Picture: Andy's parents, Jerry and Blanche Roddick, stand with a picture of Andy at age 10, along with some of his trohpies.
Long before Boca Raton's Andy Roddick, 18, stunned 13-time Grand Slam winner Pete Sampras at the Ericsson Open on Key Biscayne, Roddick was dueling the tennis legends.
These epic encounters took place in the Roddick family's garage in Austin, where Andy would hit against a rebound net.
``He played imaginary matches from the time he was 4 1/2 to the time he was 10 years old,'' mother Blanche Roddick recalled. ``He played all the top players every day of his life in his mind. It was interesting because he always won. He would say, `Boris [Becker] didn't have a good day today.' ''
Roddick's animate opponents have found it just as difficult to beat him. A Boca Raton resident the past eight years, Roddick furthered his ascent up the Association of Tennis Professionals Tour rankings with his first career victory over a top-10 player. Sampras was just a year younger when he achieved the same feat, beating American Tim Mayotte in 1988 at Detroit.
Eleven months since making his pro debut at the Citrix Championships in Delray Beach, Roddick is in the fourth round of a Tennis Masters Series event. With the exception of the Grand Slams, he couldn't have selected a more prominent stage for the latest in a lengthy string of breakthroughs.
Today, he hopes to make another. With a victory over 21st-seeded Andrei Pavel of Romania, Roddick will reach the quarterfinals.
``It was real life,'' Roddick said of toppling fourth-seeded Sampras, 7-6 (7-2), 6-3, on Sunday. ``I really can't put it into words. It was a packed house. This is my favorite place to play. It was a beautiful day. It really couldn't have been any better for a tennis match.''
Roddick's parents watched from the stands. His mother broke into tears afterward during a celebratory embrace with the youngest of her three sons. Andy's father, Jerry Roddick, managed to stay awake through this one.
It wasn't uncommon to catch Jerry dozing behind a newspaper during matches when Andy was coursing through the junior circuit.
``He'd pretend to read the paper and his head would fall forward,'' Andy Roddick said. ``I'd come off the court and he'd say, `Oh, yeah, good playing.' I'd be like, `I lost 0 and 0, Dad.' He wasn't the most avid fan. He'll stay awake through the whole match now.''
Lawrence Roddick, the oldest of the three brothers and a San Antonio resident, was an All-American diver at the University of Nebraska. The family knew nothing about tennis until middle brother John Roddick took up the sport at age 6.
Andy's initial interest in tennis resulted from emulating his middle brother. Andy was 6 when he took his first lesson from an Australian named Wayne Sluice. Afterward, Sluice told Roddick's mother, ``This kid was unbelievable.''
The evidence kept growing. En route from Austin to Houston for a 10-and-under tournament, 7-year-old Andy realized he had forgotten his racket. Too late to turn back, Blanche found one of John's old rackets in the trunk. It was splattered with paint and looked like it had been used as a jack.
``I said, `Son, this is the one you have to play with,' '' Blanche said. ``He said, `OK.' He didn't care and he won the tournament with that racket.''
The Roddick family moved to Boca Raton to be closer to John, who had moved to the Macci Tennis Academy.
``[John] played a lot before I did,'' Andy Roddick said. ``He was pretty good in juniors and I always looked up to him and thought he was the best. He helped me through. He'd been through the experience before.''
Now an assistant coach at the University of Georgia, where he played collegiate tennis, John Roddick suffered back problems and never competed professionally.
Sunday, John was with his team, playing at Mississippi State. He set his cellphone to vibrate and received periodic updates on Andy's match.
The younger Roddick had plotted a similar route to that of his brother. He hoped to receive a college scholarship, but it quickly became apparent his game was worthy of a bigger venue.
At the end of 1999, Roddick won the prestigious Eddie Herr junior event in Bradenton, then followed it up with an Orange Bowl title. A month later he claimed the Australian Open boys crown and began splitting his time between juniors and the pros.
Since this time last year, Roddick gained his first career ATP Tour victory -- winning in the first round at the 2000 Ericsson -- reached the quarterfinal of the tour stop at Washington, D.C., and won the 2000 U.S. Open boys title to finish the year as the International Tennis Federation's top-ranked junior.
In February, U.S. Davis Cup captain Patrick McEnroe named Roddick to the team that faced Switzerland. Although the team lost, he won his lone singles match.
``When I saw him the week of Davis Cup, I knew he was going to be there sooner rather than later,'' McEnroe said. ``I wouldn't have guaranteed it, but I'm not surprised. Pete wasn't anywhere near his best, but it's always related to how the other guy plays.''
Picture: Andy's parents, Jerry and Blanche Roddick, stand with a picture of Andy at age 10, along with some of his trohpies.