DOTING.(parents of tennis player Andy Roddick meet up with representatives from their son's marketing agency SFX)(Blanche Roddick gives brief bio of herself and her husband)(Interview)

For twenty-one-year-old Andy Roddick's first scheduled tennis match last week at the U.S. Open, his parents, Blanche and Jerry Roddick, turned up at Arthur Ashe Stadium and were taken in hand by SFX, Andy's marketing group. They were escorted to an air-conditioned luxury suite, equipped with a stocked refrigerator, sofas, television, bathroom, and a private terrace overlooking the court. The Roddicks brought guests, Stacy and Don Moore, the parents of Andy's girlfriend, the pop singer Mandy Moore. ("Andy isn't a musician, but he has remarkable rhythm, and he's a wonderful dancer," Blanche Roddick said.)

Both couples were obviously very fond of one another. The Roddicks greeted the SFX officials--handsome, muscular men in business suits, pretty women in short print dresses--with hugs and kisses. The Moores, for some reason, did likewise. SFX ("Spectacular, Fun, X-citing") has been representing Andy Roddick since 1999, when, as the national junior champion, he signed an endorsement deal with Reebok.

"We do a lot of things," one of the SFX women said. "Besides retail licensing, we represent professional athletes, coaches, broadcasters, movie stars, entertainers. We bring out the essence of who they are."

"Oh," Blanche Roddick said.

Ken Meyerson, a heavy-set, deeply tanned man who is the president of SFX Tennis, said, "Andy is unusual. Andy knows who he is. Andy is very smart, very articulate."

Blanche Roddick's eyes gleamed.

One of the young SFX agents said, "Our media-training course is for some of our younger athletes--the ones who have to learn to make better eye contact with people, to cut out the 'uh's, the 'like's, the 'you know's. Those athletes."