Rough day for Americans

WIMBLEDON, England – It was still early afternoon, long before anyone could sense the impending doom to American tennis, when Andre Agassi walked off Centre Court here for the last time, to a standing ovation that went on and on, as if the 14,000 applauding there half-expected him to reappear for an encore.

He didn’t return, and neither will any other American man on a grim and shocking Saturday that will go down as one of the most ignominious afternoons at a Grand Slam this country once dominated.

Few expected Agassi to triumph over the rising brilliance of Rafael Nadal, who has shown in just one week here that he could be, perhaps even at this Wimbledon, a viable threat to Roger Federer’s dominance on grass.

But the U.S. disgrace on this day went far beyond Agassi’s 7-6 (5), 6-2, 6-4 loss.

Gone: Andy Roddick, with his ineffective backhand and shoddy volleying, in straight sets to the new British hope, Andy Murray. When the new rankings come out on July 10, Roddick could be out of the top 10 for the first time since Oct. 28, 2002.

Gone: Venus Williams, in split sets to Jelena Jankovic, a victim of continuing injuries and the loss of critical match toughness that comes with long rehabilitations.

Gone: Mardy Fish, who came to Wimbledon playing beautiful grass-court tennis and was felled by a five-day flu that forced him to retire after one set to No. 166 Irakli Labadze.

Gone: Amy Frazier, though not unexpectedly, to 2004 Wimbledon titlist Maria Sharapova.

The only American left in either draw is Shenay Perry, who won 7-5, 6-3 over Sybille Bammer, whom she sliced into submission with a steady feed of undercut backhands.

It wasn’t Perry’s most brilliant tennis, but she was a clear cut above her opponent and now gets No. 7 Elena Dementieva in the fourth round.

Dementieva and Perry advanced with No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo, No. 4 Maria Sharapova, No. 9 Anastasia Myskina, No. 16 Flavia Pennetta, and Ana Ivanovic and Jankovic.

The men also completed the third round with No. 6 Lleyton Hewitt, No. 7 Mario Ancic, and Jarkko Nieminen, Dmitry Tursunov, David Ferrer and Marcos Baghdatis moving forward with Nadal.

It was Roddick’s 7-6 (4), 6-4, 6-4 loss that hurt American prestige most. In the last three years, only Federer had beaten him on a lawn and all at Wimbledon in the semis and twice in finals.

It was a very sad end to the day for American tennis fans, who had every right to revel earlier, even in Agassi’s defeat.

You could remember Agassi fighting off three set points before blazing out to a 5-2 lead in the tiebreak. Or blowing his last round of signature kisses to the audience, some of whom perhaps had been there when he made his embarrassingly bad debut against Henri Leconte in 1987. Or Agassi smiling up toward the Royal Box, where his wife, Steffi Graf, seemed to be tearing up behind her dark glasses.

But there was no escaping Agassi’s deficiencies, either, at age 36 and with a back that needs daily therapy. He once said he likes to start seizing control of points, generally, about the sixth stroke. He can no longer do that with Nadal. And he can’t dictate points to Nadal. He’s too quick and he does too much with the ball when he gets to it.

“The only thing he seems to struggle with is his forehand return. But his movement translates to every surface,” said Agassi. “There’s no question about that. He just seems to really explode and anticipate. Grass is a shot-makers court and he’s making guys feel like that can’t hit winners out there on grass.”