PARIS - It was Déjà vu all over again for the American men at the French Open, as the famous French skunk of cartoon fame, Pepe le Pew, became the U.S. mascot. For the second straight year, no American man advanced to the third round.

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What’s even worse, no man from an English-speaking country survived the second round: no Brits, no Aussies, no South Africans, and no Americans.

The last three American men standing in the second round -- Vince Spadea, James Blake and most notably, second-seeded Andy Roddick -- all were sent packing.

Spadea went down with a stomach injury early in the day, but both Blake and Roddick had U.S. hopes lifted when they raced out to two-set leads. But Blake cramped in the third set and was eventually out-slugged by Swiss teen Stanislas Wawrinka, 6-7 (7-9), 5-7, 6-1, 6-3, 6-4.

Then a straining Roddick let go of a 3-1 lead in the final set and went tumbling down 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 8-6 to Argentine Jose Acasuso. American men stunk up the classy joint, once again.

Dire straits if you're from the States
"Right now it stings," Roddick said. "I don't think any of us are happy. We all have a lot of pride. It's gotten taken down a lot in the last couple years here, there's no question."

It used to be that American tennis fans were upset when a U.S. man didn’t win the title. Now these fans are writhing in agony when the Americans can't even advance one man to the second week.

Since Andre Agassi won the title here in 1999, U.S. males have been a non-factor. Good draw, bad draw, it doesn’t matter. It seems like any guy from another nation who has slid around on dirt for a couple months has a better idea of how to construct a point than Americans do.

The Americans don’t have enough clay-court tournaments in the United States anymore. American men have few ideas of how to slide into the ball. Their defense on a surface that awards lunges and speed is spotty at best.

In his first match, Roddick played within himself and made better use of his tools. In his loss to Acasuso, he seemed to be befuddled as to how to close the match out.

Once the Argentine began to read his serve and began to serve well himself, Roddick could no longer figure out winning combinations. He tried mixing it up, but in the process, mixed himself up mentally.

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