Andy Roddick gets plenty of criticism.  Americans, after all, have been spoiled by the success of Americans.  In the 1970s, there was Stan Smith and Arthur Ashe.  Then, it was Jimmy Connors, then John McEnroe.  Just when Americans were fretting that there was no one to replace these two icons. American tennis reached its zenith with players like Michael Chang, Jim Courier, Andre Agassi, and of course, Pete Sampras.

These Americans dominated tennis throughout the 1990s.  However, as Sampras and Agassi began to fade, the mantle of greatness fell to Andy Roddick.  With movie start good looks, Roddick had a huge serve and a huge forehand.  He won the US Open in 2003 which was his best year when he reached the semifinals of the Australian Open and Wimbledon.

In the 8 intervening years, Roddick had 3 chances to win a second Slam but was thwarted by the same Swiss foe each time, the irrepressible Roger Federer.  But Roddick, despite the inability to reach the sublime greatness of either Federer or Nadal, always had one crowning achievement he could hang his hat on.  He stayed in the top ten since 2003 and he was always the top American.  There was only one other American that came close and that was James Blake.

Roddick probably figured that there would eventually some young American, maybe Ryan Harrison, maybe Jack Sock that would take his place during the swan song of his career, and be the “top dog”.  Or maybe Sam Querrey or John Isner might get good enough.

Roddick probably never imagined that he might be supplanted by someone older than him.

Yes, Andy Roddick was born August 30, 1982.  Mardy Fish was born December 9, 1981.

It wasn’t obvious that Fish would overtake Roddick.  The point total separating the two is enormous.  Andy Roddick has 3260 points while Mardy Fish has 2106 points.  There’s 1000 points of separation and at the lower rankings, this is enormous.

How can this gap be made up?

Mardy Fish made it to the fourth round last year in Miami, a pretty respectable showing.  He had to retire against Mikhail Youzhny, so he only got 90 points last year.  He’s guaranteed 360 points by reaching the semifinals at Miami this year, so he’ll be at 270 points more than he had last year.

His semifinal appearance was courtesy of beating a tough player in David Ferrer, 7-5, 6-2.

But here’s the kicker.  Andy Roddick won Miami.

He picked up 1000 points for that feat.

And he lost to Pablo Cuevas in the second round, having gotten a bye in the first round.  He’ll probably get about 45 points for that loss.  This means he loses more than 950 points.

Add the 950 points lost to the 270 points Fish gains, and the total is 1220 points.  The separation between the two is 1154 points.  So Fish will move 66 points ahead.

Roddick could make this up in the clay season.  He didn’t play any events until the French Open, but he’s likely to skip Monte Carlo as he normally does.  Fish isn’t a great clay court player and only has Madrid points to defend.

In any case, Mardy Fish will become the top ranked American by the slimmest of margins.

Later this evening, Djokovic will play tall Kevin Anderson for a spot in the semifinals and the chance to play Mardy Fish.