New York: Much like American men's tennis, it might be best to say that Tim Smyczek ran out of gas Sunday night.
The 25-year-old from Milwaukee, who served up a funny headline when he told about how the car he was riding in ran out of gas en route to the U.S. Open last week, was two points away from helping his country avoid an ignominious fate.
"I never heard somebody yell out from the stands, `You're our last hope,"' Smyczek said.
But he could not pull through against Marcel Granollers, losing 6-4, 4-6, 0-6, 6-3, 7-5 in front of a rowdy crowd chanting "USA! USA!" in the Grandstand. Now the Americans don't have a man in the round of 16 at their own Grand Slam for the first time since the tournament started in 1881.
"Couldn't be much more disappointed right now," Smyczek said. "It was pretty cool to be the last American in the draw for a day. Got a little taste of it."
Not that this latest American flop is all on Smyczek, who came in ranked 109th and was making his first appearance in the third round of a Grand Slam.
Smyczek's departure means nobody from the country that gave tennis Connors, McEnroe, Sampras and Agassi reached the fourth round at any Grand Slam in 2013. Last month, for the first time in the 40 years of the ATP rankings, there was a week with no U.S. men in the top 20.
"I know we got really spoiled with Pete, Andre, all those guys," Smyczek said. "But I think it's also a really exciting time because there's five, six, seven guys that are hovering right around 100 and have a good chance to make a big breakthrough."
