[DUlrich1227]

Roddick Backhanded, Federer Wins Easily at US Open

Luxembourg's Gilles Muller was not an easy first-round draw for Andy Roddick at this year's US Open -- but it wasn't until past 11 p.m. Tuesday night that the former US Open champ found out just how not-easy things had become as he was ushered out of the tournament in a tight 7-6(4), 7-6(8), 7-6(1) loss to the free-swinging lefty.

"I don't really remember a loss where I've felt this bad afterwards," Roddick said. "I love playing here. I probably had the best practice week I've ever had in lead-up. It just didn't translate tonight. I'm in a little bit of shock right now, to be honest. I'd give anything to go back four hours right now."

Roddick was serving at 5-3 in the first set in what looked like another routine win over an inexperienced opponent when, like Muller had done a few games earlier, Roddick tossed in a sloppy service game to put things back on serve. Suddenly Roddick was looking at a player that did everything better than him -- from his vaunted serve and forehand to two-handed backhand and net game. Once Muller got his teeth in the match, he utilized his big swinging lefty forehand to Roddick's backhand, the two-handed wing that has proved so inefficient under pressure.

"I have no idea (how I won)," Muller said. "It was just unbelievable to come out here today. It was the first time I was playing at night (on the) stadium in a Grand Slam. Before the match I told myself to go out there and enjoy it. And I did."

Muller delivered 24 aces to Roddick's 17, and confirmed his giant-killing status after just months ago beating Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon. The loss also highlighted Roddick's amazing fall-off with his record in tiebreaks, from the player who was once master of the art of the 'breaker. Another stat shocker: Roddick had only seven forehand winners in the match, and a grand total two off the backhand side.

"Backhands, I didn't hit it well tonight," said a simmering Roddick in his post-match conference. "You're absolutely correct."

Muller concurred.

"I have to say it -- I don't think he played his best match," Muller said. "He had some problems with his backhand, and I took advantage of it."

Earlier in the day world No. 1 Roger Federer rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, and Czech Ivo Minar out of the tournament, advancing into the second round with a 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 win in just over an hour.

"I don't play much in the morning any more," Federer said. "Mostly play the prime time hours, which means three, five, seven o'clock. Coming out early today was different. Also when I practice, it's usually always afternoon. So, again, you have to change your plans. But it was a great start."

Other seeded winners in opening-round matches were (6) Nikolay Davydenko (d. Zib), (11) David Nalbandian (d. Bogomolov Jr.), (16) Radek Stepanek (d. N.Lapentti), (22) Mario Ancic (d. H.-T. Lee), (26) Feliciano Lopez (d. Volandri in four), (27) Olivier Rochus (d. Vik in four), (30) Max Mirnyi (d. Gimelstob), and (31) Carlos Moya (d. Llodra who retired in the third with heat exhaustion).

Three seeds met their demise Tuesday in Brits (12) Tim Henman (l. to Verdasco) and (28) Greg Rusedski (l. to Blake), and former No. 1 and No. 20 seed Juan Carlos Ferrero (l. to Clement 6-1 in the third).

"I knew that my back wasn't great, but after the practice I had for three-quarters of an hour on Sunday and then a bit longer yesterday, I felt like it was moving in the right direction," said Henman who had been receiving treatment for a back injury since arriving in New York. "But I just think there's always that difference between practice and matches. You know, you've got to go after shots a bit more."

Qualifier Andy Murray (d. Pavel in five) now remains the only British hope, joined by other unseeded winners Rainer Schuettler (d. Starace in three), Nicolas Kiefer (d. Vanek) and Bjorn Phau (d. countryman Popp) of Germany, Chileans Fernando Gonzalez (d. Moodie in four) and Paul Capdeville (d. Mathieu in four), France's Fabrice Santoro (d. Melzer), Sebastien Grosjean (d. O.Hernandez) and Florent Serra (d. Koubek in four), Spaniard Albert Montanes (d. Hanescu who retired with heat exhaustion), Italian Davide Sanguinetti (d. Arthurs), Dutchman Peter Wessels (d. C.Rochus in four), Fin Jarkko Nieminen (d. Beck in five), Russian Dmitry Tursunov (d. Baghdatis), Serb Novak Djokovic (d. Monfils in five), Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka (d. R.Ram in five), Americans Vincent Spadea (d. Weiner 6-0 in the third) and Robby Ginepri (d. Garcia-Lopez), former No. 1 Gustavo Kuerten (d. Goldstein in four), and Thai Paradorn Srichaphan (d. El Aynaoui).

