No U.S. Men in Final 16 Is a First at Open By BEN ROTHENBERG Published: September 2, 2013 After the other 14 American men bowed out in the first six days of the United States Open, the burden of 133 years rested on the shoulders of Tim Smyczek. Smyczek, a 109th-ranked wild-card entry, was one of only three American men to make the third round in the singles draw. After John Isner and Jack Sock lost Saturday, Smyczek stood alone on the seventh day of the tournament. Smyczek, who had never made the third round of a Grand Slam event or even been ranked inside the top 100, looked to be enjoying the role of torchbearer. But his run, as well as that of the American men, ended in a 3-hour-24-minute heartbreaker to 43rd-ranked Marcel Granollers, 6-4, 4-6, 0-6, 6-3, 7-5. The result silenced a crowd that had been chanting “U-S-A!” for much of the night, and featured five well-prepared fans who spelled out “S-M-Y-!-!” on their shirts. It also meant the American men would not be represented in the Round of 16 here for the first time since the event began in 1881. “Couldn’t be much more disappointed right now,” Smyczek said after the loss. “But, you know, these are kind of the types of situations that you dream about. I mean, it was pretty cool to be the last American in the draw, male, for a day.” Smyczek had looked in command of the match after winning the third set, 6-0, and then taking a 4-1 lead in the final set. Three times, he was a point from match point at 5-4 in the third set, but Granollers held, broke and then held at love to seal the victory. The first United States Championships tournament in 1881 featured a 25-player singles draw, compared with this year’s 128-player draw. In that first year, the event made a net profit of $4.32, not even enough to buy a cup of gelato at this year’s tournament. But through all the changes, an American man in the Round of 16 had been a constant. The season’s final Grand Slam event ends a year in which no American man made the Round of 16 at any of the four Grand Slams. Only one American man reached the third round of each of the first two Grand Slams: Sam Querrey at the Australian Open and Isner at the French Open; they each defeated a fellow American in the second round of those tournaments. At Wimbledon, no American men reached the third round, the first time that had happened since 1912. Smyczek, however, was largely sanguine about the country’s hopes. “At the very top of the game American tennis is a little bit behind where it has been in years past,” he said. “I know we got really spoiled with Pete, Andre, all those guys — and Andy — for so many years. But, you know, I think it’s also a really exciting time, because there’s five, six, seven guys that are hovering right around 100 and have a good chance to make a big breakthrough.” When asked about the American men’s lack of success at majors this year, Smyczek pointed to a bigger picture. “I think it’s tough being judged by just the Grand Slams,” he said, citing recent success by Isner, who won a title in Atlanta and made the finals in Washington and Cincinnati. But with Isner out, Smyczek was the one left to turn the lights out on his country’s biggest tournament, an unfamiliar experience for a player who has spent most of his career at Challenger events and qualifying draws. “I’d never heard somebody yell out from the stands, ‘You’re our last hope!’ ” he said with a smile. “That was new.”
Posted on: Mon, 02 Sep 2013 05:45:29 +0000
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