'Just unnecessary': Legend slams 'arrogant' Roger Federer criticism

Former World No.1 Andy Roddick has hit back at criticism of Roger Federer, insisting the term "arrogant" wouldn't even be one of the "first 6000 words" he would use to describe the 20-time grand slam champion.

Novak Djokovic’s mother caused a stir in the tennis world this week when she labelled the beloved Swiss great arrogant, while discussing her son's epic 2019 Wimbledon win over Federer.

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The eight-time Wimbledon champion famously blew two championship points in the 2019 decider at the All England Club as Djokovic won a thrilling fifth set tiebreaker at 12-12.

Discussing the epic final with Serbian publication Sport Blic, Dijana Djokovic claimed God ‘saved’ her son from losing but hit out at the pro-Federer crowd and the Swiss star himself.

“In a stadium where everyone was cheering on Roger Federer, we were just a handful of fans for Novak,” she said.

“It's not nice that I'm annoyed by Federer or others at such moments.

“But it annoyed me because Federer is a bit arrogant.”

Roddick - who famously lost four grand slam finals to Federer - said Mrs Djokovic's comments are "unnecessary" and couldn't be further from the truth.

“It’s just unnecessary. I don’t know if we need to throw this around from the sidelines," Roddick told Tennis Channel.

"I think it probably wouldn’t be one of my first 6000 words that I would use to describe Roger."

Roddick also said he found recent comments from Djokovic alarming, with the Serb was slammed by the tennis community for ‘disturbing’ theories about changing the molecular composition of food and water with thoughts.

In an Instagram Live chat with Chervin Jafarieh for a series called The Self Mastery Project, the two discussed how ‘toxic’ food and water can be made healthy through the power of positive thoughts.

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“I know some people that, through energetical (sic) transformation, through the power of prayer, through the power of gratitude, they managed to turn the most toxic food, or maybe most polluted water into the most healing water, because water reacts," Djokovic said.

Roddick admits the 17-time grand slam champion "has a real chance of being the best player of all time" but says he's concerned by his controversial beliefs.

“I think there have been some stories coming out of that camp that are maybe concerning at best,” he added.

"And so on top of those was turning ‘poisonous drinking water in a glorious thing with our thoughts’. This is actually only the second or third most alarming thing that set out of that camp in the last couple of weeks.

“It’s just hard cause when you disagree with someone’s stance on a personal level, you can still think that they’re really friendly and still enjoy seeing them. And that shouldn’t dictate your opinion on what they have accomplished on the court.

“So what I think of his stances on big world issues that are going on right now and what he has accomplished on sport are two completely separate things for me and Novak has been unbelievable.

“He certainly has a real chance of being the best of all time regardless of if I have to disagree with him on any certain issue.”

with agencies