If you were to ask the casual tennis fan to name as many American male tennis players off of the top of their head as possible, most would easily name Mardy Fish, Andy Roddick, and John Isner. After these three, a blank would be drawn. The lack of resurgence from American male players since the end of the Sampras-Agassi era has been disappointing in the eyes of many fans to say the least. The only two American players to have reached a Grand Slam semifinal since 2003 are Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick. In the defense of American players, the male game has become very top heavy in recent years with Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic becoming fixtures in the final four of majors.
The letdown of American male tennis players in the last 5-7 years is often viewed the wrong way. Many have been led to believe that there simply has been a lag in American talent. This statement is easily falsifiable. Currently, there are 10 Americans in the top 100 in the world. This is the most of any country apart from Spain, which has 13 men ranked in the top 100.
Now this begs question of has there actually been a letdown of talent or a failure of high expectations? I think undoubtedly the latter is the answer. Following the legacies of greats such as Agassi, Sampras, and Courier is no short task. It would be unreasonable to expect any group of any players from any country during any time period to achieve on the same level as these Americans did during the 80s’ and 90s.
If you go back in history, the only county since the beginning of the open era (1968) to achieve something comparable to what the Americans of the 1990′s achieved were Swedes in the 70s and 80s. Wilander, Borg, and Edberg combined for 24 grand slams over an 18 year period. The combination of Agassi, Sampras, Courier, collected 27 grandslams in 13 years.
A prime example of a player that has “failed” in the eyes of many Americans is Donald Young. When Donald Young was 15 people were sighting him as the next big star and a shoe in as a future number one based on his success at Junior National Championships in Kalamazoo which he was winning. Currently ranked 89th in the world, Young is 22 and already considered a bust. It is extremely premature to declare the career of a 22 year old a disappointment. Recently, many players have enjoyed their greatest successes near the end of their careers. Two examples of this are Mardy Fish, who has surged to a career high ranking of number 7 at age 29 and Jurgen Melzer, a journeymen Austrian who made his deepest career run in every single major coincidentally at the age of 29.
With players on the rise such as Mardy Fish, Ryan Harrison, Sam Querrey, Donald Young, John Isner, Alex Bogomolov Jr. , and Ryan Sweeting the future of American tennis appears to be very promising. And while this group of players will unlikely achieve the greatness of those in the 1990s, it would be wise to hold off on the bust word for a while.
The injury list for the US Open is growing by the day, so it is going to be a very interesting tournament. The only top male player not on the list is Roger Federer.
Novak Djokovic – Shoulder and general fatigue. Has had some issues with patella tendinitis this season
Rafael Nadal – Large burn blisters on fingers and left foot
Andy Murray – Sore arm
Mardy Fish – Heel
Tomas Berdych – Shoulder
Robin Soderling – Wrist – he has announced he will travel to NYC
Jo Wilfried Tsonga – Arm. Ultrasound showed no muscle tear after he withdrew in Montreal.
Andy Roddick – Recently pulled out of Montreal with an oblique but played in Cincinnati.
Milos Raonic – Recovering from hip surgery
David Ferrer – Recovering from hairline fracture in left hand
Tommy Robredo – Withdrawn – Ongoing groin issues
Sam Querrey – Withdrawn – Recovering from elbow surgery (spurs)
Juan Carlos Ferrero – Recovering from multiple injuries
Andy Roddick has just released his first main clothing line with Lacoste and Im a big fan! It will be interesting to see if the clothes sell. Here is the promotional video for the Lacoste clothing line and the thoughts of Andy Roddick and the Lacoste CEO.
Andy Roddick lost his cool and also the match to Philipp Kohlschreiber at the Western and Southern Open 6-7 7-5 6-1.
After losing the second set Roddick smashed his racquet to get a warning, then at the start of the final set he hit a ball into the stand and got a point penalty.
Former world number one Andy Roddick has withdrawn from the Rogers Cup which is also known as the Montreal Masters. Andy has cited that he has an injured oblique muscle, making it the second week in a row that Roddick withdrew from an event. Roddick has been bothered by injuries over the past two years, and was forced to pull out of Roland Garros about two months ago with a shoulder injury.
A local Montreal newspaper also reported that world number five Robin Soderling has also withdrawn from the event with a wrist injury. Among others who have opted out of the tournament include Jurgen Melzer (quad), and Xavier Malisse (personal).
After losing in the 3rd round of Wimbledon to Feliciano Lopez and then playing Davis Cup, Roddick has not played since and was forced to withdraw from this week’s tournament in Washington. Luckily, he hasn’t got any points to defend at Montreal since he has also pulled out from from the tournament last year. He should be able to compete at the Cincinnati event the week after Montreal and has sent a message about his return on Twitter: ”Hopefully I’ll be ready for cincy in 10 days or so…. Fingers crossed.” Let’s hope Andy will make it to the Cincy event since he does have 360 semifinal points to defend there, and also will make an appearance at the new tournament in Winston-Salem, NC just before the last Grand Slam of the year (US Open).
