By Bill Scott Jul 3, 2009, 19:48 GMT
London - Swimsuit model Brooklyn Decker talked then boyfriend Andy Roddick back into tennis a year ago as the one-time number one suffered through a crisis of confidence after a second-round shutdown at Wimbledon.
'Last year after I played here, that was a hard, hard couple of weeks,' Roddick said after reaching the Sunday final against Roger Federer - the pair's third - with a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (9-7), 7-6 (7-5) defeat of Andy Murray.
'We had a lot of talks on if I still thought I could play and at least be towards the top of the game. I definitely openly questioned it at that point.
'I was probably leaning towards not really playing that well. She didn't really know much about tennis, so she thought I was playing real great - and she thought I looked cute in the shorts,' joked the 2003 US open champion who has never duplicated that feat in three successive Grand Slam finals.
'This off-season, we said, 'If you're not gonna be up there, let's at least not wonder. Let's prepare yourself and give yourself every opportunity.''
Roddick called the wife he married in April 'a very calming influence and someone that I can kind of confide in and not have to put up a super brave front in front of.
'So it's been real good. And certainly makes the (player) box better looking.'
The American also said that despite his desire not to watch any portion of last years' epic All England Club final won by Rafael Nadal over Federer, the enthralling final set caught his attention as he went through an airport after visiting Decker's family in North Carolina.
'I didn't want to watch, because you wish you were there. Especially kind of the mental state I was in at that point, it hurt to watch.
'I landed and it was the match that it was - there was no chance of me getting out of the airport before it was finished,' Roddick said.
Your Talkback on this Story