Isner’s Loss in Montreal Boots Americans Out of ATP Top 20

For the first time in four decades of ATP rankings, there will be no player from the U.S. that will be in the top 20. Currently ranked number 20, American John Isner lost to Vasek Pospisil 5-7, 7-6(5), 7-6(4) in the first round of the Rogers Cup, a tournament in which last year he made the semifinals. With that loss, his ranking is sure to drop out of the top 20.

This fact is just further evidence that there is a decline in men’s American tennis, which had former champions such as Bill Tilden, Don Budge, John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors, Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi.

At this year’s Wimbledon, no American men made it past the second round. The last time there were no American men in the third round of Wimbledon was in 1912, when there were no American men in the draw at all.
The U.S. Open starts in a couple weeks, and the last American man to win the tournament was And Roddick in 2003.

Andy Roddick spent most of his career in the top 10, until injuries plagued him before he decided to retire during the U.S. Open in 2012.

Since the new ATP rankings came out on Aug. 23, 1973, there has been at least one American man in the top 20 up until now. The new rankings will be out on Monday.

Vasek Pospisil’s next opponent will be Radek Stepanek, who beat 12th seed Nicolas Almagro 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-3. Other Canadians to advance were Milos Raonic, Filip Peliwo and Frank Dancevic. Defending champ Novak Djokovic had an easy win over Florian Mayer 6-2, 6-1.

”I’m very proud and happy for the guys that have been winning,” Raonic said about the success of the Canadians. ”But it doesn’t affect myself personally. ”It’s great to have this kind of good results, but I’ve got to take care of my business for myself.”

Raonic beat Jeremy Chardy of France 6-3, 4-6, 7-5, and his next match will be against Mikhail Youzhny.

Filip Peliwo, a 19-year-old from Canada, won the boys’ Wimbledon title in 2012 and made it to the second round when Jarkko Nieminen retired from their match with an injury. Peliwo’s next match up will be against Denis Istomin.

Frank Dancevic, another Canadian, beat Yen-hsun Lu 5-7, 7-6(6), 6-1, which sets up a match against Wimbledon semifinalist Jerzy Janowicz, who beat Julien Benneteau 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.

Rafael Nadal came back in his first match since his loss at Wimbledon, to play doubles with Pablo Andujar. The pair beat David Ferrer and Feliciano Lopez 6-7(2), 6-4, 12-10.

Other results from the Rogers Cup: Fabio Fognini beat Marcos Baghdatis 1-6, 6-1, 6-1, Alex Bogomolov beat Michael Llodra 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, Youzhny defeated Jurgen Melzer 6-4, 7-6(3), and Kei Nishikori defeated Anreas Seppi 4-6, 7-5, 6-1.