Roddick will have tough act to follow

According to the ATP, the last male player to win the next Slam event after notching his first one was John Newcombe of Australia in 1967, before the open era. He won his first major at Wimbledon and then won what is now known as the U.S. Open.

In 1974, Jimmy Connors took his first Grand Slam tournament at the Australian Open but did not play the next Slam event, the French Open, before going on to win Wimbledon and the U.S. Open that year.

The history lesson is relevant because the tennis world’s focus will be on Andy Roddick and the men’s field as the Australian Open, the inaugural Grand Slam event of 2004, gets into full throttle at Melbourne.

The women’s competition has been decimated by withdrawals — defending champion Serena Williams, two-time winner Jennifer Capriati — and barely propped up by the return of Venus Williams.

And so the spotlight will be on U.S. Open champion Roddick, who is seeded No. 1 for the first time at a Slam.

‘‘With the exception of Andre, there’s been almost a complete changing of the guard as far as the young guys kind of taking over at the top of the game,’’ Roddick said last week during a conference call. ‘‘So I think that makes it very exciting; people are getting intrigued again; maybe they can sense a new generation of players that they will be able to watch for a little while to come.’’

Roddick is 21; Wimbledon champion Roger Federer of Switzerland, who is seeded second, is 22. French Open winner Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain, seeded third, is 23.

Given such youth, there is no overwhelming favourite at Melbourne Park. Roddick used the word ‘‘lucky’’ to describe his place at the top of the rankings, adding that no player’s game is significantly ahead of the others’.

He also said he felt the No. 1 position made him a target, a prescient statement because it was made days before the draw came out, placing him against hard-hitting Chilean Fernando Gonzalez in the first round.

(LA Times-Washington Post)