THE REPLACEMENTS

Greg Patton, storyteller and coach with the U.S. Tennis Assn., knows his way around words, cynical reporters and, more important, teenage boys with short attention spans.

He coached a junior team in the ‘80s that will probably put several members in the hall of fame--Pete Sampras, Jim Courier, Michael Chang. Lately, his Sampras and Courier stories have been losing steam, not generating as much mileage with the Gen-14 crowd.

But one new name pulls them away from PlayStation.

“You talk about [John] McEnroe to kids and there is no relation,” Patton said. “Now even Sampras and [Andre] Agassi, those guys are starting to fade into the sunset. The kids that are 15 and 14 and 13, they don’t identify with those guys.

“You mention the name [Andy] Roddick--and he just entered the scene--kids who are into tennis, they are so sharp, so intuitive, they say, ‘This kid is one of us.’ The way he wears his hat and his youthful joy. They relate to that and want to be like that.”

Patton paused and you could almost feel the next metaphor building.

“So I’m changing my stories,” Patton said. “He’s generating such great interest in the game, firing up the stove. Roddick is fresh out of the oven. When you get that bread or doughnut fresh out of the oven, it tastes so good. Sampras and Agassi have been out of the oven for a long time. They’ve been in the refrigerator.”

There was a similar conversation with Patton about 13 years ago. Angst was growing in the post-McEnroe, post-Jimmy Connors era. Who were going to be the replacements? Patton started talking about a youngster named Sampras, another named Courier and then the leader of the pack, Chang.

And we all know what happened after that.

This happens often in American tennis. A generation of all-stars closes in on career endings and panic begins. Sampras, Agassi and Chang have to be flattered. There is nostalgia for them and they are still playing.

Even someone who should know better fell victim to the next-generation malaise. Last summer McEnroe, then captain of the U.S. Davis Cup team, looked around during the semifinals in Spain and saw Vince Spadea playing for him, then, months later, walked away from the job he said he had always wanted.

Who knew Roddick was around the corner? But the 18-year-old who looks like a skateboarder won two clay-court tournaments, reached the third round in dramatic showings at the French Open and Wimbledon, and had a song written about him--suspect lyrics and all--less than a year after the Spanish loss.

Things change quickly. A year ago, Taylor Dent hadn’t hit a 144-mph serve on Center Court at Wimbledon or defeated Magnus Norman on a hard court in India. Twins Bob and Mike Bryan had yet to reach the Wimbledon doubles semifinals, and Mardy Fish was months away from recording victories against Mark Philippoussis and Thomas Enqvist.

And so, The Times has picked a top 10--the replacements--and will follow this latest group of male prospects for the next couple of years, offering updates every few months. Roddick, who is ranked 33rd in the world, 20-year-old Dent of Newport Beach, No. 127, and 19-year-old Fish, No. 171, are at the top of the list.

Why only men?

There isn’t this sort of concern about replacements on the women’s side. There are five leading American women--Venus and Serena Williams, Jennifer Capriati, Lindsay Davenport and Monica Seles. All have won Grand Slam singles titles and Seles is the only one older than 25.

Of the male prospects, the oldest are three 23-year-olds: the Bryans of Camarillo, who occupy one slot together as a Davis Cup doubles team of the future, and Michael Russell. Russell, as a qualifier, had match point against eventual champion Gustavo Kuerten in the fourth round of the French Open.

In the middle are Phillip King and James Blake.

King, of Long Beach, will turn 20 in December. He won twice at Kalamazoo, Mich., in the most prestigious junior tournament in the United States, but found the professional circuit difficult, on and off the court. King went to Duke for a semester and is pondering whether to return this fall.

Blake, 21, left Harvard after two years and just had the best week of his career at the ATP stop in Newport, R.I., on grass, reaching the semifinals before losing to Britain’s Martin Lee on Saturday, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (5). Along the way, he beat Vladimir Voltchkov, a Wimbledon semifinalist last year.

The three youngest in the group are Robby Ginepri, who turns 19 in October, 16-year-old Brian Baker and 17-year-old Rajeev Ram. Baker and Ram are still in the juniors. Ram won the Easter Bowl tournament this year, and Baker played in his first junior Wimbledon, losing in the second round.

Baker and Ram are ranked first and second in the USTA 18-and-unders. Baker is 31-2 in that division this year, and Ram is 35-7.

“[Baker] is good, talented, only 16,” said former tour player Paul Annacone, the longtime coach of Sampras. “He’s a big kid, needs to grow into his body a little bit, a really nice two-handed backhand. He needs to physically develop.

“Look, historically, one of the problems in recent years we’ve had is that most of our juniors hit the ball pretty well, but I’m not sure they know how to play. There’s a big difference. A lot of that is insecurity that occurs when you go from one level to the next.”

Roddick and Dent are well ahead of the others because they possess major weapons. Roddick has his vaunted serve and a huge forehand, and Dent’s serve has been eye-opening the last two years on grass at Wimbledon in close losses to Agassi and Lleyton Hewitt.

“There’s a couple of things I look for, athleticism, weapons to hurt people and obviously their mind, how well they know how to play,” Annacone said. “The more weapons you have, the less important it is to be able to strategize. That’s why people like Boris Becker and Pete [Sampras] and Andy Roddick break through more easily, because they have huge weapons and then they mentally mature a little bit later.

“Pete and Boris got better and better. Initially, the huge weapons get you in the door and then your mind has to kick in.”

