American tennis star Andy Roddick lost 6-7, 7-6, 6-2, 6-4 to Juan Martin del Potro in the fourth round of the U.S. Open Wednesday. Roddick had previously announced that he would retire from tennis once his tournament concluded. He was the No. 20 seed in this year's U.S. Open.

Roddick followed American greats Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi as stars in men's tennis and carried American hopes for almost a decade. His crowning achievement was the 2003 U.S. Open championship. He reached the finals in four other majors and finished 2003 as the no. 1 player in the world.

The match against del Potro began Tuesday night and was postponed by rain during the first-set tiebreak. Roddick and del Potro split the first two sets before del Potro pulled away. According to USA Today, del Potro stepped up his game in the second set and proved too much for the storied American to handle.

Roddick's post-retirement plans are unknown.

For the latest tennis news and analysis, be sure to head over to SB Nation's dedicated tennis hub regularly.