Roddick nets reality TV contract

American tennis ace Andy Roddick is to be the star of a reality television series which will follow him across Europe and the US as he competes to hold his ranking as the world’s number one player.

The Tour will consists of 13 one-hour programmes culled from hundreds of hours of tape of the 21-year-old Roddick as he goes through his daily paces next summer as a famous celebrity-sportsman, and, as producer Craig Shepherd put it, “an international heartthrob“.

To give The Tour some variation and contrast, Shepherd says he has also signed Brian Vahaly, the world’s 77th-ranked player, and the successful identical twin doubles team of Mike and Bob Bryan, all of whom will open their lives to the cameras throughout next summer.

Roddick, who is dating pop star Mandy Moore, has retained his ranking as No 1 despite losing in the Paris Masters semi-finals at the weekend to Tim Henman.