World Team Tennis team in New York

While his priorities have changed since his retirement from professional tennis in 2012, Roddick is eager to see how he fares against the sport’s younger generation in the Empire’s first season.

“It’s a tough act now to kind of go out there and play guys who every single day of their lives is training to become a better tennis player and mine is changing diapers.” Roddick, who played for the Austin Aces last season, has experience with the New York tennis scene.

Roddick, though, has never played at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills Stadium, the Empire’s home court and previously a longtime host for the U.S.