Interview with Todd Gallagher

Ever wondered how you’d fare against Andy on a tennis court? Not too confident? How about if we change the stakes and Andy plays with a frying pan!Todd Gallagher certainly fancied his chances, and the author of ‘Andy Roddick Beat me with a Frying Pan’ sat down to talk all about it with AndyRoddick.com.So where did Todd get this inspirational idea? Todd, a former journalist for ESPN used to get insane oddball questions over and over again, such as “Why doesn’t NHL (ice hockey) play with 1000lbs goalies?” It was time to find out the answers…Todd conducted interviews with hundreds of professional athletes and set up some absurd challenges. One of our favourites was hearing about Maurice Green racing Todd’s Editor in L.A airport. Catch – The Ed had a head start and was allowed to use the moving walkways. We hear he beat Maurice Green, once…But the challenge we were most interested in was Todd facing off against Andy Roddick on a tennis court; Andy armed with a frying pan. With a lot of help from Blanche Roddick and the Andy Roddick Foundation, the match was set up in Boca Raton at Andy’s Charity event in December 2006.Those who checked out our Advent Calendar in December, will have read how Todd was generous. Before the match, Todd hit with the Head Pro from the Boca Resort, using five different frying pans, so he could give Andy a measured choice on the day.

The match-day arrived… Todd and Andy played for about 20 minutes in total, and had “one serious game”. Todd’s tactics? Hit to the backhand. As he pointed out, have you ever tried to hit a backhand with a frying pan?

“I was wearing him out.” Todd shared with us. “I’m a very, very clever player. I hit everything to his backhand. I made no errors, just pushed the ball back in court.”

So how did Andy fare overall? Todd reckoned Andy was actually pretty good wielding the frying pan. So, of course our next question, “How much practice did Andy have beforehand?” Andy assured Todd he’d had no practice, but Todd suspects this could be up for debate as he heard a rumour that Andy practiced for two weeks beforehand.

The results. In front of 100 spectators, Todd won the game. Andy won a point. We think this is not a bad effort by Andy, Todd confessed that he couldn’t even hit the ball in court when he tried with the frying pan.

Wrapping up the interview, Todd enthused that “Andy was a great athlete”, and he also shared his admiration for the Foundation, hailing them “spectacular to work with.”

“I can’t stress enough how impressive it was to see Andy out there in the early morning hitting with fans doing fund raising,” Todd enthused. “Then to play a match against Agassi for charity, and then go back out again with the sun going down and hit with kids for an hour. Andy really does put the work in.”

Lastly, Todd would like us to acknowledge his “own greatness” in the match, but it was Andy who had the last word for Todd… “Give me a little more time to train, and I’ll whip you!”

‘Andy Roddick Beat me with a Frying Pan’ is available on Amazon, and in most bookstores. For more information about the author, Todd Gallagher, please visit his website, www.Todd33.com.