Interview with Stephen Little: Part I

If you’ve been tuning into AndyRoddick.com’s very special Andy Advent Calendar, you will have seen a couple of days entitled Tales from the Tour; Courtesy of Stephen Little. Stephen is Andy’s driver when he comes to London for the grasscourt season, and during his time working with Andy and Team Roddick has become a firm friend.Recently, we caught up for a chat with Stephen and will be bringing you the interview in a couple of parts. In Part 1, we focus on how Stephen first came to work for Andy, and how they spend their time during tournaments.

Stephen began driving for Andy five years ago, and it all began with a chance encounter with Andy’s then-coach Brad Gilbert. “I was at the Chelsea Village (former official hotel for Queen’s) and I could see Brad Gilbert was flagging me down. So I pulled over and he said “We want to go to the Ivy Restaurant, do you know where it is?” So I said “yeah, sure” and they got in the cab and we went. I do a lot of work for the Ivy Restaurant so I’m quite well known up there; I pulled up in the cab outside, the doorman opens up the cab door and says “Hello Steve how are you?” Brad, being the sort of character he is said: “hold on a minute, I’m asking if you know the Ivy and you’re on first name terms!”

Later, when Stephen picked the guys up, Brad wisely suggested he put a bet on his boy Andy to win the Artois Championships, at which Stephen turned to Andy and said – “are you any good??” “The day he got to the final”, Stephen reminisced, “he said to me – “do you remember asking me if I’m any good, well, what do you think now??” And I said “well… not bad!””

Stephen continued to drive for Andy throughout Queen’s and later Wimbledon, but the friendship wasn’t cemented until a somewhat unfortunate incident on Andy’s part after his loss at Wimbledon. “We got to about July 1st when he was due to go home that weekend and Andy had lost his passport,” laughed Stephen. “So, being July 4th weekend, everything was shut, the embassy was shut, I don’t even think anybody in government would have got a passport! So I had to look after him for three days, on his own with me, everybody else went home. So we sort of spent 3 days together and that was when we really got on. He is a very easy kid to get on with; he’s a good boy.”

So, what does a typical day in June consist of for Stephen and Team Roddick? Stephen talks us through the Team Roddick schedule prior to Queen’s beginning. “I stay with them at Wimbledon, but I don’t stay when they’re in London. I normally get to the apartment at about 9.30am, wake up Andy if he’s not awake. He’s usually up, he’s quite a good riser actually, he’s not at his best but he does get up. Him and I normally go for breakfast on our own, across the street to a nice breakfast bar, have a cooked breakfast, then we come back, get organized, he’ll shower and change and then head to practice. He normally hits from 11-1 at Queen’s.

“We all love Queen’s, it’s a great tournament. They’re so friendly up there, I get treated almost the same as Andy to a certain extent. For the spectators it’s great because you’re so close up. Of course, with Queens, Andy’s now won it four times, so it’s got great memories for us. So, they normally practice, and then normally we have lunch there. Or if we practice early, we might come back.

“We normally spend much of the day at Queens pre-tournament and then in the evening come back and relax a bit, watch TV, we like to do that a lot, catch up on all the things on the TV. He may have some interviews to do or something like that.”

Andy clearly loves London, but how does he fare with British TV we asked. “The guys have got a great sense of humour and they tend to stick with the American programmes,” Stephen conceded. “I tried to show them Only Fools and Horses (British comedy), which I think is a great show… They do like The Office, but anything else I haven’t been able to get them to like.

“We always have great fun and we lark around. Andy does love the London restaurants; that’s the biggest attraction for him. He likes to go to Nobu’s, The Ivy – he really enjoys that – so it’s a regular trip out on an evening. Or occasionally we get a pizza! Occasionally we might go out to a club, if we get an invite – but this is all prior to the tournament! Once the tournament starts that all goes out the window. But it’s nice for the guys to have a break, London’s an exciting city and they like to have a little bit of fun as well.”

Stay tuned for more from Stephen Little on AndyRoddick.com, including his time at the Austin Charity Gala, which he and wife Pat were invited to, by Andy, this year.