors Roger. It plays a little heavier. You know, Raonic’s ball would be jumping all over the place during a hot day. Roger knows how to get the serves back in play, so it will be a tough matchup. But when you have a weapon as big as Raonic’s serve, if he can get first serves in he can certainly make it interesting. But I’m not sure how you can make Milos a favorite.”

Andy said comparing tennis generations also isn’t fair.

“I know everyone wants to compare generations and it’s fun, and then you get something you can argue about with your father,” he said. “But it’s an impossibility. Luxilon didn’t exist then. You didn’t have this ‑‑ it just doesn’t make sense. The big serve ‑‑ when I was growing up, I always used to look in the back, and the top serve world record was 128. That was in ’92. It’s impossible to compare. Everyone hits that now. But apples to apples, it’s not a fair comparison. I think can you compare how great those guys were in their generation, and these four are playing consistently better. There is a more significant gap I think than maybe Andre and Pete’s generation over an extended period of time.”

Roddick plans to return home to Austin then prepare for Miami where he may or may not be seeded.