Hall of Fame inducts Roddick, Clijsters

Known for his powerful serve and his often biting wit, Andy Roddick was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of fame along with Belgian Kim Clijsters among others.

NEWPORT, R.I. » Looking around the International Tennis Hall of Fame, Andy Roddick thought about all the things he is not.

Not as good as the historic greats, especially Americans who preceded him into the Newport shrine like John McEnroe, Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi. Not as good as the modern Big Four — Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray — who stood in the way of him winning more than one Grand Slam.

“I’m not the best of all time. I’m not going to win Wimbledon. I’m not the best of my generation. I’m not the most well-behaved. I’m not the most polished,” Roddick said in a speech that was sometimes funny and sometimes poignant.

“I’m also never going to take this honor for granted,” he said. “I may not be a lot of things, but from this day forward, I’m never be anything less than a Hall of Famer.”

Known for his powerful serve and his often biting wit, Roddick was inducted into the Hall along with Belgian Kim Clijsters, six-time Paralympic medalist Monique Kalkman-van den Bosch and journalist and historian Steve Flink. Tennis instructor and innovator Vic Braden, who died in 2014, was inducted posthumously.

Clijsters won four Grand Slam singles titles and 31 overall, including the 2009 U.S. Open as an unranked, wild-card entry after coming out of retirement after the birth of her daughter. “Sorry, guys, but it’s different,” said Hall of Famer Chris Evert, who presented Flink for induction.

Evert said she developed a friendship with Flink over his career, which started when he was a researched for Hall of Fame tennis writer Bud Collins. He went on to write books and magazine articles and provide tennis commentary on TV and radio.

Evert spoke in awe about Flink’s recall for long-ago matches, and how he would interrupt her at press conference when she got details about her own record wrong. “Steve Flink is being inducted today for a lifetime of making tennis the center of his world,” she said.

Kalkman-van den Bosch discussed fighting cancer at the age of 14 and fearing that she would never play tennis again. Her friends pushing her around on a court in her wheelchair so she could she feel like she was still involved with the sport.

“I’m so fortunate to have tennis in my life,” she said. “It’s been magic for me.”

Roddick thanked his several coaches and his father and his wife, model Brooklyn Decker, who sat in the stands near fellow model Chrissy Teigen and her husband, singer John Legend. He also congratulated his fellow inductees, joining those who praised Clijsters as a person.

“I have a simple way of putting it,” he said. “If you have a problem with Kim Clijsters, I blame you.”

Roddick also spoke of sneaking into the players’ lounge at the U.S. Open when he was 8 years old and played video games with Sampras, too scared to speak. Eleven years later, they were on the same Davis Cup team.

The inductees took a tour of the museum on Friday, where they got to see their mementos alongside those of some of their heroes. Roddick took special pleasure in seeing the racket Arthur Ashe used when winning Wimbledon in 1975, or the one Rod Laver used in Forest Hills.