Day 14 (Andy Roddick Youth Tennis Program)

Helping others has once again been a huge feature of Andy’s year, and on Day 14 of Advent, we look back on the announcement of the Andy Roddick Youth Tennis Program, planned and engineered by his brother, Dr. Lawrence Roddick.Together with Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio, Andy announced the Andy Roddick Youth Tennis program at a ribbon cutting ceremony on 3rd October – a day where he also spent time with children participating in the program on the OLLU tennis courts, showing off his world-famous 155mph serve and giving over 100 children from the San Antonio West Side the chance to play points with himself and brother, John Roddick.

The Andy Roddick Youth Tennis Program is made possible by the generous support of the Rene Lacoste Foundation and The United States Tennis Association Tennis & Education Foundation.

The program, which was launched in September, is aimed at introducing tennis and its lifelong benefits to young people in San Antonio’s West Side. As well as focusing on tennis, nutrition and fitness, the program also aims to develop social and career life skills and to support the goal of earning a college degree.

Talking about the program, Andy said: “I’m really humbled by everybody that turned out today. I didn’t expect this at all.

“We are excited about the potential for this program to help children from all different backgrounds achieve success off and on the tennis court. The San Antonio model can and should be taken to other parts of the country and be expanded to make a difference in the lives of thousands of other boys and girls.”

“This program is really being motored by my brother. He’s lived here for close to 15 years. He really has a passion for this. We wanted to team up and have it affect the area in a positive way. I’m a very small part of this. He’s the one that put this together. I feel like it’s our responsibility to give back.”