Last week, on his 30th birthday, Andy Roddick announced he was to retire from competitive tennis whenever his U.S. Open run ended.
And yesterday, the American tennis legend and his wife, model and actress Brooklyn Decker, were both overcome by emotion as he lost in four sets to Juan Martin del Potro in the tournament's fourth round.
Wearing a grey Andy Roddick Foundation T-shirt and a black leather skirt, the Battleship actress kept her eyes hidden behind a pair of black sunglasses.
But she could not disguise her sadness as the 2003 tournament champion and former world No. 1-ranked player's stellar career came to an end in New York City.
Roddick was also visibly emotional in the final game on the Arthur Ashe Stadium Court and received a huge ovation from the crowd as he bowed out.
'The last five games was hard,' Roddick said after the match. 'Once I got down that break I could barely look at my box. I'm a little overwhelmed right now.'
The seventh-seeded del Potro, the 2009 U.S. Open champion, won 6-7 (1), 7-6 (4), 6-2, 6-4 in a match spread over two days.
The pair's contest began on Tuesday night but rain suspended play one point into a first-set tiebreaker forcing Roddick and del Potro to reconvene on court yesterday.
The Argentinian, who also got off to a slow start a day on Tuesday, looked sluggish in losing the tiebreaker yesterday but once he won the second set, the 23-year-.