Roddick Bows Out

Andy Roddick lost his match tonight against Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals of the US Open. The match was not especially interesting, but what happened afterwards was. Djokovic was interviewed on the court after the match, and made some statements regarding Roddick and the New York crowd. As one would expect, the natives were not pleased, and expressed their displeasure with a chorus of loud boos.



Meanwhile, Roddick was the last American to be bounced from the men's singles tournament. He is also the last American male to win the Grand Slam event. Back in 2003 he defeated Juan Carlos Ferrero for his first (and to date, only) Grand Slam title. In 2006 he was a finalist, but lost to Roger Federer.

Since the retirements of Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi, US tennis fans have had little to cheer for when it comes to men's Grand Slam events:

-The last US champion at the Australian Open was Agassi in 2003.

-The last US champion at the French Open was Agassi in 1999.

-Roddick is the last American to make the Finals at Wimbledon (2004 & 2005), but Pete Sampras is the last American to win the tournament (2000).

Sticking with the theme of USA, the USA Network signed off after tonight's match for the last time at Flushing Meadows. The network has covered the event for the past 25 years, but next year ESPN and the little-known Tennis Channel will take over (in addition to CBS' continued coverage). USA has always done a fine job with their coverage, and it's a shame they won't be handling the event in the years to come. The network's focus was always on the tennis, and hopefully the new networks will offer as many hours of coverage as USA always did.