Tennis players often suffer from various medical problems such as tennis elbow, and athlete’s foot, and can just as easily contract life-threatening illnesses? Former American player Andy Roddick joined the bandwagon sharing his own battle with cancer. Mentioning the solution to avoid it, Roddick’s revelations take a dig at the struggles of being a tennis player in reality!

The 2003 US Open champion spoke about his challenges after retiring from playing tennis professionally in the latest episode of his podcast, Served with Andy Roddick.  Roddick’s struggles with skin diseases became a subject of concern. “I’ve dealt with various types of skin cancer since I stopped playing, this morning we went into this face laser thing that’s why for those of you watching on YouTube it looks like I got in a fight,” he said.

Roddick further presented his audience with a solution and urged them to mandatorily use sunscreen. “Put sunscreen on your kids, especially if they are tennis players. The problem won’t present itself when the kid is eight, but it might present itself when that kid is grown and is 38,” he said.

This former American tennis legend’s revelation brought awareness among people about one of the devastating diseases that. According to the US Centers for Disease Control, “Most skin cancers are caused by too much exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light. Put on broad spectrum sunscreen that filters out both UVA and UVB rays and has an SPF of 15 or higher before you go outside.”

Roddick also joked about his current inflamed skin condition with his audience. He said, “It looks like I got in a fight from the skin treatments that I got today.”

As Roddick dove into the importance of sunscreen, it seems the tennis world is already taking steps to ensure the issue doesn’t expand to others. Frances Tiafoe and Madison Keys have appeared in advertisements for sunscreen. ATP number 1 Jannik Sinner deems sunscreen an essential item, ensuring he keeps some with him and applies it regardless of the weather. 

Roddick’s battle with skin cancer brings an important lesson for people to take care of their skin consciously. He has had a long battle with cancer as he previously opened up about a tumor on his lip. Maintaining his usual calm demeanor, Roddick couldn’t help but share it with his audience.

Andy Roddick also opened up about his lip tumor years after battling with it

This former American tennis star had his share of struggles with skin cancer. He mentioned that some years back he had a tumor on his lip, which was removed due to surgery. “[I] had a squamous cell tumor taken out of my lip, probably like five or six years ago,” he said. Roddick further mentioned that he hasn’t “ever talked about it.”

Years after the fact, Roddick shared how he feels about catching the disease. “It stinks. I think I’m going to be a general kind of hatchet job for the rest of my life. [I] won’t go into the ‘woe was me’ part of it, because nothing is wrong, everything is good but — use sunscreen.”

Despite his battles, Roddick never lost his confidence and sought proper treatment to recover from cancer. While Roddick’s journey surprises his followers, it also motivates them to take preventive measures for such life-threatening diseases.