"Just feels cheap for it to be whittled down by a sarcastic eye roll" - Andy Roddick shuts down fan for criticizing Brandon Holt

Andy Roddick defended upcoming American tennis player Brandon Holt after a fan criticized him for his second-round exit at the US Open. Holt, who is the son of two-time US Open singles champion Tracy Austin, lost to Argentina's Pedro Cachin after taking a two-sets-to-love lead earlier during the match.

Responding to a post that highlighted the success of American players in the men's draw so far in the 2022 US Open, a fan had a critical assessment of Holt's loss to Cachin and said the record would have been even better if the youngster had won.

Roddick, who was tagged in the conversation, was quick to jump to Holt's defense, stressing that tennis is a very challenging sport and that the 24-year-old should be lauded for a strong US Open campaign which saw him reach the second round after coming through qualifying.

"Tennis isn’t easy. If it was, everyone would do it. He had such a great week including qualifying from a guy ranked 300. Just feels cheap for it to be whittled down by a sarcastic eye roll emoji by someone on Twitter pretending it’s easy," Roddick said.

Holt came through three intense matches in the qualifying rounds to make it through to a Grand Slam main draw for the first time in his career. The World No. 303 then stunned American No. 1 Taylor Fritz in the first round, emerging victorious 6-7(3), 7-6(1), 6-3, 6-4. This was also Holt's first-ever win on the ATP tour.

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Andy Roddick hails Serena Williams' competitiveness on court and light side off the court

Serena Williams at the 2022 US Open.

Andy Roddick recently spoke about Serena Williams' demeanor on and off the court and how people often believe that she is highly competitive off the court as well.

The former World No. 1 called Williams 'a bad lady' who no one wants to 'mess with' on the tennis court and revealed that both Serena and Venus Williams have a much lighter side when they are not zoned in for their matches.

"Well it’s funny, because she’s so competitive, right? And so the majority of time when people see her, she’s either on the court — she’s a bad lady when she’s on the court; you don’t want to mess with her — or in press right afterwards, of which I think she’s probably been guilty of going to the press room too quickly after losses sometimes," Andy Roddick told Fansided, adding, "But I don’t think people see enough of the lighter side of Venus and Serena. They’re such a joy to be around when they’re not in ‘go mode'."

Roddick, who celebrated his 40th birthday earlier this week, made his return to the US Open courts a few days before the start of the tournament. He played an exhibition match against compatriot James Blake during the US Open Fan Week.