'Generation Next' keeps on winning

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- Spare a thought for Andy Roddick. It can't be easy being the best American tennis player since Pete and Andre.

James Blake knows he has it much better -- he's just the best American since Roddick.

"I don't feel the pressure too much," said Blake, after winning his second round match of the Australian Open on Thursday.

"I think Andy took that burden off all of us by carrying that burden on his own. We were all hearing, `where's the next generation of American tennis when Sampras and Agassi retire, what's going to happen?"'

Blake and his `generation next' colleagues Roddick and Mardy Fish have all reached the third round here, along with 32-year-old Agassi.

Blake, ranked No. 28 before the tournament, said the pressure on No. 10-ranked Roddick had allowed him and Fish to sneak up the standings under the radar of public pressure.

"As we get better there will be more pressure to kind of replace those (older) guys, even though they're two of the best in the world right now. That kind of pressure is an opportunity to do something great."

Roddick is used -- perhaps `bored by' is more accurate -- to the obvious talk of succession.

"Yeah, well with that question it was probably 289 straight press conferences," he said.

"But it's tough. I'm coming up and it's a hard act to follow. It's tough being in the shadow of Pete and Andre. I don't think anyone can assume their mantle, they have, what, 21 Slams? So as long as we get seven each we equal them?"

Agassi says of Roddick, "he has the arsenal to expect much bigger things for himself".

But the seven-time Grand Slam titlist knows that it takes more than tennis talent to make the leap from 10th in the rankings to the top two.

"I can never speak to two things," said Agassi, "I can speak to what his strengths are but I can't speak to his competitiveness and heart.

"Andy has phenomenal fire power and, directed in the right way, will experience great success from here. But every guy out there is hungry and eager and talented."

Agassi came in the footsteps of other American greats Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe and has battled his whole career with Sampras.

What Roddick has to conquer is nothing new.

"That's the way it is and I have to deal with it," said Roddick. "American tennis fans have been spoiled in the best possible way since the Open era began. We've always had somebody near the top and competing for Slams.

"So, I'm trying to get there. I do believe I'll get there."

There's no doubt the three upcoming players have a closer relationship than that between Connors and McEnroe or Agassi and Sampras.

They talk of "friendship". And it resonates in the attitude Blake and Roddick have toward Davis Cup.

Agassi and Sampras have both had rocky relationships with their national team, refusing to play at times during their careers.

That approach has always come as a surprise to players from other nations. Lleyton Hewitt and Pat Rafter, for instance, put representing Australia in Davis Cup on a pedestal with Grand Slams.

And it seems that spirit now exists in team USA.

Asked if he was motivated to become the top player in the U.S., Blake said he had, "more of a motivation to win the Davis Cup."

"I'm never going to cheer against Andy or Mardy or Taylor (Dent)," he said. "I want them to do well and I want to do well. Then I want us all to come together and play Davis Cup and appreciate the trophy together, that we worked hard to get it and we did it all being friends and while having a great time."

Blake would not talk of past Davis Cup squabbles.

"For me, I know I'm going to be available for Davis Cup any time I'm asked," he said. "To me it seems like Andy feels the same way."

"I attended a Davis Cup final when I was about nine years old, in Dallas," said Roddick. "And ever since then I've been infatuated with it."

Blake, 24, and Roddick, 20, both scored easy straight sets wins Thursday, Blake over Jose Acasuso and Roddick over Adrian Voinea.

Both players are respectful of their elders and perhaps this is one reason they feel uneasy about talk of new generations.

Sampras, who was 22 when he reached No. 1, might not be at Melbourne Park but he will be out there somewhere this year.

Is Roddick happy about that?

"As a tennis fan, yeah. As a player, no. That's just one more threat in the draw.

"I'm just glad to see that Pete shut everyone up last year. That was satisfying. You can't bag on guys like Pete or Tiger (Woods) or Michael Jordan. They can play as long as they want, they can do whatever they want. Nobody should be able to tell them differently."

Many expected Sampras to walk away after winning the U.S. Open final, his 14th Grand Slam title, against Agassi last September.

"It would have been a storybook ending," said Blake. "But if he doesn't want to do that, if he wants to keep playing ... that's phenomenal."

 

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