I got to talk to my childhood idol Andy Roddick for 15 minutes and I’m still trying to recover
It was Friday, May 12 and the clock was ticking. I was sweating. My hands were trembling. I even started yelling at my co-workers for no reason. In just moments, I had an interview that would change my life forever. In just moments, I’d be talking to Andy Roddick. (Yes, my childhood tennis idol, ANDY RODDICK.)
I’ve played tennis for about 17 years and grew up watching it. I had posters of Roddick on my wall up until college. When I found out I’d be interviewing him I almost threw my phone and wrecked my car on Park Road. But I knew I was meant to do this.
The day of the interview came and I had an entire script written in Microsoft Word. The first sentence in my script read “Hey Andy, how are you?” Like I’ve never had any social interactions in my 26 years of existence.
And guess, what? I went off script within the first 30 seconds of the phone call.
“Hey Sallie, this is Andy Roddick calling …” –Andy Roddick.
“HEY! NO BIG DEAL. HOW ARE YOU?” –Sallie Funderburk. (My voice definitely cracked.)
I’d like to say it got better, but at the end I told him “Hope we can stay in touch!” I’m still cringing from that.
But the 15+ minute interview was everything a journalist (and a fan) would have wanted from a celebrity.
We talked a little bit about tennis and a lot about Charlotte, since his wife, Brooklyn Decker, is from the Charlotte area and they even have a house in the N.C. mountains.
So what exactly has Roddick been up to these days?
Well first, he’s heading up to West Virginia June 2-4 to play former Australian pro Patrick Rafter in the Greenbrier Tennis Tournament. (Snag tickets here.)
“I actually never got to play him while we were on tour so it’s kind of like a bucket list thing for me to be able to hit around with him,” Roddick said.
But the now-retired tennis star has a lot of other stuff going on. Here are 7 headlines from our conversation.
(1) Andy and his wife Brooklyn Decker spend a lot of time in the mountains of N.C.
They come to Charlotte about five or six times a year.
“I was naïve about all things Charlotte before Brooke came into my life,” he said. “It’s been a place that’s been really fun to get to know in the last decade or so.”
(2) On his first trip to Charlotte, Roddick was focused on impressing Decker’s parents.
“That consumed all of my focus at first,” he said. “A lot of times you’ll go to a city and you don’t know when the repeat trip is going to come so you feel the need to rush getting to know it. With Charlotte it’s been a gradual process. I’ve gotten to know it and enjoy it more and more over time.”
(3) He hasn’t been converted to a Panthers fan — yet.
“I haven’t been converted,” said Roddick. “My sports team alliances have been formed already.”
(4) Roddick and Decker like to visit Stoke and Yafo Kitchen.
“Stoke was awesome,” said Roddick. (FYI, Andy hasn’t gotten the one-pound donut yet.) “Since Brooke’s parents live a little bit outside of Charlotte, we’ll buy enough Yafo Kitchen to last us a couple of days.”
(5) Tennis is a very small part of Andy’s life now.
He spends more of his time running the Andy Roddick Foundation, which offers out-of-school programming for kids in Austin, Texas. And doing other non-tennis stuff.
“I’ve been lucky,” he said. “I’ve been able to participate in a lot of great business opportunities since I stopped playing … especially in commercial real estate.”
(6) He found out he was nominated to be in the International Hall of Fame — 10 days after the vote was in.
“It’s very surreal,” he said. “I don’t know that I felt like I should get in. I am so happy that I am. For me it wasn’t a matter of time passing like it will be for Roger (Federer) or Serena (Williams).”
(7) And then I asked some rapid-fire questions, because why not?
– First thing you drank today: Coffee.
– Last person to text you: Brooklyn.
– Last song you listened to: Jake Owen song on in the car.
– Most famous person in your phone: Elton John.
Moral of the story is, no one will probably ever ask me to interview a celebrity again but at least I went out with the ultimate ace, right?
Photos: AP photo
This story was originally published May 24, 2017 at 1:01 AM with the headline "I got to talk to my childhood idol Andy Roddick for 15 minutes and I’m still trying to recover."