Insult Comes With Injury

Chilled, but sufficiently stirred, the Parisian crowd issued its verdict in the form of boos and whistles.

They were aimed at fifth-seeded Andy Roddick as he trudged off Court Suzanne Lenglen Tuesday night at the French Open on an injured left ankle after cutting short his first-round match against Alberto Martin.

Roddick’s withdrawal gave Martin only his third victory here in nine trips to Paris. But the soundtrack on an unusually cool day could have served as the summation of yet another dreary performance by American men on the confounding clay courts of Roland Garros.

“Let’s see. How many do we have left?” asked Roddick, who’d retired from his match with Martin leading, 6-4, 7-5, 1-0.

Told there were two, Roddick deadpanned, “And one [Kevin Kim] plays [Rafael] Nadal? James [Blake] plays [Nicolas] Almagro?

“That’s going to be a tough one. Right now, we’re not in a dominating position. We’re playing a 7-2 off-suit against pocket aces right now.”

Translation for non-poker players: It’s not looking good.

One round has been completed and the remaining U.S. men are Blake and Kim, of Newport Coast, who was beaten in qualifying but got in as a lucky loser because of player withdrawals. Last year, three Americans reached the second round but none got to the third. The last time one made the quarterfinals was when 1999 champion Andre Agassi did so in 2003.

Roddick’s loss was the biggest upset on the men’s side. The major surprise among the women -- other than that the crowd didn’t boo Martina Hingis after she’d beaten Lisa Raymond, 6-2, 6-2, in her first match here since 2001 -- was the departure of No. 3 Nadia Petrova. Hingis has felt the ire of French Open fans, who got on her for disputing calls during her loss to Steffi Graf in the 1999 final.

Akiko Morigami defeated Petrova, 6-2, 6-2. Petrova, like Roddick, was suffering from an injury. Unlike Roddick, she arrived here as one of the favorites.

But even Roddick’s slim chance was greatly diminished when he sprained two ankle ligaments last week at the World Team Cup in Dusseldorf, Germany, making him questionable for the French Open and drastically limiting his preparation.

It took a major turn for the worse at 5-5 in the second set and Roddick was in visible discomfort in the first game of the third, double-faulting twice and letting loose verbally.

After that game, he told trainer Michael Novotny that the pain felt sharper, saying, “It’s hurting. It’s stinging a little bit.... You think it’s dangerous?”

He decided to quit when Novotny said he would not be allowed to retape the ankle until the end of the set. Roddick, with no hint of irony, told him there wasn’t going to be another set.

“Right now I just want to get healthy,” said Roddick, who now must shake off the injury in time for Wimbledon. “It’s been an extremely annoying last month or so.”

Even a sound Roddick has struggled on these courts. He has never gone beyond the third round here, and this was the third time he has lost in the first round.

“It’s like ‘Groundhog Day,’ ” he said.

He wasn’t the only American feeling that way. Robby Ginepri is 0-4 at the French Open, having completed his first-round match, which had been stopped Monday because of rain. Albert Montanes beat him, 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-1, 6-4.

And his woes haven’t been confined to clay. His season-long slump started at the Australian Open when he lost to a German qualifier after leading by two sets and a service break. Part of the issue may be that he’s not known simply as Robby Ginepri, but rather as 2005 U.S. Open semifinalist Robby Ginepri.

“That’s why I talked to Pete [Sampras] when I did the exhibition with him [in Houston],” Ginepri said. “He said, ‘I’m so glad to be done with the game because it felt like I had a big bull’s-eye on my chest. Everyone was gunning for you.’

“So I kind of thought about what he said a bit more. He talked more in detail but that was the gist of it. It definitely makes sense. That’s how I was coming up. This guy has done this and that, I want to go to the wall and see what happens, so I guess that’s what they’re doing.”

With Ginepri’s dogged skills, he would seem a natural clay-court player. But he admits the surface confounds him, in particular, the ability to time his slides, which comes as second nature to Nadal, the defending champion, and another former champion, Gaston Gaudio.

“I watch their 10-feet slides, and I slide and I count three feet,” Ginepri said.

The American women are doing slightly better. Venus Williams is the only American among the 32 seeded players, and was joined in the second round by 19-year-old Jamea Jackson and two 21-year-olds, Shenay Perry and Ashley Harkleroad. Williams and Harkleroad won Monday and Jackson and Perry advanced Tuesday.

Still, it’s been a big drop-off from previous years. Vania King of Long Beach might have put the American point of view best after she’d lost Monday.

“I mean, after this I realize how much I love hard courts,” she said, giggling.

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Tough start

James Blake and Kevin Kim are the remaining U.S. men’s players at the French Open, having won first-round matches:

U.S. MEN’S FIRST-ROUND LOSERS AT THE FRENCH OPEN

* Justin Gimelstob loses to Alejandro Falla (Colombia) in three sets.

* Robby Ginepri loses to Albert Montanes (Spain) in four sets.

* Paul Goldstein loses to Martin Vassallo Arguello (Argentina) in three sets.

* Vincent Spadea loses to Nikolay Davydenko (Russia) in three sets.

* Andy Roddick loses to Alberto Martin (Spain) in three sets (retired).

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At a glance

Tuesday from the French Open:

Top men’s seeded winners: No. 4 Ivan Ljubicic, No. 9 Fernando Gonzalez, No. 14 Lleyton Hewitt, No. 15 David Ferrer, No. 19 Marcos Baghdatis, No. 22 Dominik Hrbaty, No. 23 Tommy Haas.

* Men’s seeded losers: No. 5 Andy Roddick (retired with ankle injury), No. 17 Robby Ginepri, No. 18 Thomas Johansson.

* Top women’s seeded winners: No. 5 Justine Henin-Hardenne, No. 10 Anastasia Myskina, No. 12 Martina Hingis, No. 13 Anna-Lena Groenefeld, No. 15 Daniela Hantuchova.

* Women’s seeded losers: No. 3 Nadia Petrova, No. 23 Tatiana Golovin, No. 30 Klara Koukalova.

TODAY’S MEN’S FEATURED MATCHES

* David Nalbandian (3), Argentina, vs. Richard Gasquet, France

* Roger Federer (1), Switzerland, vs. Alejandro Falla, Colombia

WOMEN’S FEATURED MATCHES

* Amelie Mauresmo (1), France, vs. Vera Dushevina, Russia

* Maria Sharapova (4), Russia, vs. Iveta Benesova, Czech Republic

* Venus Williams (11) vs. Emma Laine, Finland