Well, it is a pity that some of the best players in the world have cancelled their appearance at Montreal but there are still plenty more great players who should make up for it.
It is time again for the BNP Paribas Taste of Tennis. The tournament brings together the top tennis players in the world and the top chefs in a pro-am type format.
The star-studded charity event produced by AYS Sports Marketing will hold court Thursday, August 25th, 7-10pm at the W New York in midtown Manhattan. For more information check out their website: www.bnpparibastasteoftennis.com.
Andy Roddick has had to withdraw from the Legg Mason tournament with a grade 2 strain or partial tear of the oblique abdominal muscle. The injury was suffered in practice, but hopefully it wont keep him out for upcoming tournaments and the US Open 2011.
“Make no mistake; it’s disappointing to lose a player of Andy’s caliber, especially in light of his success and many years of participation throughout his career here in DC,” said Tournament Director, Jeff Newman.
Andy Murray and Andy Roddick are getting ready for the Queens Club tournament next week. Both players have had some injuries during the clay court season, but they are both very keen and looking forward to Queens and Wimbledon.
The other day we reported about Andy Roddick and Mardy Fish receiving a fine because they didnt play their doubles final in Rome, this was all due to Roddick’s shoulder injury. It seemed at the time that they were only fined because the ATP thought Andy was faking in injury to make sure he could play the French Open.
Well it has turned out that Andy was in fact injured and is now not even able to play at the French Open starting tomorrow.
Ohhhh this seems to yet be another big mistake from the ATP! Its about time that actually talked to the players more and took some advice.
It seems as though Andy Roddick has spoken out about his recent docking of prize money due to an injury.
“We’re going to have to beg for the money we’ve earned. Why should Mardy be punished when I can’t play? Mardy has played the (semifinal) match, he won the match, he earned the money, you can’t take away something he has already done. This is embarrassing for the tour.”
Andy was talking about the fine him and Mardy Fish received ($42,800) when they pulled out of the Rome doubles final.
It seems as though Andy Roddick was hiding behind the Ray Ban sunglasses as he caddies for Zach Johnson at a recent Par 3 contest ahead of the 75th Masters at Augusta National.
“My hand’s shaking…I can barely put the tee in,” he said before he hit for Zach on the 9th hole. Apparently, A-Rod wasn’t feeling so confident on this grass. But he did see a similarity between Augusta and the hallowed grounds of the All England Club. “The parallel is definitely Wimbledon. There’s a pride with people just being in the venue.”
Have you ever wanted to smell like Andy Roddick? Well I know I havent! Now you can with the Lacoste Challenge. Lacoste Challenge has been around since 2009, but this last campaign Andy Roddick became the face of the fragrance.
If you are interested to get a free sample of Lacoste Challenge, click here. This free sample is not available in all countries though.
Here at The Tennis Times we have put together an official Twitter List of Professional Tennis Players. A lot of the top players are on Twitter these days and here is what Serena and Andy have to say about the service.
Today is a great day for Asian tennis. Yen-Hsun Lu from Chinese Taipei is the first ever player from that country to make the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam event. Lu had an amazing win by knocking out Andy Roddick 4-6 7-6 7-6 6-7 9-7.
Lu is currently ranked 82nd in the world, but today he played some controlled tennis and didnt lose his cool under a lot of pressure. He also became the first Asian man to make the last eight at the Wimbledon since Japan’s Shuzo Masuoka back in 1995!
A huge amount of the top players were struggling with the tough conditions at Queens Club yesterday. Andy Roddick lost to Dudi Sela 6-4 7-6, Novak Djokovic lost to Xavier Malisse 6-3 4-6 6-2, and Marin Cilic lost to Michael Llodra 7-6 6-2.
The conditions were damp and quick slippery at Queens, but I love how the excuses keep flowing. The players need to also understand that it tough on the grass, especially when your playing to grass players like Llodra and big serving Sela.
Tournament officials have warned players not to broadcast “inside information” via Twitter at this years US Open. Naturally, players complain about it via Twitter. I find it very funny that the US Open has warned players to not broadcast inside information on Twitter, as if most players are stupid enough to do this in the first place. I think Andy Roddick sums it up the best.
Twitter is pretty much just texting online which allows people from all over the world to listen to what you have to say. I cant really see how tournaments can stop players from Twittering in their spare time and even on court to a degree. Tennis is a professional sport and if you are on tour then you know that giving away inside information or betting on tennis could see you hit with serious consequences.
Roger Federer has won an epic 15th Grand Slam title with an amazing win over Andy Roddick. The match itself was just dominated by serving and neither of the players really gained much of an advantage on the ground.
Roddick had his chances and even lead a set and 6-2 in the second set tiebreak, but was unable to finish off the set and missed a couple of sitters which allow Federer back into the match.
Roddick lost his serve for the first time in the match in the very last game. Final score 5-7 7-6 7-6 3-6 16-14.
It was great to see Roger win the title, but I felt so sorry for Andy because today he gave more than 100% and was still just pipped at the post to a Wimbledon title.
