T2 got Served.
Just two episodes in, and the Served with Andy Roddick podcast has already made its mark in the vast world of tennis content. With the opinionated and insightful Roddick as host, the longform listen boasts authenticity and credibility like few other sports shows.
“I know you guys are going to get on your little computer, you become keyboard warriors about what we’re talking about,” the 2003 US Open champion says to listeners after having the temerity to criticize Novak Djokovic after his Australian Open semifinal loss. “He was flat in a match for the first time in 15 years.”
Starting on Sunday, March 3, new Served episodes will debut on T2—Tennis Channel’s second network that is available free in the United States.
On most Sunday nights around at 7 p.m. ET (depending on live tennis), Served with Andy Roddick will be broadcast exclusively on T2. It will be the only place to hear the show until Tuesdays, when it will drop on Served Media podcast channels, and it will remain the only video home of the podcast until it is released the following Sunday on the Served Media YouTube channel.
Frank Sinatra would have been proud of Roddick for how he made the partnership announcement: his way.
“In my hand, I have the final copy of a contract proposal from our friends at Tennis Channel,” Roddick tells co-host Jon Wertheim, from his lovely if not lavish podcast studio. “So with what I am doing right now and signing—and I got permission—that is a signature.”
Relatively speaking, Roddick didn’t play much doubles during his outstanding career, but in retirement he’s found perhaps his ideal tennis partner. The 41-year-old’s rapport with Wertheim is evident from the onset; the two plunge into the deep end of tennis topics in a debut episode that tackled the just-completed Australian Open.
In one segment, Andy and Jon discuss the uppermost tier of the women’s game: rarified air that Iga Swiatek once monopolized, but has since ceded some control.
“Swiatek feels like the safest player, but you look back at the results, and now I don’t know that that’s true,” Roddick says, before making his pitch. “Six major semifinals in a row for [Aryna] Sabalenka. She is always there. I let past reputation get in the way of what was right in front of my eyeballs.”
The outspoken former face of U.S. tennis and the well-connected industry maven make for some A+ audio, with talking points ranging from the enlightening (Roddick gives never-before-heard details on his consulting with Coco Gauff) to the entertaining (assessing Super Bowl prop bets involving Taylor Swift), and everything in between.
The second episode sizes up subjects including tennis super tour rumors, Andy Murray’s reaction to a writer asking him to retire, and sports gambling. Coaching changes, scheduling dilemmas and Usher “on freaking roller skates” are on the docket in Episode 3. It’s all a little bit of everything, much like the new home of the breakout show.
As Roddick puts a bow on the inaugural episode, he asks Wertheim if they could do this again regularly (they will), and asked the fans if they could “spam Tennis Channel to put this on the air in some way, shape or form” (they did).
Message received. All these years later, Roddick is still serving bullets.
“Tennis Channel viewers are as passionate about the sport as I am, are smart and expect the truth—no sugar coating,” Roddick announced on Tuesday. “We’re going to give them that each week on T2 and have a lot of fun in the process.”
