He is among the few Americans who can challenge tennis powers Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

By Chris Hine, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
August 4, 2008

In the Countrywide Classic tennis tournament that starts today at UCLA, the top player is No. 6-ranked Andy Roddick, one of the few Americans who can challenge powers Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

Behind Roddick in the Assn. of Tennis Professionals rankings at No. 8 is fellow American James Blake, who is bypassing the Countrywide tournament. After that, the next highest-ranked American player is Mardy Fish, at No. 40, who will play at Countrywide.

America hasn’t had players dominating men’s tennis since Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras battled back and forth in the 1990s and in the early part of this decade. Since Sampras retired after winning the U.S. Open in 2002, only two Americans have won Grand Slam event titles — Agassi at the 2003 Australian Open and Roddick at the 2003 U.S. Open, his only Grand Slam event victory.

Federer, from Switzerland, has won 12 Grand Slam events — beating Roddick in three of those finals. And Nadal, from Spain, has won five Grand Slam events.

Why are Americans faring so poorly in men’s tennis?

“It’s a global sport now, it’s very competitive. It’s not easy out there,” Agassi said recently. “We rightfully should have somebody atop the game and I think we still have some opportunities for that with the generation that we’re in, plus the younger ones coming up.

“We have to get to the grass roots, though. We have to get out here on the courts with these young ones and you have to get them interested in the game.”

Over the last few years, the U.S. Tennis Assn. has devoted more resources to doing just that. Former USTA president and current board member Franklin Johnson said it has been hard for Americans to crack the top of the tennis rankings because Federer and Nadal are so tough to beat, and in response the USTA began an elite player development program in 2007 based in Carson and Boca Raton, Fla.

“As the national governing body of tennis it’s our responsibility to do this and in the past we pretty much deferred to the coaching community,” Johnson said. “Now the USTA is saying, ‘We need to take more accountability and responsibility ourselves and we need to increase the resources that we’re putting toward that.’ ”

The program, headed by Patrick McEnroe, differs from the USTA’s regular player development programs because it focuses on a select group of up-and-coming players. Johnson said it also assists players who can’t permanently move to Carson or Boca Raton.

“By offering this I think it’ll give kids a much better chance,” Johnson said.

Even with programs like this in place, retired Australian tennis great Rod Laver said players the caliber of Federer and Nadal can be tough to beat, no matter how many resources a country puts into its tennis programs.

“I think with this new breed of player around, I think it’s about the stroke production,” Laver said. “How do you teach a player to hit a forehand like Federer? I don’t know. Do we have any coaches that can do that? I think it’s just one of those things.

“Nadal, he has an unorthodox game and he’s able to pull it off.”

But for now, Blake, 28, and Roddick, who turns 26 this month, represent America’s best chances to reach the summit of the tennis world.

Roddick pulled out of the French Open this year because of a shoulder injury and he lost in the second round of Wimbledon, but he beat Federer and Nadal this year.

“There are a lot of Slams that Roddick would’ve won had Federer not been there,” said Agassi, who will participate in the Bryan Brothers Foundation charity tournament on Sept. 27 at Sherwood Country Club.

“Sometimes, it’s just unfortunate. [Roddick] is a talent, he deserves to be out there at the top of the game. It’s been a tough year for him.”

At the Countrywide Classic, Roddick is one of nine top-50 ATP players in the 28-player field. Also playing are No. 12 Fernando Verdasco and former U.S. Open and Australian Open champion Marat Safin.

W&S Masters; Warm Up & Press Conference (Click to view)

Roddick took the court with German Philipp Kohlschreiber but then after the warm-up decided he couldn’t play the second round match. He was replaced in the draw by lucky loser Woong-Sun Jun of Korea.

Roddick took the microphone and said to the crowd, “I woke up today with my neck hurting and could hardly look side to side. I wanted to come and give it a go. But I wanted to give some one else a chance to play. It kills me that I have to walk off without playing.”

Shortly after, Roddick addressed the media, saying, “The shoulder has not been brought up. It was more of an inflamed cuff type thing. This is a neck spasm something. I mean, it (shoulder) hasn’t been brought up today, not even as far as questions from the doctors or whatever.”

