"I couldn't swallow, couldn't breathe" - Andy Roddick fondly revisits facing Andre Agassi, the then-World No. 1, in his 2nd ATP tournament

Andy Roddick recently reminisced about facing the then-World No. 1 Andre Agassi in the second round of the 2000 Miami Open, which marked only his second appearance on the ATP tour.

Roddick sat down with journalist Jon Wertheim on the latest episode of his 'Served with Andy Roddick' podcast on Tuesday (April 23) to unpack the latest in the tennis universe this week. The former World No. 1's host came up with a rather interesting question midway through the segment.

"What was your Darwin Blanch?" Wertheim asked Roddick on the latter's podcast (30:06).

For those unaware, Darwin Blanch is a 16-year-old budding American player who was drawn to face the 'King of Clay' Rafael Nadal in the first round of this week's Madrid Open. The match was a daunting prospect for the youngster by his own admission, so Wertheim asked in the same vein whether the 2003 US Open winner had gone through a similar experience when he was finding his feet on the ATP tour.

In response, Andy Roddick claimed that he was really nervous ahead of his second-round encounter against Andre Agassi at the 2000 Miami Open, in what was just his second tour-level match. He also gave a hilarious account of an interaction that he had with the American legend in the locker room prior to walking on-court.

"I woke up that morning [of the match] and I couldn't comprehend the situation... the tournament in that he has won four times already," Andy Roddick said. (31:18). "He comes in, like... we're sharing a locker room. So, we're about to tee off, it's seven o' clock, I think Andre walks over to me."

"I try to stay off his way, I don't know if he knows who I am, at that point we didn't have an established relationship," he added (32:23). "He walks up and goes, 'Hi Andy!' He goes, 'I'm Andre, we'll have fun tonight.' I'm like, 'Okay, alright Andre Agassi.' I literally couldn't swallow, I couldn't breathe and as we go out there, we play and he was No. 1 in the world, I think. He would punish people."

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Andy Roddick: "I had these thoughts, Andre Agassi is No. 1 in the world... don't lose 6-0, 6-0"

Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick squared off six times on the ATP Tour

During the interaction with Wertheim, Andy Roddick further disclosed how he was fearful that he would be double-bagelled by Andre Agassi.

"I was like a gangly giraffe. I was like, 'Please just hold serve a couple of times, let's just get through some games.'" Andy Roddick said (33:05). "I had these thoughts, 'Gosh, oh my gosh, this guy is No. 1 in the world... don't lose 6-0, 6-0.'"

The then-17-year-old gave a respectable account of his game that day, though, taking five games off Agassi. He added that he could relate to what Darwin Blanch must have felt ahead of his clash with Rafael Nadal, which the 16-year-old lost 1-6, 0-6.

"Anyway, not quite the winning mentality that you need, it was 6-2, 6-3, which was fine. But, yes, I understood what Darwin Blanch is going through," he added (33:22). "I don't know if Rafa was his idol, it's probably one of three guys (Big 3) that was, is his idol."