Hard Times May Be Over For U.S. Men

by Gino Pilato
Love of Sports Correspondent

With Robby Ginepri’s recent exit in the 2008 French Open, the chances for an American to take home any hardware from Roland Garros are officially extinguished.

By no means was this year’s tournament a disappointment for the American men, who last year served up a big fat bagel in the first round of competition for the first time in the modern Open era.

Looking past the surprising accomplishments of Ginepri, other Americans who had considerable accomplishments this year were Wayne Odesnik, who defeated Guillermo Canas in his first round match then moved on rather swiftly in his second round match, before ultimately falling to the No. 3 player in the world, Novak Djokovic. Both Mardy Fish and Bobby Reynolds had a victory in the tourney. Sam Querrey and John Isner both had difficult matchups in their exiting matches, but put up solid efforts in both cases leaving an overall pleasant showing after last year’s 0-9 effort.

It seems as though the new American youngsters are developing a certain taste for the clay court, albeit, its still not their preferred surface on which to play. Less grumbling and more appreciative play came from the Americans this year, despite a no-show from Andy Roddick, who is currently injured and had to withdraw from the tourney.

The exception may lie with a certain James Blake, who ousted reporters after his second round defeat to 19 year-old Ernests Gulbis. For me, Blake has been nothing special in his professional career, the now 28 year-old seems to be making more excuses for his play than actually letting his groundstrokes speak for themselves. The former-hyped-dreadlocked Harvard student was a part of a mini American men’s tennis renaissance, but with a serious injury and a series of close defeats, Blake has nothing more than a quarterfinal appearance to his name in regard to Major tournaments played.

However, with an injured Roddick and a disgruntled Blake, the real story for the future of American men’s tennis lies with the new breed starting to make themselves known.

Both Sam Querrey and Wayne Odesnik have stated that they actually prefer to play on clay. This sort of preference has been a rarity in the past, where before Robby Ginepri, an American hasn’t made it to the second week of play in Paris since the great Andre Agassi five years ago.

Ginepri’s run could of been trouble for Roger Federer, had they both won, Coach Jose Higueras would have been pitted against himself. Ginepri also uses Higueras as a coach, however my instincts tell me that he would have sided more with Fed due to his greater chance of beating an in-form Rafael Nadal.

Despite losing in straight sets to Fernando Gonzalez, who boasts a 16-0 record on clay this year, Ginepri showed the other Americans - minus James Blake - that it is possible to make a charge at Roland Garros, and to not simply mail in an effort just because it happens to be a major tournament. Ginepri had a previous 0-5 record at Roland Garros and was ranked No.88, the lowest seed still remaining in the tournament, but by winning three matches he has now clinched a spot on the U.S. Olympic team.

Overall the future of American men’s tennis is bright. With this recent showing at the French Open, normally a thorn in the sides of the recent American men’s tennis stars (Roddick and Blake), one could only imagine a successful conclusion to the grand slam calendar at Wimbledon and on our home soil at the U.S. Open in August.

As Querrey stated, “(clay courts) keeps the game interesting. It’s not a boring old hard court all the time.”

Yes, Sam it does keep the game interesting and it also speaks volumes for a young American to come out and say something positive for a change, rather than act befuddled and confused as if you were playing tennis on another planet.

However, there is some work still do in regard to strategizing on the red dirt, as Ginepri saw against Gonzalez, it helps to vary your shots and not just rely on the heavy baseline strokes and big serve - to which most Americans accustom their playing style. Ultimately, you’ve got to start somewhere and not overly adjust your game on the surface, as we saw with Blake.

Its an exciting time for American men’s tennis, and with the momentum generated at the French Open, and Wimbledon, the Olympics and the U.S. Open still on the schedule, the possibility for greatness and a resurgence to the top tier seems inevitable for new boys of the red, white, and blue.