"Andy Roddick was a total freak" - Super Bowl champ Drew Brees opens up about how loss to American made him switch from tennis to football

During a conversation with former tennis player John Isner at the Youth Inc. podcast, retired NFL quarterback Drew Brees talked about his childhood with tennis star Andy Roddick. The duo grew up together in Austin, Texas, and went to the same academy for tennis training.

When Isner asked the latter about their tennis court encounters, the XLIV MVP reminisced about his time with Roddick on the courts and said:

"Andy was a phenom as a kid. We started playing against each other when he was probably eight years old, all the way up to when he was 10 or 11. I was two years older than him, so he was always playing up in my division," he said.

Brees also reflected on how Roddick was extremely competitive even when he was playing with older guys.

"He was unbelievable—just a total freak. You could tell it was really important to him. He was highly competitive even at that age," he added. "I was probably a little more crafty, being a couple of years older, and maybe I had a little more experience and knew some ways to use his strengths against him. I beat him the first three times we played, but he kept getting closer and closer. "

Mentioning how Brees foresaw Roddick's meteoric rise in the men's circuit, he felt it was time to call time on his tennis career.

"Finally, he beat me in the end, and I saw the trajectory of his career and thought, 'Maybe it's time I choose another career path if I’d have to face more guys like this,'" the New Orleans Saints legend said.

Drew Bees went on to become a noteworthy quarterback in the history of Football being selected in the pro-Super Bowl 13 times and later inducted into the Saints Hall of Fame in 2024. Andy Roddick too became one of the greatest in tennis holding the World No. 1 spot for 13 straight weeks.

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Andy Roddick takes credit for Drew Brees' glorious football career

Andy Roddick and Drew Brees at the 2006 Davis Cup - Source: Getty

While appearing on The Dan Le Batard show, Andy Roddick, stated that it is only because of him that Drew Brees is such a huge name in Football.

"You're welcome, football," he said.

The former World No. 1 was defeated by Brees multiple times when they used to play against one another as kids.

The 2013 US Open champion jokingly said that Brees quit tennis only because he beat him once. Their head-to-head is still led by the Super Bowl Champion 2-1.