“Olympics is a weird tennis event”: Andy Roddick, Jon Wertheim on the Paris Games

The Paris Olympics is officially underway, and tennis is one of the first events going. In this week’s episode of Served with Andy Roddick, Roddick and Jon Wertheim breakdown this year’s Olympic stories, as well as an overarching view of what it means to compete. Here are all ten discussion points from the episode:

1. Nadal & Novak to Play Each Other for 60^th Time

It’s official: following their first-round victories, two of the Big Three are going head-to-head in the second round of the Olympics.

“They’ve never played the second round on Philippe Chatrier, have they?” Roddick said.

Wertheim notes that this is the one time they’re playing each other this year, and there’s little room to ad lib the match.

“Rafa looked pretty darn good in Sweden, and then looked pretty darn 38 years old in Sweden, and didn't have much left in the final,” he said. “Same for Novak coming off a pretty comprehensive loss, coming off knee surgery. I have no idea how to handicap that match, but yeah, if we needed an extra spark for these 2024 Games, the fact that you have the two winningest players of all time competing not just in the second round, but at the same venue where they've had battles for the last 15 years, you couldn’t ask for much more than that.”

2. Low-Ranked & Qualified

Olympics is all about the best of the best competing at the most competitive level of sport, but for tennis, that’s flipped on its head. The top 64 players aren't competing in each singles draw; rather, you get some very low-ranked competitors, given the limited number of players permitted per country.

“Olympics is just kind of a weird tennis event,” Roddick said. “I get all of it, it’s great for tennis players to feel like they’re a part of it… but there is this weird side too where all of a sudden—and you know I love Matt Ebden, he's one of the nicest guys, most respectful guys that you'll ever see, but...Matt Eden literally at this moment doesn't have a singles rank and he's in the Olympics. He qualified because he's playing doubles and he's around. [Andrea] Vavassori is another one, he's ranked 200 and something in the world and fills in for Sinner, so it's just kind of a weird event.”

3. Players Not Playing

Another contributing factor to low-ranked players in the Olympics draw is having the top-ranked players opt out of the competition.

“Some athletes are way into it, some tennis players say this is equivalent to winning a major, others begged off well in advance,” Wertheim said. “I think for certain players the Olympics mean a great deal, for certain players it's another event, and if I win, great, I'll just put it on my calendar.”

“That seems to be the Iga [Swiatek] model, and for others this is just an event that's skippable. Andy Murray hanging on, Angie Kerber, I think if you ask Caroline Wozniacki she would say that one of the reasons she decided to unretire was the prospect of playing the Olympics. We know how much this means to Novak, we have other top players who aren't in the draw, like [Aryna[ Sabalenka who just said, yeah no thanks. It's really a broad range of opinion; we'll see what impact all this has on the tournament.”

Roddick adds that the Olympics aren't the same thing as someone who is doing archery, where it's the biggest event and it happens once every four years. For them, “there's not the US Open two weeks afterwards.”

4. From the Player’s Point of View

Although it could be disappointing for viewers not to see their favorite players walking in the Opening Ceremony or participating in all things Olympics, Roddick recalls his own Olympics experiences and argues the reality of competition behind the games.

“The Opening Ceremony and the majesty of it, that's a great example, like you watch it on TV and it is amazing and you feel this pride and it comes together,” Roddick said. “What they don't show you is that you have to stand backstage for twelve hours to walk. So people are like ‘Iga’s not even walking’ well no, she’s the favorite to win the gold medal. Why would she do a single thing to interrupt the fact that she's the favorite at a place that she wins all the time? Why would she throw outliers into her quest for the gold medal? What is her priority, to take a walk or to win a gold medal?”

Roddick also uses bronze medalist Katie Ledecky as an example of this competition-over-games mentality.

“Don’t project your s* onto Katie Ledecky because she's not walking in the Opening Ceremony,” he said. “It doesn't mean she doesn't love her country, it means that she loves her country so much that she's going to do anything to continue winning gold medals for it.”

5. We’re At Roland Garros—but is it Roland Garros?

Are players and fans getting the same experience at the Paris Olympics as they would have during a regular Roland Garros?

“I can't project on a place that I'm not at, but I'll tell you my experience at Wimbledon. Even the places where they checked credentials was at a different spot, the locker rooms you could use were at a different spot, so it wasn't as if you dropped in and it was just normal,” Roddick said. “You feel like you're operating from a place of comfort, but also you have no idea where you're going, what you're doing, there's no one to go to. At the normal desks that you would go to get questions answered, problems solved, is someone who is a volunteer for an Olympic Committee who has no idea what string tension is, or you know, anything else.”

Even the status of winning at Roland Garros during the tournament versus the Olympics there is viewed differently.

“On one hand, it’s Roland Garros, it’s another clay event, we all know the venue,” Wertheim said. “On the other hand, best of three for men, a lot of players entering multiple events, no sponsorship, a day off isn’t guaranteed between matches. How much does this feel like a major on the ground, how much does this feel like Cincinnati but you get a gold medal?”

To which Roddick responded with a three-minute answer following the strength of competition, the value of a medal and an ode to doubles becoming an interesting watch, especially with “Rafaraz.” (To get those quotes, you’ll have to listen to the episode itself 😉)

6. The Olympic Village Commute

“Boy, the village is a shlep from Roland Garros,” Wertheim said. “It’s the completely other side of Paris at a time when traffic is going to be peak, I don’t know if [Alcaraz] is going to reconsider his decision [to stay in the village].”

The Olympic Village is situated five miles north of Paris, but players have the option to break up their stay around the city as well.

