There’s a Flatlanders song in which Joe Ely sings: “I thought I had died and gone to heaven/in fact, I had lived and gone to hell.”  That might describe the five days that passed for fans of American men’s tennis from the point where Andy Roddick almost took a two-sets-to-none lead over Roger Federer in the Wimbledon final to the devastating back-to-back five set singles losses five days later in Croatia suffered by James Blake and Mardy Fish on the first day of Davis Cup.  Instead of Roddick hoisting the Wimbledon trophy and the U.S. moving on in Davis Cup to face Spain at home on a glassy fast hard court, all three American men suffered agonizing losses and were left to limp in for the remainder of the seemingly infinite tennis season.   End of year rankings have seen Roddick fall to sixth in the world, while Blake has plummeted to 44th and Fish to 56th.  The future looks to be Sam Querrey, 25th, and John Isner, 34th, but will they have the games to equal the success Roddick has enjoyed over the past seven years?  The optimist in me hopes they will, but the realist doubts it.

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