Remember when Andy Roddick was a household name? Americans knew him as the male tennis hero who blew thunderous serves by his opponents. He used to tug at his Lacoste apparel with a slight smile before serving as if to say, now watch me blow this one by you.

Now, Roddick is aging and his career seems to be on a downturn. He’ll be 30 this August, and not a wise and experienced 30, but rather an older and less physically fit 30. He owns a 7-10 record this season and seems to be playing passively this year, which could help to explain his losing record.

On top of that, Roddick has already been eliminated from the 2012 French Open, losing in the first round to France’s Nicolas Mahut. Mahut broke Roddick’s serve 7 out of 7 break point chances in a 4 set rout of the Nebraska native.

Clay has never been Roddick’s best surface, as he now has four first round losses in nine French Open appearances. His French Open record stands at 9-10.

As Roddick seeks to revitalize his career that seems to have peaked at his 2003 US Open win, a first round loss is brutal to swallow.

In a press conference, Roddick elaborated on his French Open woes.

“I feel like I’m not set on most shots, and if you’re not set it’s hard to get much of a flow going,” Roddick said. “If you don’t have much of a flow going, it lends itself to sporadic play. It all adds up and you can’t fake it out here. My footwork on this [clay] is really, really bad.”

Hopefully, if Roddick stays healthy, he can manage to gear up for his favorite part of the year – grass court season at Wimbledon. Maybe he can even bring that old name and thunderous serve back into American households.

For now, Americans will have to put faith in the new breed of American players, including the giant John Isner, and the up-and-coming Ryan Harrison and Jack Sock. With James Blake, Donald Young, and Sam Querrey on the backburners, the younger Americans seem to be more promising bets.