Former tour player Eliot Teltscher was pleased to see that happen with Dent in a grass-court satellite event in England shortly before Wimbledon this year. Dent lost the first set against a good grass-court player, Peter Wessels, then came back to win in three.

“It’s something he wouldn’t have done six months ago,” Teltscher said. “That, to me, was a turning point. He found a way to stay in the match, even though he didn’t play his best tennis.”

Teltscher started working with Dent in the winter, when Dent and his father, Phil, decided it would be better if Phil didn’t coach his son. In an interesting twist, King, who used to learn from Teltscher, has been taking lessons from Phil Dent.

King said he had recently asked Phil Dent to travel with him to tournaments, which could be interesting if King ends up playing Taylor Dent.

“It’s kind of weird. I guess we’ve switched places,” King said, laughing.

These days, King is conflicted about returning to Duke or staying on the tour. His mother wanted him to go to school this year but feels he should turn pro now, King said. His father, at first, did not want him to go to Duke but now would like him to return.

“It’s lonely on the tour,” King said. “A very competitive world. There are no friends, really. A lot of my friends went to school and they told me how great it was. I wanted to meet people, have fun, and do things that normal kids do.”

King, who reached the quarterfinals of the NCAA singles tournament, enjoyed the college setting. He made sure Duke was a total escape from the professional tour. When he was taking classes, he had no idea that things were changing so quickly, that Roddick was raising the bar for the other American prospects.

It was hard because a couple of years ago, King was the top American junior prospect. When he beat Fish in the Kalamazoo final in 1999, there was little talk about Roddick. A year later, King defeated Ginepri at Kalamazoo in the final.

“All these guys have been improving a lot,” King said. “When I went to school, these guys weren’t that high. When I came out, they were really high, Blake and Fish. That was amazing. When I went to school, Roddick was 200 and when I came out he was 30.

“I purposely didn’t check any tennis results because I didn’t want to get . . . “

Depressed?

“Yeah,” he said. “I got out and everything was a surprise. Guys on the team would ask me if I wanted to know results, and I said, ‘No.’ I didn’t want to have anything to do with it. It’s almost harder to decide to not go now, now that I have gone to school. I know how much I’ll miss it.

“It’s like candy. It’s hard to give it all up.”

Ah, a simile. Which brings this back to Patton for a few more word pictures on the replacements:

* On Russell--”A lot of people wrote this guy off. It’s a dream come true. People keep putting up roadblocks and he figures out a way to cut the padlock and get through.”

* On Ginepri--”He just won a satellite recently in Northern California. He’s wide-eyed and hungry. He’s the type of guy who is hungry, but he doesn’t have the sign, ‘I’m homeless and I need food.’ He’s the type of guy who goes to the Salvation Army and asks if he can work to get a tie and a shirt to go to a job interview.”

* On Baker--”He’s young and in the game, someone to watch down the line. There’s a lot of guys like him but, so far, he’s kind of stepped ahead of a lot of guys.”

* On Ram--”Rajeev Ram is the man. I love this kid. I think he’s a lot like Sampras, plays a lot like Pete. He reminds me of Pete when Pete was 15 or 16. Rajeev has got the hands of a painter, the hands of Ricky Leach, which are very special. The hands of an artist. Very mature and bright for his age. He’s big, 6-4. He’s a big drip of water, but he’s holy water.”

OK, enough of that, at least for a few years.

“To be a player of the future, I don’t think you can base your game on the players of today,” Patton said. “Rajeev, of everybody, is a player of the future.”

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Times tennis writer Lisa Dillman’s top U.S. men who could be headliners soon:

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Player Age Comment 1. Andy Roddick 18 Yearbook caption: Most likely to succeed? 2. Taylor Dent 20 Most impressive pedigree; parents were both pros. 3. Mardy Fish 19 Real diaper dandy. Had first TV feature at 2. 4. Robby Ginepri 18 U.S. Open junior and Kalamazoo, Mich., finalist in 2000. 5. Michael Russell 23 Known for tenacity. At least parents didn’t name him Jack. 6. James Blake 21 Came within two matches of first ATP tournament title at Newport. 7. Bob and Mike Bryan 23 It’s easy. Bob is left-handed, Mike is right-handed. 8. Phillip King 19 Family affair. Three sisters making debut in National 16s tournament. 9. Brian Baker 16 Another early starter. Took up game at 2 1/2. 10. Rajeev Ram 17 Easter Bowl champion drew inspiration from watching Becker.

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Mercedes-Benz Cup

* What: 75th Los Angeles Open (32 singles entries, 16 doubles).

* When: July 23-29.

* Where: L.A. Tennis Center, UCLA.

* 2000 champions: Singles: Michael Chang def. Jan-Michael Gambill, 6-7 (2), 6-3, default. Doubles: Paul Kilderry/Sandon Stolle def. Gambill/Scott Humphries, default.

* 2001 entries: Andre Agassi, Marat Safin, Gustavo Kuerten, Magnus Norman, Pete Sampras, Carlos Moya, Chang, Thomas Enqvist, Gambill, Andy Roddick, Bob and Mike Bryan.

* Past champions include: Sampras, Agassi, Chang, Jim Courier, Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg, John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors, Rod Laver, Arthur Ashe, Ken Rosewall, Jack Kramer, Fred Perry.

* TV: Semifinals and final on Fox Sports Net.