Week in review

In the video above, ESPN tennis analyst Patrick McEnroe discusses Andy Roddick’s recent announcement that he will be retiring from professional tennis after his run at the US Open. The 2003 champion at Flushing Meadows and former No. 1-ranked player, Roddick made the surprise announcement at a news conference on Thursday — which was also his 30th birthday.

Check out ESPN.com’s Slam Central tennis page to keep up-to-date on all the US Open action.

ICYMI Highlights from the past week on Front Row

•Northwestern and Syracuse meet today at 12 ET on ESPN2, but there’s more than gridiron glory at stake. For many ESPN employees who are alums of each school’s esteemed journalism program, it’s about pride. A few ESPN employees who were graduates of these two fine academic institutions shared their thoughts on what this showdown means.

•SportsCenter is fast approaching its 50,000th episode. ESPN’s Chris Berman wrote a piece about his good friend and former SportsCenter anchor and colleague Tom Mees, who tragically passed away 16 years ago in August.

•Back in April, Texas A&M won the chance to bring the College GameDay commercial shoot to their campus. The entire GameDay crew joined thousands of fans to preform the A&M ‘Midnight Yell’ tradition at Kyle Field. Watch the ad here.

•The college football season kicked off this week. To prepare for the start of the season we asked 18 ESPN college football analysts what the sport meant to them. Check out their responses here.

Enjoy an array of photos from this gallery of ESPN Images of the Week.