Americans look for signs to end grand slam drought

MELBOURNE, Jan 10: Andy Roddick and James Blake will be keeping their fingers crossed that 13 does not turn out to be an unlucky number for them when the Australian Open throws open its gates for business on Monday.

For next week's season opening grand slam will mark the 13th consecutive major where the American men will be searching to end their nation's grand slam drought.

But having reached last year's US Open final after hooking up with Jimmy Connors, Roddick feels the eight-times grand slam tournament champion has got his competitive fires burning again.

''Jimmy kind of helped me turn my year around last year, I was playing a little bit more aggressive, so hopefully I can have a more successful run this year than last,'' the 24-year-old said at the invitational Kooyong Classic.

''It's nice to wake up in the morning and go and have a hit with one of your idols on a daily basis. That's a cool feeling, and I don't know if the novelty of that will wear off any time soon.'' While Roddick and co. desperately want to succeed on the big stage, during the 1990s it was a very different scenario.

For more than a decade, it seemed as if the US were churning out a never-ending stream of champions with Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, Jim Courier and Michael Chang winning one title after another.

From 1989 onwards, the quartet chalked up 27 major titles between them and ensured that the US won at least one slam a season.

LOSING STREAK

When Roddick captured the 2003 US Open crown it appeared the changing of the guard had taken place as scripted, but that was the last time an American man got his hands around any major silverware.

While the latest losing streak is by no means the worst in US history -- they went 17 slams without victory in the 1980s -- reality says the barren run is unlikely to end anytime soon.

To win a grand slam title these days, a player almost certainly has to beat the man who flummoxed Roddick in last season's US Open final -- a man named Roger Federer.

No American has achieved that feat for over 40 months.

The world number one may stand as a Herculean obstacle, but the problems run deeper for Roddick and his compatriots.

Fifth-ranked Blake and world number six Roddick are the only Americans to feature in the ATP's top 40.

Blake has yet to progress beyond the quarter-finals in Melbourne, Paris, London or New York despite enjoying the best season of his seven-year professional career in 2006.

Roddick had been expected to challenge Federer for many of the top honours after lifting the 2003 Flushing Meadows title just two months after the Swiss's debut success at Wimbledon.

While Federer's trophy cabinet now displays nine gleaming grand slam prizes, Roddick's is looking rather bare in comparison.

But just when the alarm bells started to ring loudly -- with no American man progressing beyond the last 16 in the first three slams in 2006 -- Roddick's run to the US Open final may provide the catalyst to gain that all-important breakthrough.

Reuters