Kroger St. Jude: The 'American' Open

Reason for the title:

In the 27 years that this tournament has been contested, Americans have won it 21 times.

The illustrious list includes:

Jimmy Connors (4)
John McEnroe
Andre Agassi
Ivan Lendl
Todd Martin (2)
Brad Gilbert (2)
Malivai Washington (yes, Mal)
Michael Chang
Taylor Dent
Andy Roddick

I have a feeling this will become Andy's tournament, the way San Jose has become Andre's.

For those wanting to know who have upset the Americans:
Mark Philippoussis (2)
Tommy Haas
Bjorn Borg
Stefan Edberg (2)
Michael Stich

FYI: When I had cable saw the finals of this tournament in 1999 when an unknown young German named Tommy Haas beat Jim Courier to win his first ATP title. He said some really nice things about being humbled to beat a former No. 1 player (Courier) and I instantly became a fan. Time before his bad boy image, I guess.

I have a feeling this will become Andy's tournament, the way San Jose has become Andre's.


aww I hope you're right (even if you don't ;) )

That's very interesting though! But then again it makes sense... the Americans like to come back after Oz and be at home and the other guys would rather stop nearer to their homes before the TMS tourneys here. It's kind of nice that there are three different little circuits going on at the same time :)

Stats

No. of Americans in this years tournament: 13
Andy Roddick (1)-OUT :eek: , Qtrs., Enqvist/SWE
Mardy Fish (2)
Taylor Dent (3)-OUT, 1st Rd, Gambill
Robby Ginepri (4)-OUT, 1st Rd, Saulnier/FRA
Vincent Spadea (5)-OUT, 1st Rd.,Enqvist/SWE
James Blake (6)-OUT, 2nd Rd, Johansson/SWE
Brian Baker-OUT, 2nd Rd., Gambill
Bob Bryan-OUT, 1st Rd, Ferreira/RSA
Amer Delic-OUT, 1st Rd, Malisse/BEL
Jan-Michael Gambill-OUT, Qtrs, Kiefer/GER
Todd Martin-OUT, 1st Rd, Roddick
Eric Taino-OUT, 1st Rd, Kiefer/GER
Brian Vahaly-OUT, 1st Rd, Melzer/AUT

No. of Americans into the 2nd Rd: 5, including just 3 of the 6 seeds :eek:
No of Americans into the Qtrs: 3, including top two seeds (now, sounds more like true order of things :o )

Well maybe this "won't" be Andy's dominating tournament :o

The fate of the Americans rest in Mardy's hands. Will he seize the day or wilt under the pressure?

Most likely he will lose due to exhaustion, rather than pressure, look at the poor guy's schedule for the past two weeks.

Let's hear it, Kiefer fans!!!!!!! :) :) :banana: :banana:

I think it's nice to have Kiefer playing a good tournament, I've waited so long for that... :rolleyes:

:sport: :sport:

Yes, we will have a new winner, as well as non-American for the first time since Flip in 2001.

:worship: