May 2008 Fan Of The Month

Congratulations to Jeremy and Rebecca who sent in this excellent entry. We applaud you for your magnificent effort guys!“My wife and I have been long time Andy Fans! I had played tennis since I was younger spending hours hitting balls against the side of a brick wall, weren’t many tennis courts in the rural west TX town that I grew up in.My wife, Rebecca has never held a racquet, and never cared for the sport until she joined me for an Andy match on TV one day. She soon fell in love with Andy, and what a switch when she would remind me that Andy would be playing on a certain date.I myself had long ago given up on playing, too many pounds, busted knees, and years ago. But after watching Andy’s rise to the top I was completely motivated to get back on the courts. Way too many hours
of chewing my finger nails raw watching Andy playing, makes a guy long to hit a few balls himself. Thank You Andy!

After years of watching and rooting Andy from our couch we decided that someday we should do what we could to see the Big Man Live!

My wife thought that she would surprise me with a Bday gift, a trip to an ATP Tennis event to see Andy. Did I mention that she loves Andy, but doesn’t follow the sport as fanatically as I do? Well bless her heart; she had booked a fun week in Vegas, to the Tennis Channel Open, not even realizing that Andy doesn’t play that event. We still had a blast, saw Robbie, Sam and the Bryans! But no Andy .She felt so bad that she had done this for us to see Andy and hadn’t done her homework on his schedule.

Bare with me. Soon after we returned back to Texas from Vegas, she gave me a new gift she hoped would make up for her sans Andy gaff. She had pinched a few household budget dollars, to book a trip to the PACIFIC LIFE without me knowing. She knew Andy would be there. I was completely blown away! We tracked Andy through the SAP and his incredible results in Dubai, we liked our chances to see Andy.

Well, sadly we had tickets for the later rounds. The day before our
first session, we were frantically checking live scoring on Andy while we traveled to CA. As all Andy’s fans were (ok maybe just a little more) we were completely devastated by Andy’s shocking fall to Haas. Sure we had a great major tourney to look forward to, but yet still no Andy. My wife was completely distraught. We made it through; Mardy’s playing gave us something to cheer for, for sure.

Well, after all this traveling and still no Andy..,We were now focused and motivated. Operation ANDY LIVE was put into full effect!

Lucky for us (if you can still use that word and us together), there was another opportunity on Andy’s schedule where we felt sure that we would get to see him. Now, where would we be able to see Andy where the session, draw, level of tourney, couldn’t keep us from seeing our hero? Only one place. DAVIS CUP!

We both knew that, short of being struck by lightning at Miami, Andy would damn sure be on the court for Day One of France vs USA. We coughed up for courtside seats (at this point we were considering the selling of our organs to get there!:-)) We made it to NC and were there waving a Texas Flag along side Old Glory, for both of Andy’s pummeling sessions to France!

Finally we had made it—years of TV Andy—day’s of live scoring—hours of sports columns recaps of Andy, and at last..He was right in front of us, The Actual Andy! My wife was so happy that, she shed a tear while we watched Andy receive his ring during the opening ceremony. Operation Andy Live Successful!

So, if it isn’t transparent by now, we love Andy! But, I ask that for all her work to get me close to an Andy match, I certainly hope that you will agree that Andy has one hell of fan in my wife Rebecca. So please consider her for your fan of the month.

It get’s better, fate had a bigger plan. Sunday, after witnessing courtside Andy give us the clinch, and James’ dispatching of Gasquet, my wife and I found ourselves at some Irish pub downtown reflecting on what a weekend we had. It could not have been any better, or could it?

Deep into our happy reliving of the whole experience, a bustle of people made it through the front door. We could not believe what we saw, “man that girl looks just like Brooklyn”, my wife said…wait ..wholly overheads! It was Andy and his crew! We worked through our nerves and managed to ask for a picture, which he happily provided. Both Andy and Brooklyn were completely gracious, he
even allowed me to check out his ring! If only we had brought that Texas flag, what an autograph that would have made!

Operation Successful. Mission Accomplished! Yeah to say the least! Thank you divine Tennis God, and Thank You Andy Roddick!

Thanks for all that Team Roddick does to help keep all of his fans feeling “connected”. We will be supporting Andy, and all his endeavors!

Give em Hell Andy!

Sincerely,
jkj”

Now if that doesn’t inspire you to get out there and support our Andy – nothing will! Good on you Jeremy and Rebecca! Your prize is on the way soon!

Think you can match that entry? Get writing to us at fanmonth@andyroddick.com (send a pic if possible) and you might be featured on the homepage as one of Andy’s best fans too!