A lot has been made of the American struggles in men’s
professional tennis in recent years.
It’s been nearly three full years since an American has
won one of the four major tournaments, and the new crop of young
American stars has not yet panned out the way many thought it
would.
But the talented group of young American players, many of whom
will be on display at the Countrywide Classic this week, has been
showing recent signs of a re-emergence in American tennis.
After an embarrassing first round Davis Cup exit last year, the
U.S. is back in the semifinals this year.
And while the current Americans are still not dominating the
game the way that Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi did, the results
have been better recently. Four Americans, James Blake, Andy
Roddick, Robby Ginepri and Agassi, are currently ranked in the ATP
top-20 and three of the four were in the semifinals of the RCA
Championships in Indianapolis, the first tournament in the
ATP’s U.S. Open series, last week.
“They keep saying Americans aren’t playing so
well,” said Blake, who defeated Roddick in the RCA final on
Sunday. “But we have No. 6 (himself), No. 11 (Roddick) and
No. 17 (Ginepri) ranked players in the world, so that’s not
terrible.”
While Blake will not be competing at the Countrywide Classic,
Roddick, Ginepri and Agassi, as well as Mardy Fish, will be some of
the prominent Americans to take part in the event.
Roddick, a surprise late entry into the tournament, has had
perhaps the rockiest ride of the Americans.
Behind a powerful serve and devastating groundstrokes, Roddick
was expected to take the helm of the generation of American tennis
players early on in his career. But since winning the U.S. Open in
2003, Roddick’s career has been full of ups and downs.
Roddick, who has 20 career tournament wins, still hasn’t
won a tournament this year and his loss to Blake was his first time
reaching a tournament final this season. But he did win the
clinching singles match for the U.S. in the Davis Cup quarterfinals
against Chile.
“I think obviously Andy Roddick is struggling a little bit
to perform right at the moment, but he’s won a U.S. Open,
he’s been No. 1 in the world at a young age, and he’s
made two Wimbledon finals back-to-back,” said Australian
Lleyton Hewitt, one of the top players in the Countrywide Classic
draw. “You can’t keep expecting him to make Wimbledon
finals every year.”
Blake is the one who really seems to have emerged from the pack
this year. The RCA Championship was his third title of the year and
he has also lost in two other tournament finals.
“James Blake (has) done a tremendous job,” Hewitt
said, who has split a pair of meetings with Blake in tournament
finals this year.
“He’s well inside the top-10 now and he’s a
tough player.
“Robby Ginepri is a good player. He’s just been
struggling with a little bit of form since the U.S. Open last year.
Mardy Fish is coming back from injury. These are probably the main
guys that are going to be around for awhile.”
But as the U.S. Open Series continues with the Countrywide
Classic this week, it’s clear to Hewitt which players need to
step up and carry the load if the Americans are going to be
successful.
“There’s no doubt that Blake and Roddick are the two
main players and the two guys that will have the best chance of
doing well at the U.S. Open,” Hewitt said.
With reports from David Woods, Bruin Sports senior
staff.
If you cannot view this video properly, please click here.