BIRMINGHAM, AL – Returning to the scene of his first career PowerShares Series event in 2014, Andy Roddick defeated John McEnroe 6-4 Friday night in the one-set championship match to win the Champions Shootout at the Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Ala.
The win was the 15th career title for Roddick on the PowerShares Series, the North American tennis circuit for champion tennis players over the age of 30.
Roddick made his PowerShares debut at the Legacy Arena in Birmingham back in 2014 where he also won the title, ironically, also beating McEnroe in the final. The Arena was also the site of one of
Roddick’s many successful Davis Cup efforts in the United States when he lead the USA to a victory over Stan Wawrinka and Switzerland in the 2009 Davis Cup.
“I think they should have moved Wimbledon to Birmingham,” quipped Roddick of his success in the city.
Against McEnroe, Roddick broke the serve of the 58-year-old in his first service game to take a 2-0 lead and never looked back, despite struggling on the McEnroe service games after his first break.
“The lefty thing, it’s not easy,” said Roddick of the often imitated McEnroe left-handed serve. “He played a bit of sloppy game early on and I was able to hold out from there.”
To advance into the final earlier in the night, Roddick defeated good friend Mardy Fish 7-6 (7) and McEnroe defeated Jim Courier 6-4.
Roddick earned 400 PowerShares ranking points with the tournament win to take over first-place from Mark Philippoussis with 600 points. McEnroe earned 200 points with the runner-up showing to move into a third-place tie with James Blake.
Each PowerShares Series event features two one-set semifinal matches and a one-set championship match and, for the second straight year, players make their own line calls with assistance of electronic line-calling.
The remaining PowerShares Series for this season schedule with player fields are listed below and ticket, schedule and player information can be found at www.PowerSharesSeries.com;
May 17 – Chicago – John McEnroe, Andy Roddick, Jim Courier, Mark Philippoussis
July 23 – Newport, RI – Andy Roddick, Jim Courier, James Blake, Mardy Fish
August 20 – Winston-Salem, N.C. – Andy Roddick, James Blake, Michael Chang, Mardy Fish
August 24-25 – New Haven, Conn. – John McEnroe, James Blake, Michael Chang, Mark Philippoussis
TBD – Lincoln, Neb. – TBD
TBD – Los Angeles, Calif. – TBD
TBD – Nashville, Tenn. – TBD
In 2016, Mark Philippoussis won the PowerShares Series points title with 1600 points and tournament titles in Memphis, Tulsa, Newport, Winston-Salem and New Haven. Roddick finished in second place, also earning 1600 points but losing the head-to-head tiebreaker with Philippoussis 5-2, while winning titles in Charleston, St. Louis, Los Angeles and Orlando. James Blake finished in third place with 1100 points and tournament titles in Chicago, Portland and Brooklyn.
In 2015, Andy Roddick won the PowerShares Series points title in his second year of competing on the series with 1,600 points. Roddick won a record eight events Los Angeles, Lincoln, Chicago, Austin, Little Rock, Dallas, Richmond and Minneapolis. Blake finished second in the points rankings with 1,200 points, winning events in Boston and Cincinnati. Mark Philippoussis finished in third with 1,100 points, winning titles in Salt Lake City and Vancouver. The year before in 2014, McEnroe won the points title for the first time in the nine-year history of Champions Series tennis by winning events in Kansas City, Indianapolis, Nashville and Charlotte.