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Sunday Notebook Roddick wins junior title; television ratings fall
FLUSHING MEADOWS, N.Y. (CNN/SI) -- Andy Roddick made a quick exit from the men's singles tournament at the U.S. Open. He stuck around the National Tennis Center, though, and will leave with a championship. Roddick, seeded No. 1, handily won the Open junior boys' title Sunday by beating fellow American Robby Ginepri 6-1, 6-3. "He's at the point I was at seven or eight months ago, when I was still learning and I didn't know how I stacked up," Roddick said of his opponent. "I'm part of the new generation and obviously I'm playing a pretty big role in it. Hopefully, I'll be part of the next team that comes up through the pro ranks." Roddick, who turned pro shortly after winning the Australian Open junior title in January, was put in the main draw here as a wild card entry, but lost in the first round to Spain's Albert Costa 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-1, 6-4. Ranked No. 1 among juniors, he plans to play in Challenger circuit events and might go to Europe to try to qualify for the main draws of tour events. As dominant as Roddick, 18, has been against junior players, he realizes it's an entirely different world in the pro ranks. "In juniors you can have an off day and still win 6-4, 6-4. In the pros you need to bring it every day or you're going to lose," he said. "[Pros] don't give you anything at all. In juniors you can run a guy twice this way and that way, and he'll try some crazy, stupid shot. I never really felt uncomfortable during the junior tournament." Some day, perhaps, he'll feel just as comfortable in a men's tournament.
Double doseAi Sugiyama and Julie Halard-Decugis have made remarkable progress in a remarkable amount of time as doubles partners. They reached the quarterfinals at the Australian Open, the semifinals at the French Open, and were finalists at Wimbledon. Now, just nine months after playing their first tournament together, they took the next logical step, teaming Sunday to win the U.S. Open women's doubles title with a 6-0, 1-6, 6-1 victory over Cara Black and Elena Likhovtseva. The result moves Halard-Decugis to the top spot in the WTA Tour's doubles rankings, with Sugiyama second.
Tuning in"Super Saturday" was not as super this year for CBS Sports. The network's telecast of the men's semifinals and the women's final at the U.S. Open pulled in lower preliminary ratings than last year. Venus Williams' 6-4, 7-5 victory over Lindsay Davenport for the championship drew a 6.7 overnight rating. That's down 7 percent from the 7.2 overnight rating from last year -- the best overnight number for a women's U.S. Open final since at least 1986, which is as far back as CBS's records go. Each of the men's semifinal matches were down, too. Marat Safin's victory over Todd Martin drew a 3.1 (compared to a 3.3), and Pete Sampras' win over Lleyton Hewitt got a 3.9 (compared to a 5.0). The network's first four days of coverage from the tournament averaged a 2.7, a drop of 16 percent from last year's 3.2 to date. Each rating point represents 1 percent of U.S. television households, and the overnight numbers are based on a reading of the country's 48 largest markets.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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