Former US Open champion Andy Roddick announced last week that he would like to return to the court one last time to join fellow retiree Mardy Fish on the court at Flushing Meadows at next month's Grand Slam tournament.
But Roddick's dream has been crushed by a International Tennis Federation anti-doping rule that states a retired player must be re-entered into the ITF's system and be available for testing three months prior to returning to the court.
Roddick has not done this after retiring in February of last year. He is not happy about the ruling.
"I am not eligible for a U.S. Open wild card, which [expletive] sucks because I was looking forward to it on a lot of different levels, " Roddick said Tuesday on his podcast.
Clearly displeased, Roddick starts ranting (h/t to SI.com for the transcription).
"Frankly, if common sense won in this one, I passed 14 years of tests during my career, filed the papers that you wanted me to file. ... I feel by doing the right thing and actually filing my retirement papers and not just letting [my rank] fall off, I kinda got f---ed in the end of this thing, which I'm not really thrilled about.
"I get the rule in place, the three-month rule, but I feel like there should be maybe an appeal process. Listen, if I'm going to do performance-enhancing drugs and make a comeback, I promise you it's not going to be for one doubles tournament at the U.S. Open. That's for sure. Obviously there's no common sense in the ruling, but it is what it is and they're going to stick to the rules."
So, basically, Roddick is not above the rules, and this upsets him. Got it.