“There is a next-to-zero chance that Alcaraz doesn’t have a burner room somewhere close to Roland Garros,” Roddick said. “I know the U.S. team has a hotel that is walking distance from Roland Garros. I would be stunned if he didn’t at least reserve the option of switching if he needs to.”

Tennis players like Alcaraz and Nadal need to consider their fame level as well during these times.

“I gotta think Rafa and the Chuckster can't walk 6 steps without an interaction with their fellow Olympian,” Roddick said. “That is the magic, that is what they're going to remember, that is the greatest thing about it—and also when you start a tournament, you're dealing with stressors, it's probably not something you want to do every six steps if you get back at 9:00 PM, and you have to get treatment, get food, get hydrated, do your job.”

7. Introducing Coco Gauff, Flag Bearer

One of the biggest headlines for American tennis, let alone Olympics news, is that Coco Gauff was selected as the first tennis player and youngest athlete in Team USA history to be a flag bearer alongside LeBron James.

“You don't get those honors if you're missing a bunch of notes publicly,” Roddick said. “She’s a grown up. I'm embarrassed for the 20-year-old version of myself whenever I'm around her.”

“The thing that would mean the most to me if I was Coco is the fact that your fellow athletes from your country had a say in it. And you can genuinely see in the video where Eubanks gives this speech, and says all the things that we just said, and then tells Coco, you can all see this almost like disbelief, but you can also see her teammates don't begrudge her, they like her. They really, really do.”

“It’s just a huge deal for tennis to be to be front and center. I was wrong, I thought there's gonna be a massive vacuum of interest post Big Three, post Serena. In walks Coco, one of the most marketable global stars. In walks Alcaraz, maybe the most fun guy that I've ever seen on a tennis court and here we are all good no problem no worries.”

“She’s gonna do it well, she’s gonna give it the respect it deserves, and if you asked her, she would say, 'Hey, if [Katie] Ledecky didn’t have to swim the next day, she would do it herself.' She’s someone who will grasp it and not take it for granted in my opinion.”

8. 7 out of 15 Russian Olympians are Tennis Players

There are 15 Russian athletes competing at this year’s Olympics, and seven of them are tennis players.

Identified as “Individual Neutral Athletes,” competitors from Russia and Belarus are allowed to compete in the Olympics as long as there is no outward political support. Furthermore, Daniil Medvedev, Mirra Andreeva and the other 13 Russian competitors will compete under a neutral flag, and if any were to win a medal, a neutral-athlete song will be played instead of Russia’s national anthem.

“Do I think that Daniel Medvedev should be punished and not be able to play in one of the biggest events of the year? I'm not mad at him for going,” Roddick said. “More power to him, he qualified, there's a way for him to be amongst his fellow tennis players, you know, and it just all sucks.”

“Should tennis players and other Russian athletes who don't have anything to do with the decision of Russia to invade Ukraine not be able to live their dreams out of the Olympics? That sucks, and also don't invade countries, don't invade sovereign nations. So it's like there's no right answer, it's uncomfortable.”

9. Draw Overview

Starting with men’s singles and, more specifically, the top seed Novak Djokovic, Roddick points out just how brutal the road to gold is for the Serbian.

“He’s going to beat Matt Ebden, Matt Ebden will probably tell you that he’s going to beat Matt Ebden in singles,” Roddick said. “But Novak has a brutal draw, nobody wants to play Rafa on that court…Arthur Fils can go big if he get to the third round, French crowd, Tsitsipas into the round of 16, arguably the toughest round-of-16 match up that there is, Zverev, obviously, coming off of a Roland Garros final, played last week in Germany, is already adjusted back to clay. Novak has a brutal draw to get to the final, but he is motivated, he is ready, he is not staying in the village, singularly focused. He is the favorite in my mind in the top half.”

Roddick also believes Alcaraz is finals-bound, noting Casper Ruud to be a tough semifinal match-up if that were to transpire.

For women’s singles, Roddick sings a similar tune as he did back in May for Roland Garros: “Iga versus the field.” Challenge him to a bet against Swiatek and Roddick will “be happy to take your money.”

For men’s doubles, the biggest story is Roddick’s phrase “Rafaraz” making their debut representing Spain. In women’s doubles, the biggest story is seven-time doubles champions Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova, teaming up for Czechia on the opposite side of the draw to top-seeded Americans Gauff and Jessica Pegula.

Roddick also takes a moment to fangirl over something he never got to play—men's doubles at the Olympics—“because we had a couple of guys on our team named Bob and Mike Bryan.”

He shouts out home team Caroline Garcia and Edouard Roger-Vasselin, and even Kei Nishikori, who is representing Japan in all three events.

And then, fitting with the theme of “Olympic weirdness,” things get a little weird in the studio…

10. Weird Olympics Q&A

To end off the show, Roddick opens up an Olympic-themed Q&A to producer Mike and company, where the following questions were unfilteredly answered by the Grand Slam champion:

1. Is the “Love Island Villa” style hook-up culture legit?
2. Which country goes at it the hardest?
3. How enjoyable is it in an isolated sport to represent your country at this level?
4. Who is the most memorable athlete you bumped into?

Instead of spoiling Roddick’s answers, I’ll leave you with this: “plastic bucket of condoms”, “Catalina f*ing Wine Mixer”, “this guy could decapitate me in one and a half seconds”, “excellence camp.”

Tune into this episode Sunday night live on T2, Tennis Channel’s second network, and find it across media channels on Tuesday. Plus, don’t miss next week’s first-ever live show on August 9^th, in Sonder Brewing taproom in Mason, Ohio, where the hour-long episode turns into a Q&A with the audience.