America relying on Roddick to rescue tennis

He was supposed to bear the mantle of American tennis. After the generation of Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi, he was supposed to be the next great American tennis player.

Andy Roddick, the top-seeded player in this week’s Countrywide Classic, has not lived up to that billing.

The 25-year-old comes into the tournament as the sixth-ranked player in the world ““ quite the accomplishment for any tennis player.

But Roddick, burdened with the expectations of an entire nation’s worth of tennis fans, continues to leave the impression of untapped potential.

His serve has been clocked at 155 mph, and in 2003 he ascended to the No. 1 ranking in the world while winning the U.S. Open.

However, since 2003, Roddick has fallen off as Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have taken over the ATP circuit.

Part of the issue, of course, is his prime coinciding with that of Federer. Roddick has played Federer and lost in three Grand Slam finals ““ Wimbledon in both 2004 and 2005 and the U.S. Open in 2006. Roddick has been unable for the most part to solve Federer, and recently, others such as Nadal have stepped up to take Roddick’s place as Federer’s main challenger.

And just as Roddick has fallen from grace, so has American tennis.

Roddick is the highest-ranked American at No. 6 in the world. James Blake, another American, follows close behind at No. 8, but after that, there is only one other American in the top 40 ““ Mardy Fish at No. 40. 2008 is a far cry from the days of Americans Agassi and Sampras battling it out for the No. 1 spot.

Roddick certainly still has time ahead of him, but the shelf life of a professional tennis player is not what many would consider long. At 25, Roddick is well into the middle of his career. He likely only has a few more years at peak condition. A win in the Countrywide Classic and a good start to the U.S. Open Series could give him momentum when the U.S. Open comes around in late August.

The Countrywide Classic tournament field this year is not star-studded. None of the top-five players in the world are playing, leaving Roddick the favorite to win the championship. While the significance of this tournament in the larger sense of Grand Slam titles is questionable, winning it would go a long way toward boosting the confidence of Roddick and perhaps boosting the confidence of American tennis fans in their standard-bearer.

Thus far in 2008, Roddick has had a decent year. He has won three tournaments, including the Dubai Tennis Championships, in which he defeated Rafael Nadal, the No. 2 player in the world. Against the top three this year, Roddick is 3-0, including a victory over his nemesis Federer in the Sony Ericsson Open, which improved his record against Federer to a still inauspicious 2-15.

After the Dubai Tennis Championships, Roddick split up with his coach of two years, Jimmy Connors, and coincidentally or not, he has not won a tournament since then.

He has also been plagued by numerous physical ailments.

In the Rome Masters this year, he was forced to withdraw due to back pain. Then, in the French Open, he withdrew due to a shoulder injury that turned out to be inflammation of the rotator cuff. Recently at the Cincinnati Masters, Roddick withdrew yet again.

After such a tumultuous recent few months, Roddick’s main goal for this tournament may just be staying healthy enough to finish it ““ one way or another.

But if his body can survive the pounding on the hard court, he still stands as the prohibitive favorite for the tournament. Roddick gets a bye in the first round by virtue of being one of the top seeds and will play the winner of Yen-Hsun Lu and a qualifier to be determined on Sunday. Neither Lu nor whichever qualifier comes out of the qualifying tournament is expected to be much of a test for Roddick. His second-round matchup could be both much more interesting and much more difficult, because his opponent could be former Countrywide Classic winner Tommy Haas or UCLA’s own Zack Fleishman.

Whomever he faces, Roddick’s main goal for the tournament should be staying healthy enough to regain some of the momentum he seemed to accumulate at the beginning of the year. The stage certainly appears set for Roddick. The tournament field is not as strong as it has been in previous years, with Olympic training keeping many of the world’s best players from entering the field. If there was ever a time for Roddick to make a splash en route to the U.S. Open, now would probably be the time.

At 25, middle-aged by tennis standards, time may be running out.