"There was no brotherhood"- Andy Roddick on bond between Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras & other American ATP greats who broke through in late '80s

Andy Roddick recently revisited the rivalry between Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, Jim Courier and other American ATP greats who broke through in the late 1980s. According to Roddick, their rivalry consisted of a "healthy jealousy" but lacked the "camaraderie" that exists among the current crop of American ATP and WTA stars.

Speaking on a recent episode of the Served with Andy Roddick podcast, former No. 1 Roddick recalled how Michael Chang's title triumph at the 1989 French Open paved the way for Sampras, Courier and Agassi's Grand Slam successes.

"You obviously hear the stories from the '80s with Jim (Courier), Andre (Agassi) and Pete (Sampras) and they all were together and (Michael) Chang breaks out in '89 and wins the French Open. But Andre was already No. 3 in the world at that point and then Pete wins in '90 and then Jim wins in '91 and then Andre finally wins in '92 and he was expected to be the first one to win," the 42-year-old said.

Andy Roddick went on to suggest that the competition between the American ATP greats was a healthy one, but didn't feature any sort of "brotherhood".

"So, it feels like there was kind of that healthy jealousy, but those guys didn't have any camaraderie to go along with it. There was no brotherhood," he added.

"We just always kept pushing each other" - Andre Agassi on rivalry with Pete Sampras, Jim Courier, other Americans

Andre Agassi (Source: Getty)

Earlier this year, eight-time singles Major titlist Andre Agassi was interviewed by Ryan Leong from the Bay Area Sports Wrap. Here, he cast his mind back to how he and other American ATP stars from his generation were instrumental in pushing each other to the limits.

"When I turned pro, I gave Courier the belief, Chang the belief, Pete the belief. Then, you know, Chang wins a Slam, it gives Sampras the belief, it gives me the belief, it gives Jim the belief. Then Jim goes to number one. So we just always kept pushing each other, realizing that it's possible," Agassi said.

From Andre Agassi's generation, it was Pete Sampras who eventually finished with the highest number of singles titles at Grand Slams; 14, which included seven at the Wimbledon Championships, two at the Australian Open, and five at the US Open.

Andy Roddick himself was the last American man to win a singles Major title at the 2003 US Open. Taylor Fritz came close to breaking the drought last year at Flushing Meadows, but fell short to reigning No. 1 Jannik Sinner in the final.

Edited by Sudipto Pati