Roddick was speaking during the sort of journey that would put most visitors off London in a shot: a 30-minute crawl along the four-mile route from Parson's Green to Knightsbridge.
Considering that Roddick has ruled out a coaching career because it involves too much travel, you might expect him to sigh his way through the gridlock. But not a bit of it. Instead he is buoyed by his excitement about a first glimpse of the Royal Albert Hall - where he is due to make his debut at the Statoil Masters on Friday against Sergi Bruguera. 'I've seen photos, but I've never been inside.'
At 32, Roddick does seem a little young to be competing on the veterans' tour. His former nemesis, Roger Federer, remains the No 2 player in the ATP rankings despite being a year older. Yet Federer is an anomaly in almost every way, apparently fashioned from different stuff to the rest of us, whereas Roddick - for all his talent - is only mortal. Towards the end of his career, he was so plagued by knee, shoulder and hamstring injuries that he did well to battle his way to his 30th birthday before making his big announcement at Flushing Meadows in 2012.
Since then, he has dabbled in hiking and mountain biking ('I'm pretty outdoorsy, I like space'), developed his broadcasting career ('I'm just happy they haven't fired me yet') and brought his golf handicap down to three ('The only people who spend more time on the course than me are the ones who are paid to be there'). His tennis has mainly been limited to a few knockabouts with friends in Austin. At least, until this last fortnight.
'We're calling this trip a 'playcation' - play a little, vacation a little,' he says. 'Last week I played a tournament in Amsterdam, and I'd never been there before. But just carrying my rackets around again, I feel I'm walking back in time.
'London is different: it's a place where I have a lot of memories and a lot of friends. One of the best moments of my career actually came here in 2009, after I had lost to Roger over five sets and four hours in the Wimbledon final.
'He is walking around with the trophy and I am obviously at a very tough moment. And then the crowd starts saying my name for no reason at all. I didn't know what they were saying at first because I wasn't paying attention and all of a sudden it catches on.
'You might expect me to hate that match but I don't, it's the one where I felt people might have gotten me for the first time. Early in my career, some liked me and some didn't. After that, though, I felt that at least there was a bit of general respect. You would never have thought that an obnoxious, opinionated American and Wimbledon would get along so well.'
If every slam is a microcosm of its country then that famous final - which ended at 16-14 in the deciding set - was perhaps a microcosm of Roddick's entire career. He was a ferociously hard worker who had much more to offer than just his whippy serve (which held the world record for most of the 2000s, at 155mph). But try as he might, he kept being thwarted by Federer, who beat him in 21 of their 24 meetings, including four grand-slam finals.
The worst thing about it, Roddick has often joked, was that he could not even bring himself to dislike Federer 'because he is just so nice'. Last year, he even spent a couple of days interviewing and profiling the great man for his TV network Fox Sports, and came away feeling more admiration than ever. 'I asked him to explain his motivation,' said Roddick, 'and he replied, 'I like winning more than I hate losing'. Which is different to just about everyone else. After I lost, I would be p----- off for days.'
But what about that little 'stoush' between Wawrinka and Mirka Federer at the O₂ Arena? Did that tarnish Federer's name a little? Roddick admits that raucous support from the opposition player's box is common enough in tennis, but stresses that he never had any problems with the Federers.
'If that was something that did go back to Wimbledon [as Wawrinka suggested in his on-court conversation with umpire Cedric Mourier], it should have been sorted out earlier,' Roddick says. 'Trust me, I lost a lot to Roger. If Mirka had an inappropriate yell in a game I probably would have seen it and I never saw it. She was always great.
'I was surprised that in that forum, in that arena, even if something is bothering you, I don't know if that is the right place to address it with an umpire. It would have had to be really over the line for me to acknowledge it in the moment during a match, especially if it's a friend. But they know their friendship better than the rest of us.'
While his customary self-description of 'obnoxious and opinionated' might be an exaggeration, Roddick was known for being one of the feistier players on the circuit, especially in his younger days.
And if he became a little more restrained with time, part of that was down to the introduction of Hawk-Eye challenges - an innovation he loved as a player, yet has now changed his stance upon. 'Tennis thrives on personalities,' he says. 'Who doesn't want to see some guy argue with an umpire? It's just fun.'
He also continues to feel exasperated by the lack of a dedicated players' union, rather than the constantly deadlocked mish-mash of interests that is the Association of Tennis Professionals. 'I love Chris Kermode [the Briton appointed as the ATP's latest boss a year ago], I know him from Queen's and I think he's probably the best guy we've had in there, but I still think it's naive in a pro sport if the players have no direct representation.'
But do not expect Roddick to run for office, or appear in a player's box, in the near future, because this is a man enjoying life beyond the baseline. In fact, were it not for his enduring affection for London - the city where his most painful defeat became one of his greatest victories - we might not be seeing him at all.
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