It was the ultimate indignity.
Wild card Tim Smyczek’s valiant bid to prevent a new low of American men’s futility in a major had come up just short, and 43rd-ranked Spaniard Marcel Granollers was taunting the U.S. fans, mocking the spirited yet defeated crowd at the Grandstand with a shimmy.
“I really wanted to win for you guys, but I came up short,” Smyczek told his supporters after the 6-4, 4-6, 0-6, 6-3, 7-5 loss in the third round of the U.S. Open.
The clock struck midnight on Smyczek’s Cinderella run at 11:55 (actually 9:22), capping a dreadful week for the U.S. men. It is the first time no American man has reached the fourth round of the Open or any other Grand Slam.
Smyczek, the 109th-ranked man in the world and the last hope for the U.S. at the Open, had nearly completed another surprising win before he blew a 4-1, fifth-set lead and a fourth-round date with No. 1 Novak Djokovic.
“I couldn’t be much more disappointed right now,” he said.
The 5-foot-9 journeyman from Milwaukee faltered despite the backing of the crowd, which spent much of the three-hour, 24-minute match chanting “U-S-A!” and “Let’s go, Tim!”
One fan yelled to him: “You’re our last hope.”
“That was new,” Smyczek said. “I never had to step up to the baseline with goosebumps so many times.”
For the second straight year, the U.S. failed to advance a men’s player into a major quarterfinal. At least last year there were two players — Mardy Fish and Andy Roddick — who reached the fourth round at the Open. The highest American seeds, John Isner and Sam Querrey, disappointed this week.
“I think to be judged on just the Grand Slams alone isn’t quite fair,” Smyczek said. “But I do understand Grand Slams are what make a career. I think you can expect that to change next year.”
Smyczek, 25, had never moved beyond the second round of a major before. Playing with nothing to lose, he controlled the action with his aggressive style. He had an astounding 73 winners and 64 unforced errors.
Smyczek seemed in command at several junctures. He was up a break in the first set, only to falter. He was up two sets to one, only to drop the fourth set. And then there was the fifth set, when he blew a 4-1 lead.
It was the final singles set an American man would play at the Open, an apt way for the disastrous week to end.