More Rain Deepens Post-Agassi Funk

Weather Permits Only One Match to Finish

FLUSHING MEADOWS, N.Y., Sept. 5 -- The U.S. Open slumped into the doldrums after Andre Agassi bowed out in defeat over the weekend. On Tuesday, rain moved in to dampen spirits that were already low.

Only one match was completed, with Serbia's Jelena Jankovic blowing past an error-prone Elena Dementieva, 6-2, 6-1, to advance to her first Grand Slam semifinal. The match lasted 62 minutes but erased a season's worth of self-doubt for Jankovic, 21, a Belgrade university student who nearly quit the sport after losing 10 consecutive matches to start the year.

As Jankovic exulted in Arthur Ashe Stadium, where a sparse crowd had trickled in to watch Serbia's No. 2 player take on one of the four strapping Russian blondes among the world's top 10, other spectators drifted about the grounds looking slightly drained and dispirited -- not just over the forecast, which called for rain into the evening, but over the nagging feeling that with Agassi gone, New York's most fabulous garden party had lost its most entertaining guest.

The post-Agassi malaise that has descended on the USTA Billie Jean King Tennis Center isn't simply lingering sadness over the fact that an unknown German qualifier brought the former champion's career to an end. It reflects a deeper anxiety over whether the sport can produce a successor: a player with comparable charisma and connection to fans, who is capable of packing grandstands, driving TV ratings and making tennis compelling for U.S. audiences.

"The era that just ended is probably the greatest era in the history of tennis for a group of players at the same time," said tennis commentator and U.S. Davis Cup captain Patrick McEnroe. "[Pete] Sampras and Agassi are arguably the two greatest players of the Open era -- certainly number one, and the other one is in the top five. Then you have [Jim] Courier, who won four majors. You have [Michael] Chang, who was consistently in the top five. To expect that that's going to happen again is expecting too much."

That said, McEnroe argues that to write the postmortem of American tennis just now would be premature.

The United States boasts two top-10 players in James Blake and Andy Roddick. Both are also among the 12 men still standing at the U.S. Open. Roddick, the 2003 champion, is safely into the quarterfinals. Blake lags one round behind, due to face 12th seed Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic for the right to advance to the quarterfinals on Wednesday.

Blake, who vaulted ahead of Roddick in the rankings for the first time this year, is a fan favorite at the U.S. Open and popular in Washington, as well, where he claimed his first tour-level title, at the Legg Mason Classic, in 2002. He has also made dramatic strides in his game, climbing from the 210th ranking in April 2005 to a career-high No. 5 this summer.

The key for Blake, McEnroe said, was learning to keep his composure during disappointing stretches in matches, and improving his backhand, serve and shot selection.

Roddick is also undergoing a renaissance, albeit a less dramatic one, with former champion Jimmy Connors as his coach. Since Connors signed on in July, Roddick has climbed back into the top 10 and won his first title of the year.

Insiders say that Connors hasn't given Roddick any advice he hasn't heard before. The difference is that Roddick is more willing to listen to pointers -- stand closer to return serve, attack the net more, play more aggressively -- if they come from Connors's mouth. The transformation is more a product of the messenger than the message.

"I think the source has made a big impact on Andy," McEnroe said. "It's obvious that he's playing more aggressively. So whatever it is, it's working."

Still, it was telling that Roddick's fourth-round victory over Benjamin Becker, the player who defeated Agassi, didn't exactly whip the center-court crowd into a frenzy on Monday. The most spirited applause came during the post-match interview, when Mary Joe Fernandez mentioned that Roddick was now working with Connors.

"Jim- bo !" "Jim- mee !" fans screamed.

Of course there are other potential successors in the wings, players with artful strokes and budding charisma.

Spain's Rafael Nadal, 20, with his pirate pants and rippling biceps, is chief among them. The two-time French Open champion is enjoying his best run at the U.S. Open to date, having earned a quarterfinal meeting with Russia's Mikhail Youzhny.

The 21-year-old Cypriot, Marcos Baghdatis, won legions of fans with his valiant effort against Agassi in the tournament's second round, seized by cramps yet still slugging away on his one good leg. Baghdatis couldn't have been more gracious in defeat, either, patting Agassi's heart when they met at the net. France's Richard Gasquet, 20, showed equal grit in falling to Lleyton Hewitt in a five-set marathon early Tuesday morning.

"We can thank Andre for a lot of that," McEnroe said. "He has been an unbelievable example for those young guys coming up. I think the game is in good hands."