Bud Collins

PARIS - It was day one at Roland Garros for Andy Roddick this year and, once again, it proved to be another frustrating visit to the biggest clay-court tournament in the world for America’s best player in the sport.

Roddick's out of the season's second major, but not all is negative about his loss.

Diminishing returns, but also a silver lining  
Roddick has now played at Roland Garros for seven consecutive years and his best performance remains his first in 2001 when he reached the third round.

Since that outing, in which he successfully challenged former Roland Garros champion and fellow American Michael Chang -- overcoming cramps, and posting a tournament record 37 aces to score a 7-5 final-set win in the second round -- it’s been a downhill road in Paris for Roddick. He’s now gone home in the first round on four occasions -- in 2002, 2003, 2006 and 2007.

Looking at those four first-round losses I’m willing to give Roddick a bit of a pass on the last two. Last year an ankle injury forced him to retire early in the third set to Alberto Martin. And this year he put in an admirable effort.

There’s a silver lining for Roddick in his latest first-round loss on the red clay of Roland Garros as I actually feel he played the best tennis he ever has in Paris against Igor Andreev. And for a while there in the beginning of the match it looked as though it was all coming together for Roddick -- he led by a set and a service break in the second set. But it seems as if all good things in Paris must come to an end for this American as they did when the Russian bounced back to claim his scalp 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.

Even Roddick was willing to give himself a pass on the loss to Andreev when he spoke after the match.

He was in fairly good spirits and said, “I’ve had some disappointing losses here, but I actually felt like I played okay today, considering.

"I think a lot of the credit has to go to him. I think this is a little bit different than the other years. I felt like I hit the ball all right.”

A forehand that rules
Roddick deserved a better fate in this match because he hung in there. And what can you do when you’re facing a guy who can do no wrong. I’ve watched a lot of tennis in my years and I believe that against Roddick Igor the Terrible could have put on the best forehand exhibition I’ve ever seen.

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Wow! I mean he hit forehand winners one after the other as if it was the easiest thing in the world to do. Whether it was a forehand crosscourt, an inside-out forehand crosscourt or a forehand down the line -- the guy seemed incapable of missing. When you play a guy like that there’s just not too much you can do to turn the tide.

Roddick looked like he was in the money for a while there, leading 6-3, 4-2, but that’s where the hour mark for the match struck and Andreev came alive. The Russian played an unbelievable eighth game in that second set to recoup the break, a game where Roddick did nothing wrong, but where the Russian Revolution was beginning. Roddick seemed puzzled by Andreev's shotmaking and he certainly had the class to commend Andreev in his post-match press conference.

And while some or many may target Roddick for criticism given his latest cameo on clay, credit has to be doled out to Andreev for the way he throws his hat into a match against the highest caliber of opponents. Andreev had been the last man to beat two-time defending French Open champion Rafael Nadal on clay before Roger Federer defeated the second-ranked Spaniard at the Hamburg Masters earlier this spring.