Roddick Retires; My US Open Junior Preview; Junior Qualifying Begins Friday

Andy Roddick, with Kelly Jones and Mardy Fish at 2004 Davis Cup tie with Belarus

The big news in tennis today didn't happen on the courts at Flushing Meadows but in Interview Room 1, where Andy Roddick announced his retirement at the end of this year's US Open. Roddick has been American men's tennis for a decade now, and he leaves big shoes for someone to fill. Many talented writers will provide their perspective on Roddick's career and impact after this announcement. Sports Illustrated's Jon Wertheim was the first, and I think his piece on Roddick strikes just the right note of honesty and appreciation. It's hard to imagine the American tennis landscape without Andy Roddick, but he's the best judge of the right time to walk into the sunset.

I head for New York on Friday, and beginning Sunday, I'll be covering the US Open Junior Championships for the ninth consecutive year. My preview of the tournament was posted today at the Tennis Recruiting Network. Tomorrow night, I'll try to catch a little of Andy Roddick's match with Australian teenager Bernard Tomic, which could, of course, be Roddick's final match.

Whether I'll be able to see any of Dennis Novikov's second round match with Julien Benneteau of France depends on the airlines and the matches before his, but it's unlikely I'll be able to see any of Steve Johnson, Mallory Burdette or Bradley Klahn as they try to advance over Ernests Gulbis, Maria Sharapova and Richard Gasquet, respectively. All three, as well as Novikov, are on televised courts.

In today's action, Jack Sock avenged his recent loss to Flavio Cipolla in the first round of the Los Angeles ATP event, beating the Italian 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 to advance to a third round meeting with No. 11 seed Nicolas Almagro of Spain. Sloane Stephens overcame a rough patch at the end of the first set to defeat qualifier Tatjana Malek of Germany 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, and she will face No. 12 seed Ana Ivanovic of Serbia in the third round.

Sock and Melanie Oudin began defending their mixed doubles title tonight, and they saved four match points in their 4-6, 6-3, 15-13 win over No. 5 seeds Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia.

For complete draws, see the tournament website.

The qualifying for the US Open juniors begins on 10 a.m. Friday on the practice courts outside the East gate. 

There are 23 Americans, 11 boys and 12 girls, in the two draws of 32.  The boys are Trey Strobel, Connor Farren(2), Luca Corinteli, Dan Kerznerman, Austin Siegel(6), Jordan Daigle(16) and wild cards George Goldhoff, Mitch Stewart, Michael Mmoh, William Blumberg and Francis Tiafoe. Martin Redlicki and Jared Donaldson, two of the previously announced qualifying wild cards, are not in the draw, but they may have received main draw wild cards, with only six of those eight having been announced initially.

The girls are Denise Starr(16), Kelsey Laurente(7), Katrine Steffensen(8), Tornado Black(11), Johnnise Renaud, Rima Asatrian, June Lee and wild cards Nicole Frenkel, Katerina Stewart, Emma Higuchi, Rasheeda McAdoo and Louisa Chirico. McAdoo was apparently given the wild card initially given to Black before she moved directly into the qualifying draw.

The draws can be found at the ITF junior website.  The order of play is part of the US Open schedule, and I expect there will be live scoring as well.