Andy Roddick Stepping Up to The Plate By Not Playing

[takeiteasy703]

andy could have denounced , in a press conference , the step taken by the arrangers of the tournament , but quitting it was such an extreme thing to do , in other countries they accept her because they have no connection to Israel but in Dubai its different .. but no blame as i said coz most americans and westerners just have no idea  !

[takeiteasy703]

any way i dont blame andy or any one of the commentators here , because u all think when we say - for example - Japan the country is just like saying Israel the country , because u are not actually living the situation , and probably have no other source to understand whats really going on but your deceiving media ....

[takeiteasy703]

i love andy but please read this to the end .. i do think that politics have nothing to do with sports but people should understand that in the middle east arab countries are unable to do anything practical toward israel awful crimes , which leads to yes doing something in sports .. im not saying its the right thing to do im just saying ITS NORMAL .

[theatlantean2]

I was thinking how cool it would be to go to Dubai as well, but after hearing how they didn't let her play due to the country she's from or her beliefs (or both), I have marked that place off my list for places to see. What a bunch of camel-jockeys!!!

[NatTurner]

was it wrong to ban South Africa from participating in sporting events during the Apartheid regime?

There is no such thing as politics out of sports.

[EagleOneoOne]

I wish people would just leave politics out of sports, and just have fun!

[pmo1983]

Rafa and Fed also withdrew but cited fatigue. i think they withdrew due to the controversy but didnt have the courage like Andy to condemn the UAE govt.

Good on ya Andy.

[annakfan]

She is also a member of the Israeli Military, also it was the country of UAE who wouldn't let her in, the tournament had nothing to do with it.

[TheMirren81]

what makes me sick is the belief that roddick did this in protest, the fact is he was playing too much, staying in america for a davis cup tie the following week and had no intention playing

he is just a shameless opportunist who jumped on the Peer/Dubai bandwagon and the rest of you idiots fall for it and believe him to be some hero

if he doesnt believe sport should mix with politics  then why did he himself.. withdraw in protest - as HE says.

[littleboypratk]

Oh shut up...

Sometimes all players play everyday for every tournament. There's no such thing as too much. Btw idc what you think and Im pretty sure no one does... So shhhhhhhh....

[teamofreally]

lol SO RANDOM... why is there a clip that is randomly played backwards.... at 0:35 she does some sort of weird double handed smash.... i think that was a clip played backwards... and she was doing a regular double backhand shot... i'm almost sure since people in the background are walking backwards... and she goes strangely quickly into a ready position and just sits there... so i think its a random backward clip....

[sonytennis2009]

it started at 26 seconds. weird i did not catch it until you pointed it out.

[tonyroolz1]

i know its wierd

[dereg555]

1:31 - who is the ET speaking about shahar peer?

[JoseDisturbed]

this is one of the reasons roddick is not just a good player but also a good person and he really did do the right thing

[sanexwtafan]

The guy said at the beginning of the video that the ORGANIZERS refused to let her play, but that's not true because the players have the right to enter all the tournaments they want as long as their rankings are high enough...

She couldn't play because of the government, who denied her a visa... the organizers couldn't really do anything about it.

[sheremeti]

NO POLITICS IN SPORTS!!!..

[teamofreally]

what a ridiculous ending question... how can there even be a debate on this lmao obviously there's no place for racism in sports... why would anyone like WANT racism... that is so random....

[sonyaroxxx]

wooo roddick! way to be totally classy the dubai tennis championships should be shut down. countries like that dont deserve to have sporting events in their countries

[dodododa]

Organizers were probably just surprised that there could be a good Jewish athlete. They probably thought it was a joke.

[vasya69]

wow that was just uncalled for. andy is the man. He does things that he shouldn't do in order to benefit others. That's just one of the examples. Also I got to meet andy at tennis masters canada 2004 in toronto cus i worked in the locker rooms throughout the tournament Even though he lost to federer before leaving he still ended up tipping us the locker room guys (there were 4 of us) $200 US each. out of all the players he was the only one. thats just another example of a good sport

[rudiliemz]

Yeah andY RoCkDdick

[shr444]

andy RODDICK israel love you!

good job ur the man!

god bless you!

[socceraviation]

first! ...................... punk'd

[widdlemouthxl]

Andy wasn't going to play Dubai anyway but it was really good of him that he addressed the issue. Hope Sharar will be able to play Dubai next year.

[sexypromiscuousgal]

No he was going to play but he pulled out because of this incident. He said so at Memphis when he pulled out two days before the draws were announced.

[bigchopz60]

Man when I get big I want Elie to interview me.

And no there is no place for racism in sports. I don't like what they're doing.

[lakerspeedstaker93]

TENNIS TOO!!!!!! ELLIE NICE VIDEO

[tab07]

nope their isn't ne and there shouldnt be ne place for that in sports...and oh yea 8th

[xxspreewellxx]

seventh

ah yes

lucky number 7

[24deschain]

sixth 8====D~~~O:

[nenadfromserbia]

fifth

[xXxhelen333xXx]

fourth

[ssibalgeseki]

third

[dkparksaa]

SECOND!!

[buze]

first!