Roddick also added, “I mean I’ve been feeling fine. I got in practices yesterday and the days before. I fell asleep last night. I was pretty tired. I fell asleep and woke up and I still had the lights on in my room. I just kind of passed out. I think when I did, we’re guessing it was in had the wrong position or whatnot. I woke up this morning and something in my neck and kind of any activity is causing it to flare up. I went out and tried to warm for about five minutes at about 5:00. I mean, we’ve been getting treatment all day. You asked what was leading up. Went to a chiropractor and we had Doug work on it. We’ve had kind of everyone take a crack at it today.

“Tried to hit at 5:00; didn’t go so hot. Went out for some more treatment. Tried to take some painkillers and whatnot. You know, I thought I might be able to give it a go if it didn’t get any worse. My second or third serve in warm up out there just got definitely worse, kind of just to the point where it’s tough to move my head right now.”

Roddick plans to return to action next week in Los Angeles followed by Washington, D.C. in leading up to the US Open. “I’d love to play those tournaments and actually get some matches in both weeks and actually feel like a tennis player again where you go to the courts and play a match and go home and get ready for the next day. That’s a better routine to have. That’s the one I like. I know L.A. is only a 28 draw, which means I could probably get a late start there, which will probably be a good thing.”

Rogers Cup; Round 3 - Vs. Marin Cilic (Click to view)

Cilic, who defeated Robredo yesterday, proved a resilient opponent out of the starting gates. The Croat earned the only break in the opening set to take the lead 6-4. Andy struggled with his first serve in the opening set but fought back in the second, breaking Cilic to level the match at 4-6, 6-4. Both Andy and Cilic traded break point opportunities throughout the match.

In the third set, Andy found himself down a break at 2-4, and despite a tough battle was unable to recover. Since Andy and Mardy withdrew from the doubles competition, Andy will now start preparations for The Masters Series in Cincinnati.

Recap Source

Q. How do you think you played today?

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, I played okay. I hit the ball well. I thought I moved well, and most importantly I felt okay physically. That’s kind of what we were aiming for.
I think all in all it was a pretty good match.

Q. What do you think of the Toronto weather so far?

ANDY RODDICK: Well, judging from the Open the last five years I would be hypocritical if I said anything negative about it. No, I mean, it happens.
It is what it is. You can’t really control the rain. The last set it was nice and sunny for us, so that was nice.

Q. Does that sort of hinder how you reset when you have the breaks and you have to go in and come back, especially when it’s the first match of the week?

ANDY RODDICK: No, because I don’t think you ever go out there ?? you’re rarely surprised by the rain. You normally kind of, at the beginning of the day, know what you could be potentially in for.
You know so you prepare and pack an extra set of clothes and play as much as you can. Read more… »

Rogers Cup; Round 2 - Vs. Nicolas Mahut (Click to view)

Images from the match have been added for you to view!

Hey guys, I checked the order of play as according to the official site for the Roger’s Cup and looks like Andy will be indeed playing today if everything runs smoothly;

Andy Roddick & Mardy Fish (USA) Vs. Arnaud Clement & Michael Llodra (FRA) will take place on Court 1 in slot 5 of the timetable. The match will not be played before 3:30pm.

Andy Roddick has withdrawn from a World Team Tennis match in St. Louis, citing a lingering injury.

Roddick was scheduled to play Saturday for the St. Louis Aces in a match against Kansas City. Aces general manager Dani Apted says Roddick’s injury is too severe for him to play or travel to St. Louis.

In a statement, Roddick said he’s been dealing with the injury since mid-May. He did not specify the injury.

“I love World Team Tennis and Billie Jean and I’m so sorry that I will be unable to be in St. Louis on Saturday night. Due to the same injury that I’ve been rehabbing since mid May, I’m seeing a specialist and have been advised not to travel. I want to wish my teammates good luck and hope they get a win!�

As you can see there’s a new layout up at the site. We managed to get all the technical difficulties we were having with the server and everything is in top form! Expect some image additions tomorrow as we start to fill some missing gaps in terms of images in the gallery such as appearances and candids etc.