JANKO DOODLE DANDY

Adios, Andy...

Andy Roddick is out of the U.S. Open.  Playing in the night match slot reserved for the game's most exciting players, Roddick was anything but.  His conservative approach allowed Janko Tipsarevic, an eccentric Serb ranked 44 in the world, to dictate play.  After Roddick took the first set, Tipsarevic seemed to relax and gain in confidence, gradually slipping into a Zen-like zone.  A foot fault call in the third set send Roddick into a relentless tirade.  The lineswoman told Andy it was his right foot that hit the line, when in fact it was his left.  Roddick argued the logic of the call, saying his right foot never crosses in front of his left on the serve, and wouldn't let it go.  On replay, it was clear the call was correct but the explanation was not.  Roddick continued to berate the lineswoman as the third set went on.  After Roddick lost the set, the lineswoman was replaced, but Roddick was called for two more foot faults in the fourth set.  Meanwhile, Tipsarevic remained in his near-meditative state, controlling both the points and his emotions.  I believe Andy let the foot fault calls unnerve him because he was really angry at himself and needed to vent that frustration.  His inability to change tatctics and disrupt Tipsarevic spelled doom for his chances at this year's Open, and he knew it.  Though he seemed almost lethargic at times in the first two and half sets, Roddick's blood was already boiling.  The foot fault call just lit the fuse.  Late in the fourth set tiebreak, down 5 points to 4, Roddick raised his arms, urging the crowd to come to life. It's one thing to ask for the crowd's support, but nothing like inspiring their enthusiasm with great play. Americans before him like Connors, McEnroe, and Agassi were able to do just that.  Andy Roddick was not.  On this night, Janko Tipsarevic was the better player and the better man.

However, despite Roddick's early exit, all is not lost for American tennis.  Sam Querrey and John Isner both won their first round matches yesterday.  James Blake and Taylor Dent are both into the second round.  Mardy Fish won this morning to move on to the third round.  And 18-year-old Ryan Harrison pulled off a major upset yesterday by ousting Croatian veteran Ivan Ljubicic, the 15th seed.  It was the first time an American teenager beat a top twenty player in a Grand Slam since a 19-year-old Andy Roddick did it in 2001.

In August, Andy Roddick slipped out of the Top Ten for two weeks.  It marked the first time since the ATP Rankings began in 1973 that no American man resided in the Top Ten.  The American tennis media was all over the statistic.  Although Roddick quickly returned to the number 8 slot, the stat was significant in that it signaled the end of an era.  It's now been a full generation since Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Jim Courier, and Michael Chang formed an American armada at the top of the men's game.  Since then, only Andy Roddick has managed to take a single Slam at the 2003 U.S. Open.  With Roddick's chances of adding another trophy to his mantlepiece dwindling, it's now time to usher in the new generation.  Sam Querrey and John Isner have already arrived and are only getting better.  Mardy Fish, technically part of the last generation, is finally fulfilling his potential and could make it all the way into the Top Ten before long.  And now young Ryan Harrison joins them in the conversation.  Europeans Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have dominated the game for quite a while now, and will probably continue to do so in the foreseeable future.  But nothing lasts forever.  You get the feeling it's only a matter of time before another American man climbs his way to the top.