Andy Roddick is a very secure guy. He would have to be, really. Men all over the world ogle at his swimsuit model wife, Brooklyn Decker, download pictures of her in itsy-bitsy bikinis, and Roddick shrugs it off, says he’s perfectly fine with it.

“Doesn’t bother me at all,” he said Wednesday afternoon, leaning back in a chair at the Crandon Park Tennis Center, where he returns as defending champion of the Sony Ericsson Open. “I can’t change it. I’m secure with it.”

He tries to take the same approach to suggestions that his best days are behind him at age 28, that he will never replicate that magic he found in 2003 when he won the U.S. Open, that his career will somehow be incomplete if he doesn’t win another major title. Never mind that he has spent the past decade in the top 10, is a three-time Wimbledon runner-up (all three to Roger Federer) and earned $19.5 million in prize money.

Once upon a time, Roddick would have bristled at those comments. But he has grown up a lot since he first showed up at this Key Biscayne tournament in 2001, a gangly 18-year-old in a ball cap launching 135 mph serves at Pete Sampras.

Like many teenagers on the junior circuit, he was a bit of a petulant brat, lugging around a racket bag as oversized as his ego. All he cared about was tennis and rankings and tennis and rankings. He broke rackets in fits of rage, argued umpire calls and was a wise guy in the interview room.

He still wears a baseball cap, and still likes a laugh, but Roddick has evolved into a thoughtful, much more humble person.

His perfect day: Breakfast at home with his wife, golf, and a sporting event on TV “Marriage has simplified my life, made it happier,” he said. “I don’t have to wonder and worry about things as much. I have what I need.”

He would love to win another Grand Slam, and would love to be No. 1 in the world, but insists he can be equally happy at No. 8.

“I measure success with my own scope now,” he said. “I can sleep very comfortably as long as I know that I’ve maxed out, done everything I possibly can to win a match. I still get really pissed when I lose, but if I know I tried my best, I’m ok with that. I’m older now, and see things different. I stopped worrying about other people’s scopes when I realized, ‘Wait a minute, I’m No. 3 in the world and they’re bagging on me.”

Federer can relate. He turns 30 in August, is a married father of twins, changing diapers and some critics are already saying his days atop the game are over though he is No.3 and played well the past six months. He and Roddick arrived on tour around the same time, and he says he is one of the American’s biggest fans.

“I think he’s done really well, achieved all his dreams, basically, except maybe winning Wimbledon, but he was in many great matches in finals there, which he can always look back on,” Federer said. “Clearly, he’d like to win those, but not everybody can say they’ve been in multiple Wimbledon finals. He’s won the U.S. Open, was world No. 1, won Davis Cup. How much more do you really need to be happy as a tennis player?

“Considering everybody is always so negative around him, especially in terms of the press, I think he knows what he achieved. The players know it, too, and that’s why he’s so respected. His career is not over yet.”

Roddick says fair or not, the sometimes-unrealistic expectation is the price he pays for being a top-10 player, and the only American who has consistently won since Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras retired.

“It seems when you become a top player, when you play well, everybody gets really excited; when you play badly, they’re ready to kind of put you away quickly. I guess that makes a better story.”

But, rest assured, Roddick said, his story is not over quite yet. He still loves what he does, is as passionate as ever, and as long as that’s the case, he believes in his heart of hearts that more big wins will follow.