Roddick the Man to Follow During the US Hard Court Season

The Williams’ sisters success at Wimbledon highlighted the dearth of talent in the men’s game in America. Talk of crisis in US tennis increased when only one player, world number 102, Bobby Reynolds, made it into the Wimbledon third round.

Journeymen such as Reynolds, Vincent Spadea and Robby Ginepri have hovered around the top 50 in the world, but for all the early career promise of Mardy Fish, Sam Querrey and John Isner, only James Blake and Andy Roddick exist as credible grand slam winners.

Both are established top 10 players and are in the tier of players that battles to join the elite of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. Roddick was US open champion in 2003 and has since reached three grand slam finals, with Federer blocking his path to glory each time.

Another US open title might be out of reach at Flushing Meadows, but he is the man to beat in the tour events that precede the final grand slam of the season. Each of his four ATP masters series wins have come in North America and no player has won more than his seven titles at the six major North American tour events over the last five years.

Roddick is not in action at the Indianapolis championships currently taking place, but punters should look out for him at Toronto, Cincinnati, Los Angeles, Washington and New Haven. Blake won at New Haven last year and is the top seed at Indianapolis, although the fit-again Tommy Haas leads the European contingent and always represents a decent bet on US hard courts.

The big names choose their events carefully ahead of grand slams, so Federer and Nadal might have light schedules after their Wimbledon exertions. Djokovic crashed out at SW19 in the second round and will be keen to get some tournament time before heading to the US open, where he reached the final last year, missing good chances to beat Federer.

Djokovic will want to prove his Australian open win was not a one-off so deserves support in the run-up to Flushing Meadows, although I will be tempted to back Roddick and Blake in their home tournaments. Both have had disappointing seasons and will be hungry to succeed in home conditions and prove that a native player can make an impact at the US open.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Philip_Oliver