"There'd be no reason" - Andy Roddick defends himself amid claim of him "misleading" fans about Hawkeye after Alexander Zverev umpiring controversy

American tennis great Andy Roddick defended himself amid a claim that he intentionally 'misled' fans and undermined educated tennis officials. Roddick stated that there is no reason for him to mislead people intentionally.

During the 2024 French Open men's final between Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev, a slightly controversial incident happened in the fifth set, with Alcaraz serving at 2-1 and 15-40. The Spaniard's second serve was called out but the chair umpire overturned the linesman's decision and marked it in. This resulted in Zverev losing a crucial point and eventually the match as well. Later the TV replays showed that Alcaraz's serve was indeed out.

Andy Roddick took to X to share his thoughts on the incident. He took Zverev's side and claimed players are normally right about reading marks as one cannot replace real-life playing experience.

"Players normally right. Shotspot showed Zverev saw mark correct way ……. Cant replace real life playing reps when reading marks correctly. Good riddance to these umpires trying. Bring in the machines full time." he wrote on X.

Recently, one user on X called out the former World No. 1 and claimed that Roddick was misleading people regarding the electronic line calling in tennis and undermining the tennis officials with his constant calls for replacing chair umpires with machines.

Roddick replied to the user with a strong response and defended himself. The American wrote that in his experience, humans make more errors than Hawkeye. He also claimed that there is no reason for him to mislead people intentionally.

"Feel free to @ me. Always happy to be wrong about something. One thing a I can w certainty is that there would be no reason to intentionally mislead people. Simply, I believe one is a less bad option. It’s not whether Hawkeye has a margin of error. It’s whether humans make more errors than Hawkeye. In my experiences, they do."

The Hawkeye technology was not used during the 2024 French Open tournament as the system is not used on clay.

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"We’re not going to get it right. Because we choose not to" - Andy Roddick on the absence of new technologies

The 41-year-old Andy Roddick, in a new episode of his podcast, Served, discussed Roland-Garros 2024 with Kim Clijsters and Jon Wertheim. During the episode, Roddick and Wertheim had a chat about the lack of use of new technologies in tennis.

Andy Roddick - 2012 US Open

The former US Open winner said it is mind-blowing that the umpire tells the players things like how the ball travels and how it lands. He cheekily expressed how players have seen and experienced these things since childhood on their way to becoming professional tennis players.

"It’s because we want someone to trot down, look around, and also like the part where umpires come in and explain to players ball flight and how it lands. As if we haven’t seen it every day for six hours from the time we’re seven years old.

We’re gonna not use exact line calling. We’re not going to get it right. Because we choose not to. And then we’re going to have them explain to a player how a ball travels. It is just like mind-blowing." [1:19:34]