"I was a little bit tired at the beginning of the final set, so I started to drink (an energy drink) and always when I drink it I start to feel a little bit sick," said Murray, who hurled on-court near the end of his match with Pavel. "I took too much and felt like I was going to burp, then yuk! It's very tough to go and hold your serve after taking a break as long as that but I got back on track."

Pavel was gracious in defeat and praised the 18-year-old Murray.

"Of the young generation there are a few guys that are playing very good -- you should put Murray in with (Rafael) Nadal I guess," Pavel said. "He played a very good match and I couldn't get my rhythm going with his game. He played really smart, with a lot of slow balls that I don't like."

The fan-favorite Kuerten earned a rare win, coming into the Open with a 4-8 record on the year.

"For me, every moment is a different situation. Maybe in 2000, '99, I could come here and win a match, it would be one match for me, not a good result. But right now, it's important because I'm able to play another match," said Kuerten, who doesn't even have a clothing contract these days. "Basically, I have no contracts, so I try to find different shirts. In Brazil, I have a friend that is making them for me. Every tournament I'm using a different shirt."

The Serb Djokovic had three injury time-outs in his five-set win over fellow teen Monfils, suffering breathing problems at the beginning of the second set, a sore shoulder in the fourth set, and cramping in his calves in the fifth set.

"The timeouts helped me a lot," Djokovic said. "He was physically better prepared than me...I have problems with my shoulder. I have problems breathing. But every timeout I had a reason. Cramps in my back, cramps in my leg, my shoulder. The weather was so bad, it was so humid. I felt like giving up in the fourth set...I'm really sorry because Gael is a real good friend of mine. But I had to do it."

The heat claimed a number of victims on the day, with France's Llodra collapsing unconscious on some outside-court bleacher seats on the way to the locker room after retiring against Moya.

Scheduled for the men on Wednesday are (3) Hewitt vs. Costa in a battle of slam champs, (2) Nadal vs. Jenkins, Burgsmuller vs. (25) Taylor "Acci-" Dent, Philippoussis vs. Kucera, Carlsen vs. Almagro, Lammer vs. K.Kim, Acasuso vs. Luis Horna, (17) Ferrer vs. Calleri, Seppi vs. Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty, and in doubles highlights Argentines (14) Etlis/Rodriguez vs. Spaniards Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez and Fernando "Hot Sauce" Verdasco.

Contenders Davenport, Mauresmo, Henin Win at US Open

All 16 women's seeds in action advanced into the second round Tuesday at the US Open, led by main contenders (2) Lindsay Davenport (d. Li), (3) Amelie Mauresmo (d. Vinci), defending runner-up (6) Elena Dementieva (d. Safarova), and French Open winner (7) Justine Henin-Hardenne (d. Ondraskova, bagel in the second).

"It's just feeling good," Mauresmo said. "Pretty solid today, consistent match. Really a good way to get into this tournament."

Davenport looked fit in her school-bus-yellow skin-tight top and black skirt, but unhappy as China's Li kept the match close.

"I didn't feel like I was at my sharpest," Davenport said.

Other seeds into the second round Tuesday were (11) Patty Schnyder (d. former slam champ Martinez from a set down), (12) Mary Pierce (d. Santangelo), (13) Anastasia Myskina (d. Tanasugarn), (15) Nathalie Dechy (d. Beltrame), (17) Jelena Jankovic (d. Chladkova), (19) Elena Likhovtseva (d. Garbin), (23) Tatiana Golovin (d. Ruano Pascual 7-6 in the third), (24) Shinobu Asagoe (d. Cohen Aloro), (27) Gisela Dulko (d. Foretz), (29) Anna Chakvetadze (d. Kutuzova in three), (31) Anna-Lena Groenefeld (d. Brandi), and (32) Anabel Medina Garrigues (d. Sprem).

Un-seeds into the second round were Slovania's Katarina Srebotnik (d. Hsieh, bagel in the first), Americans Amy Frazier (d. countrywoman Gullickson), Alexa Glatch (d. Fedak), Vania King (d. Koukalova in three), and Jill Craybas (d. countrywoman Jackson in three), Israel's Anna Smashnova (d. Kloesel), Spain's Maria Sanchez Lorenzo (d. Haynes), Russian Evgenia Linetskaya (d. Llagostera Vives from a set down), Bulgarians Maggie Maleeva (d. Gagliardi) and Sesil Karatantcheva (d. Shaughnessy from a set down), Argentine Mariana Diaz-Oliva (d. Mattek), France's Virginie Razzano (d. Spears) and Pauline Parmentier (d. Ant. Serra Zanetti from a set down), China's Yoon Jeong Cho (d. Parra Santonja in three) and Tian Tian Sun (d. Stosur), and Slovak Martina Sucha (d. Bammer from a set down).

