As Told by A.S.

Author: Andrew Schlegel

Recently, Swiss sensation Roger Federer has dominated the men's Association of Tennis Professionals. With a snub from Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year, he must be asking himself, "What more can I do?"

Last year, Federer reached the finals of all four grand slams, winning three while losing the French Open to the Spanish clay-court star Rafael Nadal.

Considering that an American has not reached the final of the Australian Open since '03 when Andre Agassi beat Arnaud Clement, U.S. hopes of winning are not running particularly high.

Additionally, Nadal and Federer's current dominance in grand slam play casts a big shadow over the strong American talents. Nadal has won the last two French Opens, while Federer has won four straight U.S. Opens, three straight Wimbledons and two of the last three Australian Opens.

The recent strong play and high expectations for top-seeded American James Blake ended abruptly. He fell in straight sets to Chilean ten seed Fernando Gonzalez, 7-5, 6-4, 7-6 (4) in the fourth round. Before the loss, Blake had been on a tear - he had not lost a set all tournament.

With Blake gone, the U.S. hopeful seems to be Andy Roddick. He has been playing some of his best tennis recently after firing his old coach and signing one of his idols, Jimmy Connors. Since this coaching change took place last summer, Roddick has been a force to reckon with, reaching the finals of the '06 U.S. Open.

In the Australian Open, the six seed Roddick has had some tough matches up to this point. He defeated '05 Australian Open champion Marat Safin in four sets and the nine seed Mario Ancic in five sets after that.

The other remaining American is Mardy Fish, who is also playing some of the best tennis of his career. Fish has not played any particularly draining matches yet, but has managed to defeat some talented players, namely the four seed Ivan Ljubicic and the 16 seed David Ferrer.

In the quarterfinals, Mardy Fish and Andy Roddick will face off, meaning that there is a guarantee of an American reaching the semifinals. This quarterfinal match is already Fish's career best result for a grand slam, and he will only look to improve.

Since there are two Americans left in the Australian Open, there is still hope for a U.S. player to win, though it does not look good.

With Rafael Nadal playing sharp tennis in his sharp outfits and Roger Federer riding a 33 consecutive-win streak, the odds are down against an American winning Down Under.