With the Williams' sisters injured, Andy Roddick in the twilight of his career, and a lack of up and coming young players the state of recent American tennis has been as barren as the trophy case at Wrigley Field. Even so, it was no surprise that the Americans put up their best showing in a major last week on home soil, with Serena Williams and Andy Roddick healthy they made decent showings and there were some mild surprises in the play of John Isner, Donald Young on the men's side and a flash of future hope in the women's draw with decent runs by 19 year old Christina McHale and 18 year old Sloan Stephens. Even though the 2011 US Open was a recent high mark for American tennis, I couldn't help but find myself as a tennis fan who lives in America embarrassed by the behavior of most of the American players.
For Serena it was the same old story as she called the chair umpire an "ugly person on the inside" after the chair umpire made the correct call, which happened to go against her. Her behavior this year continued a pattern that dates back to her threatening to shove a ball down a lineswoman's throat after she again made a correct call that happened to go against Williams in the '09 Open. Maybe even more troubling is that Williams has failed to apologize for either embarrassing incident. Instead of spending time on the fashion circuit or even on the practice courts, I think Williams needs a few episodes of "Curb" where she can learn how to apologize from the master Larry David. Ego and self belief have always been some of Serena Williams' best traits, but by personally attacking officials who make the correct calls that just happen to go against her she has entered an ugly stage of her career that has the possibility to be just as defining as her major titles.
It seems that Roddick has realized not only has his "prime" taken place in the Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic eras, but that father time is now closing in on him and his days of being a top 25 player are numbered. You can have a great debate about whether Roddick's career has been a disappointment or just bad luck (I tend to think 75 to 25 in favor of disappointment), but one thing is certain, Roddick has upped his complaining and antics as his game has slipped. Roddick loves to cite McEnroe's emotion, but the game has changed and instant replay has taken out 99% of the subjectivity involved in officiating a tennis match. When Roddick argues with umpires and attacks the media for being "too hard" on him he comes off as bitter and unlikeable as Jose Canseco.
The need to complain and make an embarrassing scene even seeped into Mardy Fish's game, who by the way was the top seeded American man. In a round of 16 match in Ashe Stadium where Fish had 99% fan support he managed to get into with Tsonga's box (maybe 16 people in a stadium of 23,000). It was no surprise that after Fish let that small percentage of Tsonga fans get to him that he was eliminated by the Frenchman.
Even with these aforementioned incidents, the spoiled brat award goes to American Ryan Harrison. Harrison was labeled as the next star in the men's game, but his attitude and actions became so tiresome that the American crowd booed him during his first round loss. It really takes quit a spectacle to turn the New York crowd against a young American, but Harrison was up to the task with his multiple racket tosses, profanity laced tirades, and overall poor attitude. If he is the future of American's men's tennis all American tennis fans are going to be rooting against the Stars and Stripes.
It is one thing to be unable to win or compete for major titles, but it is quite another to be embarrassment for all American tennis fans and that is the current state of USA tennis.
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