Roddick Hits the Top Spot and Then Ruins His Victory Party

Houston, we have a problem. On the day the former president George Bush senior was on hand to present Andy Roddick with the year-end No1 trophy, the recipient pooped his own party by losing 4-6, 7-6, 7-6 to Rainer Schüttler in the Tennis Masters Cup. Consequently the ceremony was a touch less than delirious.

"Obviously I was angry and annoyed at losing, but you have to keep in perspective the big picture," said Roddick, who had a bottle of champagne poured over his head by Mardy Fish in the post-match press conference. "This was the culmination of the whole year, and I wasn't going to let defeat spoil things."

Roddick must now win his final round-robin match today against Guillermo Coria, who defeated Carlos Moya 6-2, 6-3, in order to have a chance of qualifying for tomorrow's semi-finals.

This was Schüttler's third successive victory over Roddick, including the semi-finals of the Australian Open - a win that was as welcome as a fire in a Texan oil well.

Andre Agassi's 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Juan Carlos Ferrero had assured Roddick of the year-end No1 position, because the Spaniard was the only player who might have sneaked up from behind and deprived him of his place at the pinnacle of the sport.

When Brad Gilbert took over as Roddick's coach just before the Stella Artois at Queen's, the young American had a 25-11 record. He won that tournament, reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon and then proved to be all but invincible (losing only one match - against Tim Henman) during the US hard-court season, culminating in his triumph at Flushing Meadows.

Roddick's record under his new tutor is 46-7, including five titles. Agassi himself dominated the hard courts in a similar way in 1995, when he claimed the No1 position for the first time. "It took a lot out of me," he said, "so I know that what Andy has done is an incredible accomplishment."

Roddick is the sixth US-born player to achieve the end-of-season No1 position since the rankings were introduced in 1973, the others being Jimmy Connors (1974-78), John McEnroe (1981-84), Jim Courier (1992), Pete Sampras (1993-1998) and Agassi (1999). And Roddick, 21, is the youngest to round off the year at the top. Not the youngest of all. That honour fell to Lleyton Hewitt, who finished 2001 at the top when he was only 20.

Roddick, as yesterday's defeat underlined, is some way short of the finished article, but Gilbert is convinced that "you ain't seen nothing yet".