"Don't you dare peg Rafael Nadal as a claycourt guy, he was so much more" - Andy Roddick pays tribute to Spaniard in light of impending retirement

A small section of the tennis universe has come to believe that Rafael Nadal is a one-dimensional player since 14 of his 22 Majors came on clay. Andy Roddick, however, staunchly disagrees with this notion, going by his recent comments on his podcast on Thursday (October 10).

Nadal will be hanging up his racquet at the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga next month. By his own admission, the 22-time Major winner is not in good enough shape to play tennis competitively and will bid the sport goodbye after a 23-year-long career.

Taking note of Rafael Nadal's impending retirement, former World No. 1 Andy Roddick took to his podcast to speak on the topic. The American was unhappy with the long-standing opinion that Nadal only excelled at the French Open during his illustrious career. He illustrated some interesting comparisons with past greats to prove the Spaniard's all-court greatness.

Roddick alluded to the 14-time Roland Garros titlist having as many Major titles outside clay as the likes of Andre Agassi and Jimmy Connors — both of whom won eight overall Major tiltes respectively.

"The laziest way to think of Rafa is, 'Oh, he's a claycourt guy.' Let's just remove clay from the conversation, which is not something you do often with Rafa," Andy Roddick said on the Served with Andy Roddick podcast [3:53]. "Aside from clay, he won more Grand Slams on other surfaces than the total of players like Becker, Edberg, McEnroe, matched Andre and Jimmy Connors in Slams outside of his surface."

"Think about that for a second, 'Let's remove my dominance, remove the place where I did most of my work. And the place where people like to define me as a claycourt guy. Which, obviously, is the best ever on clay,'" he continued [5:10]. "'I have as many Grand Slam titles outside Roland Garros as Andre Agassi and Jimmy Connors, more than John McEnroe.' And these are absolute icons of our game. So in the fallout of this, don't you dare try to peg him as a claycourt guy. Because he was that, but he was so much more."

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"Rafael Nadal matched the previous all-time Grand Slam title #14 in a single event" - Andy Roddick

Rafael Nadal won his final Major title at Roland Garros in 2022 (Source: Getty)

Andy Roddick then reminisced about how Pete Sampras had held the record for most Majors won by a male player at 14 when he started his career in the 2000s. The former US Open winner claimed that Rafael Nadal had matched Sampras' tally at a single event, inferring it to be a massive achievement.

"The leader in the clubhouse as far as men's singles Grand Slam titles [were concerned] when I started my career was Pete Sampras. He got to 14. Which is an absurd thing to think about..." Roddick said [3:07]. "Rafa matched that in a single event. He matched the previous all-time Grand Slam title #14 in a single event at Roland Garros."

Nadal won 14 titles at Roland Garros, four titles at the US Open, two titles at Wimbledon and two titles at the Australian Open from 2005 to 2022.