It may not be as tough as it seems to be an American male in this golden age of tennis.
Europe is dominating the ATP Tour as the Nadal-Federer-Djokovic trinity snatches up the majors at a voracious rate. No American reached the quarterfinals in the season's first three Grand Slam tournaments. But it's not just the majors in which the Americans are suffering. Andy Roddick has the sole victory by a U.S. player this year, and it came at a smaller event in England.
"It hasn't been a great performance," tennis analyst Patrick McEnroe said.
Though no American has won a major since Roddick took the U.S. Open in 2003, Roddick says it's not as bad as it may seem. Tennis, after all, draws from a worldwide talent pool. Factor in that Mardy Fish, considered the top U.S. player, suffered through an illness and that Roddick is just now overcoming an injury, and the lack of titles can be explained.
But the U.S. flag could be flying high in the next few weeks, starting with this week's BB&T Atlanta Open, continuing with the Olympics and culminating with the U.S. Open.
"Summertime is the time for our best guys to make some moves," McEnroe said.
This week's BB&T will feature a strong field of the nation's players. Led by Fish, the two-time defending champ who is ranked No. 13 in the world, the draw includes John Isner, at No. 11 the highest-ranked American, Roddick (No. 27), Ryan Harrison (No. 48) and Atlanta's Donald Young (No. 57).
Minus Fish, those players will leave Atlantic Station and fly to London to represent the U.S. in the Summer Games. The tennis competition will begin at Wimbledon, where the Americans were recently cut down like so much grass, on July 28. There will be nine other Olympians from different countries in the BB&T field, giving fans a glimpse of what could be in store in England.
"You don't have to be a tennis fan to pick a side in the Olympics," Roddick said. "We are all very motivated, and it should be a lot of fun."
Winning, whether it's gold medals or tournament titles, is the thing, and there's reason to believe that the Americans are ready to play well after a mostly disappointing season.
Through the season's first half, Americans have made it to the finals in singles matches in just four events, with Roddick posting the sole victory.
Roddick, who has won 31 singles tournaments in his career, had to withdraw from the Australian Open, the first major, with a strained hamstring. He says he is starting to feel like he's 100 percent.
The summer has recently been good to Americans.
After losing to Fish in the finals of last year's Atlanta tournament, Isner made the semifinals in Washington, won in Winston-Salem, made the quarterfinals at the U.S. Open and climbed into the semifinals in Paris.
"He's more than capable of winning tournaments," McEnroe said. "With his elevated position, he's playing big tournaments pretty consistently."
After Atlanta, Fish lost in the finals in his next two events in Los Angeles and Montreal and in the semifinals in Cincinnati.
Looking to continue that momentum, Fish started 2012 slowly, failing to advance past the quarterfinals in his first five events. He was eventually sidelined for two months after being diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat. He underwent a procedure and returned to play in Wimbledon, where he lost in the round of 16 to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Winning will still be tough. As McEnroe points out, there are several players in the top 10 in the rankings who are in career-best form — including Great Britain's Andy Murray, Spain's David Ferrer and the Czech Republic's Tomas Berdych — but who can't crack the majors because of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. They have combined to win 33 of the past 37 majors, dating to Federer's first at Wimbledon in 2003. Roddick lost to Federer in the finals four times during that streak. By comparison, the U.S.' big three of Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi and Jim Courier combined to win 26 majors during the 1990s and early 2000s.
"It's going to take great tennis to crack that," Roddick said.
That can start this week at the BB&T Atlanta Open.
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