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Compelling dynamics for the American men at this year’s U.S. Open, with Andy Roddick losing to Janko Tipsarevic (a match I thought would be tough for him when I first saw the draw) and qualifier 18-year-old Ryan Harrison upsetting No. 15 Ivan Ljubicic, a wily veteran and no easy win for Harrison.  After a strong [...]

Much of the early analysis I heard from the talking heads on ESPN judged Roddick’s draw as favorable to the quarters, but the second round most likely will see him paired up against Janko Tipsarevic, the Serb who knocked him out in the second round of Wimbledon 2008.   Their career record is 1-1, both matches [...]

I feel like I’ve been watching James Blake lose tough matches all of my life, from the  five-set defeat to Lleyton Hewitt in the 2001 U.S. Open to the brilliant fifth-set tiebreaker agaisnt Agassi in 2005 to his defeat to Fernando Gonzalez in Bejing that cost him an 2008 Olympic medal to early this morning in [...]

Of the eight Americans in action Tuesday in Australia, the biggest disappointment was Sam Querrey’s loss to Rainer Schuettler, the aging German who keeps winning big matches.  Wild card Ryan Harrison, 17, also fell, losing in four sets to Janko Tipsarevic.  Other Americans to fall were Rajeev Ram and Robby Ginepri. On the up side, [...]

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 draws of Andy Roddick, James Blake and Sam Querrey — the three Americans with the best chances of reaching the finals – all go through Federer.  Roddick has the best path, leading to a quarterfinal re-match with Djokovic, whom Roddick beat in Montreal and Australia earlier this year, but lost a contentious battle last year in Flushing Meadows.  Roddick [...]

Check out www.daviscup.com for live scores from all the matches, including the final day of the U.S.-Croatia quarterfinal featuring James Blake against Marin Cilic, and Mardy Fish against Ivo Karlovic. The TV coverage starts at 10 a.m. Sunday, and full schedule can be found online at the Tennis Channel web site.

Mardy Fish and James Blake came up short on Friday in Porec, Croatia, taking big leads in each of their singles matches but falling in five sets.  The pressure is on to stop the Croatian Curse.  Croatia is the only country in the 109-year history of Davis Cup that the U.S. has never beaten, and has an [...]

For live scores from the U.S. – Croatia Davis Cup match, visit http://www.daviscup.com/ Blake was out-aced 12-8 by the lurchlike Croatian known as Dr. Ivo — on red clay, no less – but  still won the first in a tiebreaker 7-5. Mardy Fish plays Marin Cilic in the following match.

The possibility of a big American broom sweeping the four biggest Wimbledon trophies is still alive at this advanced semifinal date.  It seems very likely that the Williams sisters will win the women’s doubles, and one of them will take home the singles crown.  The Bryan brothers are favored to win the men’s doubles, but James Blake and Mardy [...]