Former ATP star Andy Roddick got Roger Federer‘s back. Only a day had passed since Team Europe lifted the trophy of the 2024 Laver Cup, and the tournament fell under criticism over its all-ATP event format. However, Roddick has a good response to that. Explaining his points in his podcast, Andy Roddick sheds light on one of the crucial aspects of the sports world.

Roddick has beautifully backed up Laver Cup’s ATP bias raising an important question in his podcast Served. “Anytime I mention anything about Laver Cup, Oh there’s this bias because well, they don’t do it for women. Okay, wait a minute! Time out. Whose responsibility is it? to make an event? Is it Tony Godsick’s responsibility to go outside of his line and create another event? There’s no time! The venue, the arena, you’re doubling the cost,” Roddick said. This former American ATP star not only expressed his frustration over the criticism but also explained how organizational cost becomes a problem in this aspect.

Since the tournament’s inception, Laver Cup has been under the spotlight with new rumors every time. Not to forget, Ben Shelton had to take a stand confirming the matches were not scripted. Despite that, French retired player Julien Benneteau said that the tournament has “no sporting value” and the participants attend this tournament only because “the cheque is huge.” Each member of the triumphant team in the 2024 Laver Cup enjoyed $250,000 as the prize money. This is more than what a US Open semifinalist received this year.

However, coming back to Roddick, while he backed up Federer, he urged the tennis fraternity to encourage something similar for women. Mentioning how it is not the Laver Cup’s responsibility, Roddick offered an interesting insight into a vision for the Laver Cup-like tournament in the WTA tour.

Andy Roddick urges creating a blueprint of women’s version of the Laver Cup

In his podcast Served, Roddick believed that tennis enthusiasts should come forward in investing for an event that would bring a similar charm to the Laver Cup to women’s tennis. “There’s no IP here that can’t be copied. If you’re a huge investor in women’s tennis then go and just copy and paste this event. Go do it. The blueprint is there. Go find an arena, go find a market, you don’t need a hundred players,” he said. Roddick highlighted how the Laver Cup committee shouldn’t be held responsible for not organizing the tournament for female players. He also confessed his support for the Laver Cup has nothing to do with any bias as he would do the same for Serena Williams.

“I don’t understand why it’s like the Laver Cup’s responsibility to go do that. And by the way, I promise you most tennis people who know me, I would be saying the exact same thing if the situation was reversed and Serena had started something and it was a wild success,” concluded the former American player.

Andy Roddick’s statement reveals the reality of female sports where there is less investment. While refuting the criticism against the Laver Cup, Roddick mentioned how the WTA tour couldn’t have something similar because there is a demotivation among investors to create such an event for female players. Amidst this, Roddick’s suggestion might influence people to think about it and organize a WTA-only tournament in the future.