"I don't think there was one turning point or one key point," said Karatantcheva after weathering the almost 2-1/2 hour match over Shaughnessy. "It was so back and forth that even until the last point I couldn't feel I was in total control. I guess that's what made for a good match."

Scheduled for the women on Wednesday are (4) Clijsters vs. Zuluaga, (1) Sharapova vs. Randriantefy, (8) Serena vs. Castano, Camerin vs. Mirza, Salerni vs. (20) Hantuchova, Bartoli vs. Perry, Raymond vs. Schruff, (25) Schiavone vs. Laine, Peer vs. (33) Douchevina, (18) Ivanovic vs. Vento-Kabchi, Pastikova vs. (30) Sugiyama, (9) Petrova vs. Nakamura, (26) Vaidisova vs. Zheng, Pratt vs. Granville, Lisjak vs. Bychkova, and (10) Venus vs. Kirilenko.

Bjorkman Says Leave Doubles Alone, but Change ATP

By virtue of being part of the No. 1-ranked doubles team on the ATP this year, you'd think Swedish veteran Jonas Bjorkman would get a little more attention from ATP officials.

"(The players) have been having quite a lot of meetings," Bjorkman told Tennis-X of his efforts with the Bryan brothers and other doubles players to get the ATP to overturn the decision to apply a short-scoring system to doubles matches after the US Open.

"We need to be a little more like a (player's) union."

Bjorkman and Max "The Beast" Mirnyi currently top the ATP Doubles Race standings ahead of Americans Bob and Mike Bryan, two teams that go the extra yard in attempting to promote doubles, and tennis in general. What frustrates the players is that this goes on at the same time the ATP and tournament directors work to cut the size of doubles draws, and replace the doubles specialists in the doubles draws with singles players who don't play doubles.

The ATP says the changes are to better the sport, to make doubles more attractive to fans. The players say that is just spin, and the changes are so tournament directors can save money -- fewer hotel rooms, meals and other perks to pay for with were fewer no-name doubles players in their events.

The ATP made the doubles scoring change after announcing a poll of fans, players, tournaments and the media showed support for a change. But the poll questions were vague, and the ATP still refuses to release the results to the media.

Greeted by a media, fan and player backlash (tournament directors, or course, are happy), the proposed changes have not been popular, to say the least. Top singles players such as Andy Roddick said the changes wouldn't entice him to play any more doubles.

With the spate of injuries in the modern game, players are looking to play less tennis, not more.

The ATP says the scoring changes will now see tiebreaks at 5-5 in the set instead of at 6-all, and there will be a "sudden death" point played at deuce where the next point wins the game, otherwise known as no-ad scoring.

Originally the scoring changes were to run for an unsubstantiated amount of time after the US Open, but the latest ATP release says the scoring changes will be tested at six post-US Open ATP tournaments: Beijing, Bucharest, Ho Chi Minh City, Bangkok, Palermo and Metz.

"In addition to the new scoring format, the ATP to make doubles more exciting to watch is introducing other changes," says a grammatically-challenged ATP statement. "More doubles matches will be featured on show courts; promotional initiatives are being developed; and beginning 2006, players will use the better of their singles or doubles ranking to enter doubles draws. Many of the changes were recommended by the ATP's Research & Development Doubles Project Team, which evaluated data from surveys from four target groups: fans, players, media and tournaments."

ESPN analyst Mary Carillo, speaking to reporter Paul Fein on the doubles scoring changes, summed up the opinion of the majority of tennis media.

"As for the ATP doubles debacle, what a colossal error those knuckleheads have made this time," Carillo said. "I almost couldn't believe the press release. I thought it had to be a joke. Then I approached both my bosses at ESPN and NBC during Wimbledon, and I asked them if the new format for doubles would get doubles more air time. Both network execs laughed at the notion. The ATP has dropped the ball so many times so many ways, but this could be the stupidest "innovation" of all."

