Roddick tells – Andy Roddick says the most surreal thing he’s ever seen in tennis involved David Ferrer: after watching him in a three-set match at Indian Wells, he later spotted Ferrer running, then smoking a cigarette at a hotel bar—apparently without getting tired.
Andy Roddick didn’t just remember a match. He remembered a cigarette.
In his podcast. “Served. ” the former world number 1 shared a surreal anecdote about David Ferrer—one that still sticks with him. He described watching Ferrer play a three-set match at Indian Wells. then driving home. seeing Ferrer running. and later that night walking into a dinner at a hotel where Ferrer was smoking a cigarette.
Roddick said Ferrer “didn’t get tired,” and that he was smoking cigarettes.
The story lands harder because Ferrer. in Roddick’s telling. was the kind of player who didn’t stop fighting until the end. The Spanish tennis star reached number 3 in the ATP rankings. compiled a winning head-to-head record against Roddick. and was known for combative. fast play. Roddick’s memory of a cigarette off the court clashes with the reputation Ferrer built in singles—working for every point through the finish.
After Coco Gauff stated at Wimbledon 2026 that she didn’t get tired after a tennis match, Roddick said Ferrer was the player who impressed him most. He tied it to cardio—an ability that, in this anecdote, didn’t seem to disappear even when Ferrer was smoking.
It’s unclear whether the incident was an occasional moment or whether Ferrer was a regular smoker. What is clear is that Roddick has never forgotten what he saw—because, as he put it, it was the most surreal thing he has seen related to tennis.
For tennis fans, the details are oddly vivid: one night, Ferrer goes from the intensity of a three-set Indian Wells match to running on the road, then into a hotel bar with a cigarette—still, in Roddick’s eyes, showing the same relentless engine that made him such a demanding opponent.
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