RODDICK TEAMS UP WITH SERENA
Andy Roddick and Serena Williams will be playing in the mixed doubles of the 2012 Australian Open, scheduled to start this month.
The younger of the Williams sisters posted on her Twitter page saying that she would indeed be partnering her friend, Andy Roddick in the upcoming Grand Slam event. They both announced last year that they would be practicing together for the 2012 London Olympics.
Serena hasn’t taken part in the mixed doubles event since 2008, when she played with Mardy Fish in the Hopman Cup. She won the Australian Open a total of five times and has won 13 Grand Slams in total, which make her an enviable partner and a formidable opponent. She used to play extensively in mixed doubles events, early in her career, with great success. She won the 1998 US Open and the Wimbledon playing with Max Mirnyi of Belarus.
Andy Roddick has been out of the mixed doubles scene for even longer than his partner. The last mixed doubles event he played in was in 2001 in Wimbledon. He has never played in a mixed doubles event outside of a Grand Slam tournament, so it will be interesting to watch him play the mixed doubles event.
When asked about it, Andy Roddick said that this was something he had been looking forward to for quite some time, but had never got around to doing. Both Roddick and Serena said that it was going to be good fun playing with one another. A check of the latest tennis betting odds online shows us that Roddick and Williams are already amongst the favourites, with their pedigree eaning the fan’s backing, even if they don’t have that much doubles experience.
Besides playing in the mixed doubles, Andy Roddick also carries the hopes and dreams of an entire country on his shoulders. Although he has won just a single Grand Slam Event, he is the United States’ only realistic chance of winning the Australian Open. Whether he will make his country proud, only time will tell.