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American men aim to end drought of titles at Wimbledon

Andy Roddick at Wimbledon (credit: Kol Tregaskes)
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Live Tennis Staff - 22 Jun 2009

American men are aiming for success at Wimbledon after having gone through 22 majors without winning one.

The streak dates to the 2003 U.S. Open, when 21-year-old Andy Roddick captured his first and only Grand Slam title.

Despite a talented crop of players such as Roddick, James Blake, Mardy Fish and Robby Ginepri, reaching the finish line at any major in recent history has proved elusive.

James Blake, seeded No. 17 and starting his Wimbledon campaign Monday against Andreas Seppi of Italy, has an explanation.

"Of those 22, I'm going to guess Federer and Rafael Nadal have won 20 of them?" says Blake. In fact, Federer and Nadal  have won 19 of the last 22.

"It's pretty tough when you're dealing with the greatest player of all time and the greatest clay-courter of all time," adds Blake, 29, who has yet to go past the quarterfinals at a major.

James Blake has latest odds from Wimbledon bookmakers of 200/1 with Sportingbet to win Wimbledon 2009.

Wimbledon sixth-seed Andy Roddick is probably America's best hope to end the drought.

Although the big-serving American was forced to retire to Blake in the semifinals at Queens after rolling his right ankle, he has played at a consistently high level all year under new coach Larry Stefanki.

"Roddick clearly has by far the biggest chance to be there the final weekend," says U.S. Davis Cup captain Patrick McEnroe.

Andy Roddick's latest odds from bookmakers are 20/1 from Coral to win Wimbledon 2009.

American women wouldn't be much better off were it not for Venus and Serena Williams, who own 17 majors together. Without Venus, 29, and Serena, 27, American women would have a winless Slam streak stretching back to Jennifer Capriati's 2002 Australian Open title.

Patrick McEnroe, who was employed in 2008 to manage the America's tennis development program. McEnroe's changed staff, re-examined core training methods and poured resources into regional training facilities in an effort to improve the elite player pipeline in America.

However whether the new American system will pay off with a Wimbledon title is yet to be seen.




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