As soon as I write a post about Americans hoisting trophies in the summer hardcourt tournaments, the news all turns bad.   Roddick, Querrey, Isner and Fish all lose early in Washington. Roddick falls to 11 in the rankings, marking the first time since the ATP rankings began that there are no American men in the world’s top ten.   Querrey, despite winning the Los Angeles tournament two weeks ago, falls out of the top 20 to 21.   Then Roddick pulls out of the Rogers Cup in Toronto with a yet-to-be-determined illness (the symptoms of which are lethargy), and no other American reaches the third round of the Masters 1000 event.

If anything, this shows how tough it is on the ATP Tour.  In the spring, Roddick won the Masters 1000 event in Miami and finished second at Indian Wells, but his poor showings in Grand Slams over the last year have hurt him, and it’s not surprising he dropped once the points he earned for the 2009 Wimbledon final dropped away (ranking points expire after 12 months).  And Querrey falls one point despite winning a tournament?

A rankings decline is precipitous on a bad streak.  Remember James Blake? He’s 10-12 for 2009 and has fallen all the way down to 108 in the world, from No. 10 only two years ago.  But as fast as it falls, you can recover.  Some big wins in New York at the U.S. Open can propel one of these Americans back up the charts.  I’m betting that either Roddick, Querrey, Isner or Fish will reach the U.S. Open final, and I’d love to see Blake make a last, big run and see a nice guy finish first.  The big show gets started on Aug. 30.

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