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THE tennisreporters.net NEWSLETTER: Wednesday,
May 26, NO. 87
France goes Bastille Day
on Roddick and Americans
Gilbert on Andy: 'He's going through
a bit of a bad patch right now and needs to focus on himself'
US men set Open-era record with no guy in R3
By Matthew Cronin
tennisreporters.net
Susan Mullane/Camerawork USA
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Where have you gone, US clay courters? |
FROM ROLAND GARROS – In so many ways,
Andy Roddick is all that's left for US men's tennis these days,
which makes his 3-6, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-2 loss to Frenchman
Olivier Mutis in the second round of Roland Garros all that more
disheartening.
Sure, you could argue that 34-year-old Andre Agassi has one more
Sampras-type run left in him, but chances are that he will no
longer be playing at this time next year. Yes, an opinion can
be advanced that the US second string of Mardy Fish, James Blake,
Robby Ginepri and Taylor Dent are not completely out of elite
contention yet, but really, none of them have showed the mental
fortitude or high-priced weaponry it takes to become a Hall of
Famer.
That's what it takes to compete with the likes of Roger Federer,
Juan Carlos Ferrero, Carlos Moya, Guillermo Coria, Lleyton Hewitt
and David Nalbandian. The thing is, all those men are still in
the French Open draw. The second-ranked Roddick isn't.
For the first time in the Open era, no American man has made it
to the third round. That's downright ugly for a country that has
ruled much of the tennis landscape for the past 15 years. But
former French champs Michael Chang and Jim Courier are retired
and 1999 French champ Agassi came in way under-prepared, which
is why he was shocked by French player, Jerome Haehnel, who's
far less talented than Mutis.
There were 10 American men in the draw but only three had a real
chance to reach the second week: Agassi, Roddick and the never-say-die
veteran Vince Spadea, who believe it or not, fell to France's
Julien Jeanpierre on Wednesday.
France performed a Triple Crown on American's head. Three French
no-names went Bastille Day on the no-so-mighty US. In fact, five
of the 10 Americans in the draw lost to Frenchmen. President Bush,
himself a tennis fan, must be hiding under his desk at the Oval
Office.
"There's no doubt we have issues with the clay," Roddick
said. "Our issues have issues that have issues right now.
That's something we are going to have to fix. That's not a secret.
If anybody's going to deny that, you might want to ask them again."
No one's denying anything. In fact, Roddick's coach, Brad Gilbert,
who tutored Agassi to his French title, was down right exasperated
with Roddick and the US drought.
"There's no reason for it," Gilbert told tennisreporters.net.
"Andy likes to play on clay. It's not like he can't play on
it; he just didn't perform like he should have."
PREPARATION ON CLAY GOES FOR NAUGHT
Give Roddick credit: Unlike Agassi, he tried
to prepare for Roland Garros, playing clay court tournaments in
Houston (where he lost in the final) and Rome (where he fell in
the first round and hurt his knee). He was forced to pull out of
Hamburg as a result, but did show up in Paris eight days prior to
Roland Garros to get used to the conditions. So when asked whether
he and his American brethren could give an escargot about their
results here, he was furious. "If
I ever thought like that, I'd want to you to kick me in the butt,"
he said to a reporter. "That was not the case. It's not me.
I came in here with the intention of making the second week, then
reevaluate. But it didn't happen and it's disappointing."
Susan Mullane/Camerawork USA
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| Mutis celebrates his biggest
win. |
Here's what's really disappointing about Roddick:
how he disappeared physically and mentally in the fifth set against
Mutis. He consistently gave up on balls that he could have reached,
made almost no strategic adjustments and lacked the passion that
brought him to the '03 US Open crown.
Yes, the multi-talented Mutis played the match of his life. It
was nearly inconceivable performance from a man who defines the
word "underachiever." After Roddick bruised him during
the first set and got off to a 2-0 lead in the second set, Mutis
ignited his jets. He used Roddick's power against, returned serve
beautifully, varied his length and used the angles. He was far
quicker and far more willing to think deeply about how to unearth
his foe.
But not Roddick, who felt like he was caught between a rock and
a distracting crowd and didn't really know how to play his opponent.
"I wasn't quick enough to go to Plan B or to stick to my
guns," Roddick said. "I waffled in between. He grew
in confidence. He played some great shots and used his momentum
well."
Even so, Roddick did hold a two-sets-to-one lead after Mutis choked
a forehand sitter to give Roddick a 6-5 lead in the tiebreak and
then the American snared the set with a booming ace.
FIFTH SET ALL MUTIS
But Mutis said he was confident that if he could bring
it to the fifth, Andy's legs would tire. Roddick may only be only
21-year-old old, but after a bout with the stomach flu on Monday,
he had aged a decade by Wednesday. He got up and early break in
the fourth, but then Mutis broke him back to 2-2 at love.
That's went the lights went out in Andy's eyes and the partisan
crowd began a long, singsong celebration until Mutis aced him
to end the three hour contest.
"He that early break in the fourth and then let down a little,"
Gilbert said. "From that point on the crowd was really strong
and he just got dejected. He took his foot off the gas a little
and let the guy think he could win."
If Roddick has any chance of catching No. 1 Roger Federer this
year, he had better turn it up three notches at Wimbledon, where
he reached the semifinals last year before being stomped by the
Swiss. As Gilbert says, it's put up time.
"The key thing is to worry about Andy and not about anyone
else.," he said. "He's going through a bit of a bad
patch right now and needs to focus on himself. This match isn't
coming back. As bad as today was, we have to think about tomorrow."
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