Clay stops American men short

By Jenna Hudson

So you may be asking the same question I've been asking since I first saw the pictures of the French fans jeering a defeated Andy Roddick on Wednesday.

Or maybe you started wondering after Andre Agassi fell in the first round of the French Open.

What's going on here?

For the first time in the Open Era, which began in 1968, no American man was able to reach the third round of the French Open.

Roddick, the No. 2-ranked player in the world with the fastest recorded serve fell in five sets to No. 125 in the world, Olivier Mutis, who had yet to win a match this year prior to the tournament.

Agassi suffered a similar fate after being humiliated in the first round to another unknown French qualifier.

But what is it about the unique and daunting red clay surface of the French Open that the best men's tennis players in the world are unable to advance past the second round this year?

"Obviously, that sucks," Roddick said in an interview with Greg Garber on ESPN.com. "It's not a secret. It's something we've got to work on."

Continued Roddick, "There's no doubt there are issues with clay. Our issues have issues that have issues right now."

This may sound a little like Yogi Berra, but it speaks volumes.

Even Pete Sampras, arguably one of the greatest players to ever play the game, never won the French Open, and Agassi only won the French Open once, in 1999.

There is really no good reason why American men shouldn't be as dominant on clay as they are on hard court. And the fact that they suddenly have become helpless against second-tier competition on clay courts speaks to something seriously lacking, such as practice and commitment.

Forget the red clay. Agassi reportedly only played a single clay match in Austria before coming to Paris. This lack of preparation must account for the loss.

What is certain is that this pathetic series of performances by the American men this year in the French Open demonstrates a flaw in the American tennis program and calls into question the very dominance of these world-class players.

» Contact Jenna Hudson at (408) 554-4852 or jhudson@scu.edu.