Bjorkman says he is ready to end the experiment, and any talk of changing the tennis scoring in doubles. The International Tennis Federation (ITF), which runs the slams, said no to the ATP's request for the slams to also adopt the changes. Now Bjorkman is ready to get on to the business of correctly promoting doubles and doubles players.

"(The ATP) goes in and say 'We're going to change the rules of tennis,'" Bjorkman said. "The ITF is not going to change it...We need to do more research. And we just need to talk positive about the doubles."

The ATP was the player's union up until 1990 when it took over the governing of the men's tour, and now the players are essentially without a union, hoping the ATP acts in the player's best interest as it acts as a middleman between the tournament directors and players -- both essentially independent bodies from the tour.

Players and tournament directors alike have council representatives on the ATP Board, where the player representatives in June folded their votes, helping the doubles changes through and infuriating doubles specialists such as the recently-retired Todd Woodbridge.

"I'm disappointed with our players' council," Woodbridge said after the decision. "They all should resign, because they've made changes without asking what the rest of the tennis world thinks. They've made a scoring system that doesn't exist. It's not an approved system by the International Tennis Federation. Perhaps with that in mind, I've timed my (retirement) decision pretty well."

Bjorkman says that beyond the players' council voting debacle, the system itself has broken down and the players are starting to give up.

"We used to have strong representatives like Todd Martin on the player council," Bjorkman said. "But now a lot of the players are stepping back, they say (the ATP Council/Board system) is not working anymore."

The ATP had experimented with another doubles scoring change, a third-set tiebreak instead of playing a third set, but Bjorkman says any scoring changes will poison the integrity of the game, lead to further erosion down the line, and turn tennis into more of a game of chance than a sport of skill or endurance.

"Todd (Woodbridge) and I won Monte Carlo during that period," said Bjorkman of the third-set tiebreak experiment. "Afterwards we said that we didn't feel like we deserved it, we weren't playing well and we weren't the best team that week. But tiebreakers are like a coin flip and we ended up winning."

Another problem with the triumvirate relationship between the players, ATP and tournament directors is communication -- or lack of. Bjorkman says players take their problems to the ATP, and they in turn sometimes don't make it to the tournament directors.

"What we've been talking with the ATP hasn't reached the tournament directors," Bjorkman said. "I spoke to (Cincinnati Tournament Director) Bruce Flory and he hadn't heard of some of the things."

Bjorkman says from simple promotions like putting doubles (not just singles) players pictures and bios in tournament programs to holding pro-ams with fans and skill-type exhibitions such as those at the Arthur Ashe Kid's Day, fans can become more involved via doubles players.

"The tournament directors have a lot of ideas, and the players have a lot of ideas," Bjorkman said. "Unfortunately not every tournament director is willing to listen...and we probably don't have the right people in position (at the ATP). We need some fresh people in there, some new business people in there."

One thing that excites Bjorkman is the recent appointment of former Disney exec Etienne de Villiers as ATP Chairman. de Villiers will provide some guidance to the organization while spearheading the search for a new CEO, with Mark Miles retiring on Sept. 1.

"I am excited about the new guy de Villiers," Bjorkman said. "We need a new direction...we are worldwide very well known. It shouldn't be so difficult."


NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
On his 23rd b-day, Andy Roddick suffered his first opening non-clay Slam loss since his US Open debut in 2000. Roddick has now lost six straight sets in Slam play...Gilles Muller said he didn't play his best tennis in his win over Roddick, and that he did not find Roddick's serve that difficult once he saw it a few times...Andy Murray threw up on court in the fifth set of his match Tuesday night, causing a 20+ minute delay to clean-up the mess...Novak Djokovich also won his first five-setter Tuesday, and he too needed plenty of help from the trainer. Who's better? Djokovich has more tools in the box at the moment...All matches on Arthur Ashe this year have gone straight sets...At just 15, Alexa Glatch won her first Slam match on Tuesday...Anyone seen Andy's Mojo?...Gilles Muller trains in Barcelona...Justin Gimel"blog" says he will publish a Top 10 best-looking female player ranking, along with a few others, in his SI.com blog -- stay tuned...What is up with the weak singles schedule Wednesday with only eight men's matches?...Roger Federer has lost just three matches since the start of the 2004 US Open...No. 6 seed Nikolay Davydenko won Tuesday but did anyone notice, with the Top 10er relegated to the outer hinderlands?...James Blake got a US Open suite for a bunch of his "J-Blockers" from New Haven...Both 2003 finalists Juan Carlos Ferrero and Andy Roddick lost Tuesday in straight sets...Andy Roddick said coming into the Open he was feeling the best he ever had entering a Slam...Check out SI.com's Jon Wertheim's hilarious take on the Tuesday night "roast" of outgoing ATP CEO Mark Miles: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writers/jon_wertheim/08/26/miles.roast/ ...Justin Gimel"blog" furiously backpedaling in writing for SI.com: "I know I was a bit rough on the women of the WTA Tour last Friday, and some of the ladies here at the US Open now want my head served up on a platter. I find that a bit ironic on two counts: First, I had intended to write a follow-up piece about how skilled and impressive the WTA players are. (More on that later.) The second, and more obvious reason, is that everyone on the women's tour knows I've been dating one of their own, Corina Morariu, for two-and-a-half years. Clearly I find an athletic and determined woman more attractive than the waif-model types who fill up most of the players' lounges at our events." It's ironic because you date women? Good point Justin! "One of their own," that's too good. That blog is like an advertisement for seeing through your college degree. More from the Gimelblogger: "One of the best weeks of practice I've ever had was at the Bank of the West Classic, a WTA event in Stanford, Calif., last month. I was lucky enough to practice with world No. 1 Lindsay Davenport. I couldn't have been more wowed with how talented she is and how hard she works. Her ability to hit the tennis ball is no less impressive than any male player I have ever played or practiced against." Yeah, but tell us what we really want to know -- did you beat her?...Best USA Network moment Tuesday night: Coming back from a break during the Andy Roddick match with the music playing and the announcers not yet realizing they're on air, with someone saying "Do I have a mustache?"...Roger Federer on not needing a full-time coach: "I don't feel like I need a guy all the time next to me telling me what I should eat and drink, when I should go to bed, you know. I think I know these things. For me the coach is there to be on court with me, that he's not late showing up for practice sessions, that he can help me how to improve my game. Not just bring my racquets to the stringer, book me a practice court. This I can do myself. I have the feeling maybe in this respect I have a different philosophy. I haven't been speaking much to (part-time coach) Tony (Roche) either, you know. I haven't spoken to him in three weeks. Basically maybe I'll call him tonight. We'll see."...Tim Henman on likely being ranked outside the Top 25 after the US Open: "It's a challenge for me, isn't it? Over the years I've been that consistent that it's really only happened on one other occasion. That's definitely going to be a motivating factor. You know, I've got five events between now and the end of the year. I want to finish strongly so that I can go into the off-season, work hard, start afresh in '06."...Al Costa has lost first round in his last four slams...Last year Mark Philippoussis retired in the fifth set of his first-round match against Nikolay Davydenko at the US Open with a gluteal muscle injury...This year Tim Henman failed to reach the last 16 of any of the four majors for the first time since 1995...From Peter Bodo's TennisWorld blog: "Andy Roddick is out of the US Open. He went down to a very competent player, Gilles Muller, in a match that demonstrated why Grand Slam tennis is so riveting. While I can't claim to have seen this coming (could anyone, including Muller or his coach?), I had an uneasy premonition about Roddick in this tournament." Just ask the X-staffer who put down $20 on Muller to win $140 -- cha ching! Those were nice odds. The interns are cleaning up, we need to take a cut...Nice USA Network camera work of Andy Roddick coach Dean Goldfine dropping an f-bomb after Andy lost the first point of the second-set tiebreak. Was that an I-just-lost-my-job f-bomb?...How about the New York fans whistling to distract as Gilles Muller threw up his service toss on crucial points vs. Andy Roddick? Nice class New York!...Lleyton Hewitt has lost to the eventual champion in the last six slams he has contested...Roger Federer will appear on the weekly "Budweiser Hot Seat" tonight on ESPN's SportsCenter at 6 p.m. (EST)...Embattled former pro coach (Mark Philippoussis, Monica Seles) Gavin Hopper failed in his bid to overturn his two-year conviction for sexually assaulting a teenage girl...From Charlie "The Brick" Bricker of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel: "You couldn't call it a revolution...yet. But the ATP's doubles players appear to be bordering on rebellion over the radical new scoring rules that are scheduled to go into place after the US Open and they're going to plead their case as a group on Friday. Either today or Thursday, several high-profile players, including the Bryan twins of the United States, Mark Knowles of the Bahamas and Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden, who is one of the elder statesmen on the tour, singles and doubles, will announce a press conference to make their complaints heard."