Roddick dares to imagine his first Grand Slam victory

Tim Henman was barely four years old and Andy Roddick was not even born in 1978, the last time both singles champions failed to defend their titles at one of the world's four Grand Slam tournaments.

That will be the case at the United States Open, which starts here on Monday without Pete Sampras, who has retired, and Serena Williams, who is recovering after knee surgery.

In 1977 the Australian Open was held twice, not because it was so good in those days but to facilitate a switch from January to December to avoid a clash of dates with the men's tour Masters. Roscoe Tanner and Kerry Melville-Reid won the singles titles in January and Vitas Gerulaitis and Evonne Goolagong Cawley won in December. None of the four turned up in Melbourne the following year.

Last year American players dominated the US Open, Sampras defeating Andre Agassi in the men's final and Serena Williams beating her older sister, Venus, to keep the women's title in their family for a fourth consecutive year. That prize may be destined for Belgium in the hands of either Kim Clijsters, the world No 1, or her compatriot Justine Henin-Hardenne, the French Open champion.

Sampras, 32, once described Roddick as the future of American men's tennis, a compliment with the potential to become a millstone. Home supporters are hoping that the big server from Omaha, 21 next Saturday, is primed to come of age as a Grand Slam champion, particularly with the 33-year-old Agassi's career edging closer to the sunset.

Agassi is the top seed, but the fourth-seeded Roddick is the man in form, just as he was going into Wimbledon. There Roddick's fire was extinguished in the semi-finals by Roger Federer, of Switzerland, who went on to become the most stylish champion since Sampras.

By a quirk of fate, Henman, for several years the frustrated source of British dreams of Wimbledon glory, finds himself in a position to wreck Roddick's campaign. Their first round match will be an early showpiece of the tournament, and Henman goes into it with the confidence of having won their only previous contest in the semi-finals at Washington three weeks ago.

That was Roddick's only defeat since losing to Federer at Wimbledon, and the British No 1 had to recover from a set down and save a match point before accomplishing it. "He deserved to win." Roddick said. "I definitely think there are some adjustments to make, but I'm not going to spell them out." The British No 1 went on to win the Washington title and is determined to improve his record at the US Open, where he has yet to advance beyond the fourth round.

In the unlikelihood of another player ranked higher than Henman, No 34, withdrawing before the order of play is finalised tomorrow - Marat Safin, the 2000 champion and seeded 26 has already withdrawn and Albert Costa is doubtful with a bad back - Henman will be seeded and will play someone other than Roddick. Wisely, he is looking no farther than the Nebraskan. "If I execute my game plan well enough I feel I can beat anybody in the draw, seeded or not," Henman said.

It may be too much, however, to expect him to be in contention on his 29th birthday on 6 September, the date of the men's semi-finals.

Sprightly though Roddick was in winning the Stella Artois Championship at Queen's Club a week before Wimbledon, he has definitely hooked the tennis public here with successive ATP Masters Series titles, in Montreal and Cincinnati, en route to Flushing Meadows. At Queen's Roddick saved a match point against Agassi in the semi-finals. In Cincinnati last Sunday he saved two match points in the final against Mardy Fish.

It may be too late to cool the atmosphere, but Roddick is trying. "Everything that happened this summer is out the door when you start a Grand Slam," he emphasised. "As my coach can tell you, he had a great summer [in 1989], but I think he lost first round at the US Open."

Roddick's coach, for those who may not have been within hearing distance these past three months, is the irrepressible Brad Gilbert, under whose guidance he has won 30 of 32 matches, starting at Queen's.

Gilbert and Agassi, Gilbert's former client, are the only other men in the past 15 years to have won 20 matches on the rubberised concrete courts leading up to the US Open. Roddick, like Agassi, has gifts Gilbert could only dream about when he was a competitor on the circuit, doggedly compensating for his shortcomings, which included the lack of an intimidating serve by "winning ugly".

Gilbert makes a good running mate, as Roddick has found. Gilbert has also been game enough to go skydiving with his client. "It's not really like he says, 'Think about this on the court, think about that on the court', but just the overall zest that he brings to the court every day and the overall confidence that he shows in me," Roddick said.

"If I'm ever like, 'this guy's tough', he'll say, 'You're better', and it was kind of surprising for me. When he came to England [to join me], he said, 'All right, we're here to win two tournaments'. I won Queens. He goes, 'Okay, you're 50 per cent there'. And that was shocking to me.

"Our agreement in England was to kind of feel things out and see how it went, and then two days into it I pretty much knew it was going to be a full-time gig. It's cool. We'll go to breakfast together. We'll hang out. In our case, it was important, because we had to kind of take a crash course in getting to know each other."

After losing to Roddick in the last 16 in Cincinnati, James Blake, an ambitious fellow American, added his voice to others insisting that Roddick is the player to beat at the US Open. Roddick, while stressing his need to forget the last point and focus on the next one, is not inclined to minimise his chances. "For the first time - or maybe at Wimbledon I thought so also - I think I'm maybe one of the favourites," he admitted. "I can definitely imagine myself winning a Grand Slam now, whereas a couple months ago maybe not."

Blake was impressed by Roddick's ability to keep opponents guessing by varying the speed of his serve, sometimes cranking it up to more than 140mph, other times delivering it at 120mph. "That's something I've definitely tried to work on," Roddick confirmed. "Two years ago I just ripped every serve and I got broken a lot more. I'm trying to give them the option that they don't know whether to guard against a really big serve, or maybe I'll throw in a 110 mph kick out wide or something. The more options I give them, I think the tougher it is to return."

Having played Roddick seven times, Blake noted that his rival's mental approach to the game had improved. "I think there has been a big change mentally," Roddick agreed. "I'm not getting so pissed off on the court - excuse my language, but it's true. I'm keeping more of an even keel.

"Experience plays a factor. I've been out here for two and a half years now. My demeanour on court has improved. I'm staying pretty calm, and that's allowing me to think clearly."

It was suggested to Roddick that crowds so much want him to win that they rarely root for the underdog in his matches (unless Roddick happens to be the underdog). "I think that has a lot to do with playing in the States," he replied. "If I'm watching an Olympic race, and it's a long race, I don't want to see someone come back and have a photo finish if an American can win a gold medal straight out."

Ah, yes, the killer instinct.