A-rod on the ball

From the moment he won his first and, to date, only grand-slam title at the US Open in 2003, Andy Roddick has had to cope with the huge expectations of the home nation at Flushing Meadows.

Four times a quarter-finalist, he reached the final in 2006, losing to Roger Federer, the man who has won the title every year since Roddick beat Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero to lift the trophy.

Having flown the flag for so long, Roddick goes into next week's US Open short of match practice after a number of injuries and is an outsider for the title.

Roddick, though, remains confident that he can go far in the year's final grand-slam event, which starts on Monday. "It's a while since I have been [under the radar], maybe 2001 or 2002," said the world number eight.

"But I am not someone who needs someone talking about them. I am more concerned with how I am playing. I realise there are better storylines this summer, Federer [losing his number one ranking], [Rafael] Nadal, [Novak] Djokovic playing well on hard courts and Andy Murray playing well, so I don't need that.

"I just want to play well and I feel like I can make a big run here. I know I can certainly compete."