I don’t think Andy Roddick saw this coming.

When Sampras retired after the 2002 US Open and when Agassi retired after the 2006 US Open, we were left with the very serious questions: who’s the next great American?

Andy sometimes gets a bad rap.  There are those dedicated to Andy because Andy is our best American.  Perhaps those that love football or basketball where Americans simply dominate the sport might scoff at Andy Roddick, wondering why we should support a guy that lacks the insane skill of Roger Federer, or the bullish groundstrokes and mental tenacity of Rafael Nadal.  But there are those that look at Andy Roddick like they do our American contingent at the Olympics.

Americans ought to support Americans.  So even as a few cheered on Evan Lysacek, who was crowned with gold in men’s figure skating, they were cheering a man whose last name they couldn’t spell, whose name would have drawn blank faces only two weeks ago.  The dilemma might have proved straining had flamboyant Johnny Weir made the podium whose outfits seem even garish by women’s standards whose androgynous looks make men feel a bit uncomfortable.  Even then, such guys might have said, good going Johnny, even if Johnny ain’t quite right.  After all, they were willing to cheer Lysacek in Lycra, weren’t they.

But that was as long as Andy Roddick was in the top roost.  Roddick has stayed in the top ten for many years now with a game built around his big serve.  He isn’t the most dominating groundstroker (that is either Nadal or del Potro or Federer).  He doesn’t have tremendous touch.  He doesn’t have Federer’s gaudy talent.  But he hits pretty hard, is pretty steady.  He plays well enough to let most players beat themselves.  And that serve.  It gets him out of scrapes.  He’s not hitting as many aces as he used to, but he still holds quite a bit more than he doesn’t.

Roddick probably expected his challenges to come from guys like Federer and Nadal and increasingly Murray, Djokovic, del Potro, and Davydenko.  He’s been the best American for so long, topping out players like James Blake, Robby Ginepri, Jesse Levine, Robert Kendrick, Mardy Fish, and a whole host of Americans that lacked the talent Roddick has.  Yes, Roddick has talent, but everyone in the top ten has loads of talent too, and Roddick only pales by comparison.

But now Roddick’s challenges are increasingly coming from home soil.  The twin towers of Sam Querrey and John Isner have improved their games in strikingly similar ways.  Both men have always had big serves, but lately, both realize their forehands can be huge weapons and have both started pelting that inside out forehand, perhaps inspired by another gentle giant, Juan Martin del Potro.

Querrey and Isner are a far cry from the wild histrionics of John McEnroe or the combative personality of Jimmy Connors.  Fans of Connors may have pointed to him when bullies laughed at the prissy country club types that played tennis.  They said, look at Connors, he’s a tough guy.  You wouldn’t want to meet him in an alley.  It’s ironic that his game was guided by his mom, but then she was tough as nails.

Querrey and Isner are, for lack of a better word, nice guys.  I mean, really nice guys.  Andy Roddick?  You always get the sense he’s irritated at something.  ESPN made a joke video about Andy Roddick titled “Why So Angry?”.  At least Andy has a sense of humor to realize his penchant for pressuring officials in harsh tones.

Of the two, Querrey is the more outgoing.  He’s an easy going Californian that most people wouldn’t mind chilling with.  Isner, by contrast, is as shy as shy can be.  He perpetually wears his cap, as if that cap could hide the fact that he’s 6’9″.  It’s almost like he’s embarrassed to be so tall.  And he’s not a half-bad looking guy.  Roddick has been the sport’s pretty boy for a while, but he’s also had the kind of confident brashness that suits that kind of image.

Are these guys ready to show that nice guys can get to the top?

This week, Isner and Querrey made the semifinals at Memphis.  Querrey has been on a bit of a roll lately since he came back to tour earlier this year.  They say “one night in Bangkok and the tough guys tumble”.  Turns out even nice guys tumble too.  Through a glass table.  Querrey had just finished a shower and rather than sit on a chair he sat on in sweaty clothing prior to the shower, he decided to put his clothes on while sitting on a glass table.  That worked fine for 30 seconds until the table collapsed and Querrey had to go to a hospital, relieved that no nerves were cut.

Querrey had to take the rest of the year off spending several weeks in recovery, then several weeks in rehab, trying to get back into shape.  He wasn’t quite ready to play top flight tennis at the Australian Open, but he was almost there in San Jose when he pushed Andy Roddick to three sets.  Roddick needed two tiebreaks and all his experience to pull out a win where Roddick admitted that the other man was playing better tennis.

Querrey had a second chance at Roddick and beat him 7-5 3-6, 6-1 in the quarterfinals.  Querrey now plays Gulbis who  struggled in his win over Tomas Berdych in three sets in the quarter.  Ah, Ernests Gulbis.  People have been saying his name forever.  Much like Donald Young, he’s been seen as the next great player, except Gulbis has, on occasion, shown flashes of brilliance.  The brilliance, unfortunately, has generally lasted about a set or two.  He’s not had the big upsets that usually mark the sign of great player in waiting.

Even so, Gulbis has had a decent year, more than usual.  That doesn’t say much, but here he is in the semifinals, and while it’s an ATP 250 event, it’s big for Gulbis.  Even so, Querrey has had the better year, and despite his injury, he has returned where he left off, ready to play great tennis.

Isner rarely plays a guy that he can see eye to eye with, but his quarterfinal opponent was Ivo Karlovic, the big serving Croat.  Isner won this 6-1, 7-6(7).  He’s scheduled to play German, Philipp Petzchner, in the semis.  Petzchner beat Slovakian, Lukas Lacko, in a wild swing of a match, 6-1, 1-6, 6-1.

Both Isner and Querrey are probably favored to win their respective semis and hopefully put two Americans in the final that are not only America’s best prospects, but among their tallest.  And they’re nice guys, to boot.

In other tennis news, players who love their clay are in Buenos Aires.  This includes Juan Carlos Ferrero, David Ferrer, Juan Monaco, and Igor Andreev.  The Frenchies are doing pretty well in Open 13, a tournament in Marseille.  Tsonga, Monfils, Llodra, and Benneteau were in the quarters.  Tsonga plays Benneteau and Llodra plays Zverev, as three of the four semifinalists are French.

Next week, several tournaments are on tap, but the biggest one is Dubai where Roger Federer and Andy Murray make their return.  Novak Djokovic and Nikolay Davydenko are in the other half of the draw.  Juan Martin del Potro is still in the middle of his month-long break from tennis to heal his wrist.  Rafael Nadal will probably wait until Indian Wells to make his return.