Thirteen years ago, at the 2005 Rome Masters, one of the most beautiful moments of sportsmanship in tennis came about. The then world No. 3 Andy Roddick was dominating a very difficult match against the Spaniard Fernando Verdasco.

The American was leading 7-6, 5-3, 0-40 with Verdasco serving. Triple match point. The European’s first serve landed out and he took a risk with the second serve, which was also called out by the linesman. Since Verdasco looked to have double-faulted, Roddick seemed to have won the match.

However, Roddick checked the mark clarifying the serve was good.

Verdasco’s serve had nicked the line, he said.

Roddick refused to accept the point.

Stunned, the umpire let Roddick overrule him.

The match continued. Verdasco, who was about to shake hands with opponent, saved the three match points, won the second set in the tie-break and the third set 6-4 to advance into the quarter-finals.

You probably have never heard about this display of generosity. It barely rated a mention in the American press. Yet, Roddick risked and lost tens of thousands of dollars in a tournament where he was seeded first simply because he felt obliged to be honest….

Roddick, by the way, would not have been criticized if he’d simply accepted the bad call. The ethic in modern, big-time sport is that it’s up to the officials to call the game and for the players merely to abide by those decisions even if they know that they have succeeded under false pretenses.

In one moment with victory his for the taking — no, not for the taking — is given, is assumed, Andy Roddick went against the way of the world and simply instinctively did what he thought was right.

Once upon time we called such foolish innocents sportsmen.

Andy Roddick lost a lot that day. He lost the point. He lost the set. He lost the match. Plus, he lost tens of thousands of dollars of prize money he would have earned by winning that tournament.

Andy Roddick lost a lot that day.  But, he strengthened his Integrity, and he won a lot of admirers.

At the end of the match, Roddick was asked about it and said: “I didn’t do anything amazing, I looked at the bounce and I noted it was in. So I said so.”

The Bottom Line.

Each of the five choices of the code of influence — integrity, humility, excellence, courage, and grit — is like a muscle. The more you exercise it, the stronger it gets. 

Andy Roddick exercised great integrity, even at personal cost. Integrity is not difficult until it costs you something. That is when great Integrity takes over.  That is when a leader steps up and does the right thing — even at personal cost.

But what you gain is influence.

Here is the big question:

What price are you willing to pay for your integrity?