Bud Collins

WIMBLEDON, England - It was a disastrous day for American men’s tennis at Wimbledon as the best Yanks in the business – sixth-seeded Andy Roddick and ninth-seeded James Blake – tumbled to defeat on the grass at the All-England Club.

We’re not just talking about skinned knees here. We’re talking about big wounds. Deep wounds in what was an all-around miserable day for U.S. tennis fans who were hoping that either A-Rod or JB would summon what it takes to at least make the second week of this London fortnight. But for both it’s good night and forget about the sweet dreams. Roddick and Blake just hope to avoid having nightmares over additional chapters that now have been written in their stinging stories of showing up here year after year and -- with little exception -- their getting mowed down on the lawns.

With graying skies, Roddick lost to the very dangerous Serbian Janko Tipsarevic 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-4, 7-6 (4). Earlier in the day, Rainer Schuettler of Germany ended Blake’s Wimbledon visit early with a 6-3, 6-7 (8), 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory. I was so sure that once Blake evened the match at one set apiece he would hold on to prevail in this encounter. So much for being so sure of something!

That leaves the Wimbledon draw with one American male remaining – it’s Bobby Reynolds, who is ranked No. 106 and who will take on the No.-31-seeded Spaniard Feliciano Lopez in the third round. No offense to the delightful Reynolds, but this is Wimbledon and this is grass -- it’s Andy Roddick’s favorite surface and I don’t think Reynolds was the guy we were expecting to be the last American man waving the red-white-and-blue flag.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Roddick is demoralized by this defeat. Certainly not because Tipsarevic isn’t a talented guy -- we can’t forget that he took Roger Federer to five sets before losing at this year’s Australian Open. But coming into Wimbledon, Roddick was considered a contender by so many people that it’s shocking he’s heading home after just a couple of matches.

With Roddick’s big serve and his having reached two Wimbledon finals here (2005 and 2004), I anticipated that he would stick around for a while and check out the neighborhood during the second week of the fortnight. But with that said I actually didn’t see Roddick winning the title with the incomparable Roger Federer and the guy I’m picking to win the championship -- Rafael Nadal -- in the mix.

I will say that no one can ever fault Roddick for not trying -- this guy gives every match he plays his undivided attention. But there are things about his game that continue to worry me and most of all it seems apparent that he still seems confused as to when are the right times to approach the net. Clearly, with a big serve like Roddick’s it would be a big bonus if he could come in to the net more and take advantage of his height and wingspan. But doing so is not just not an instinctual skill for Roddick so while he’s improved at coming to the net, it’s easy to tell it’s not his comfort zone.

The other thing to take notice of is that Roddick has had a lot of coaching changes during his career. He came onto the circuit with Frenchman Tarik Benhabiles then moved on to work with Brad Gilbert, Dean Goldfine and Jimmy Connors. At the moment, he’s settled on his brother to be his coach -- John Roddick, who played collegiate tennis at the University of Georgia.

Roddick’s best results were with Gilbert, but from all indications their personalities didn’t jive well and in the big picture that is an important element to any coaching relationship. Roddick is a family oriented guy so I know he feels comfortable with big brother John as his coach. As to whether there is someone out there who could help Roddick find a better transition game, I can’t really say I know the answer to that question.

When Roddick had those two set points on Tipsarevic’s serve in the tenth game of the fourth set, I said to myself here comes the American. He’s not going to let this match go lightly into the night. But as dusk started to settle in, Roddick was stumbling away.

Roddick had eight opportunities in all to break Tipsarevic’s serve during the just over three-hour match and he could not convert on one of those openings. That’s definitely something that Roddick’s going to want to look at carefully as he heads home.

For Roddick the summer is now about to begin and he’s going to spend all of his time on the hard court tournaments leading up to the U.S. Open, which is his last chance of this year to reel in a title at the majors.

Many have questioned why Roddick is not going to make the trip to Beijing for the Olympics but his mind is set on gearing up for the U.S. Open and he believes that the best preparation to do that will be to stay stateside and play his usual list of tune-up tournaments.

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Of course, there are those who think giving up the opportunity to win an Olympic medal is not showing sound judgment, but Roddick experienced the Olympics in Athens, didn’t do all that well there, and has another trophy on his mind.

It’s hard not to take note that Roddick is not the player he was in 2003 when he won his lone major at the U.S. Open and was even ranked No. 1. But he is one of the more determined athletes out there on the tour and until the day he retires I am sure he will be putting his best foot forward and hoping for the best.

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