GOLF: America awaits. America expects. The luminous era of Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Jim Courier, Michael Chang and Todd Martin has all but faded. One last shake of the bottle may yet bring a final burst of short-lived fizz but it is Andy Roddick and James Blake who have been charged with leading the new wave. Much is expected of both players when the US Open begins today at Flushing Meadows.

Roddick began with a bang last year, winning titles in Atlanta, Houston and Washington, and swooping up the rankings from number 158 to number 14. He will be 20 on Friday, and although he has added two further titles this year, in Memphis and Houston, his performances in the grand slams have been unconvincing, including a third-round defeat against Greg Rusedski at Wimbledon, which exposed Roddick's technical deficiencies and tactical naivety.

Last year, at only his second attempt, he reached the last eight at the US Open, losing to the eventual winner Lleyton Hewitt, although not before a stormy outburst. Roddick received a bad call and was justifiably angry, but he is gaining the reputation of being something of a drama queen.

In comparison, James Blake is the soul of discretion and good manners, and never more so than last year at Flushing Meadows during and after his match against Hewitt in the second round. The Australian, in danger of losing, made what amounted to a racist slur regarding Blake and a black line judge. Hewitt later denied the accusation, while the American, to his considerable credit, refused to be drawn into a public row.

Unlike Roddick, who entered the pro circuit after being an outstanding junior, Blake (22), spent two years at Harvard before breaking off from his business studies to enter the tennis arena full-time last year, and climbing into the top 100. After losing two finals this year, against Roddick in Memphis and against another American, Taylor Dent, at Newport, Rhode Island, Blake won his first ATP tournament in Washington just over a week ago, defeating Agassi in the semi-final and Thailand's Paradorn Srichaphan in the final.

Blake became the first African-American to win the Washington title since Arthur Ashe in 1973, and only the fourth male black player to win a tournament in the Open era since 1968.

"Any time I'm put into a sentence with Arthur Ashe is very significant for me. From my childhood I was proud to say he was my role model, and now more and more I keep hearing 'you're the first one to do that since Ashe' - it's mind-boggling. I can't believe I'm being put in the same sentence as him."

Blake could have played for Britain, for he has stronger ties than Greg Rusedski.

"My mom was born and raised in Banbury, so I suppose I could have been Oxfordshire's number two behind Tim Henman," he says.

His mother, Betty, who is white, went over to the US when she was 17, and after a brief first marriage, met Thomas Blake, James's father, on a tennis court in New York. There was never any suggestion Blake might follow Rusedski's path. "The USTA supported me and there was never any doubt in my mind. Plus I was born and raised in the US and consider myself American."

To date Roddick holds a 5-0 head-to-head advantage over Blake, and has earned double the prize money. Neither has the talent of either Sampras or Agassi but both are all too aware of the expectation on their shoulders.

Agassi has gone out of his way to help them both, notably after Blake and Roddick had arrived in Europe on the same plane for this year's clay-court season.

Blake has yet to make any impact at grand slam level, and certainly lacks the big serve and forehand of Roddick.

Blake is also aware of the importance of the PR side of tennis. "I always keep it in the back of my mind that we are entertainers. We are athletes, but we are also playing for the fans."

Ultimately, however, the American tennis public do not want showmen, they want winners. Because Roddick has won all his five tournaments in the US, and Blake's one success has also been at home, their respective reputations are rather higher than their achievements. Currently the US has eight players in the top 100, but only three - Agassi, Roddick and Sampras - are in the top 20, with Blake just outside.

There has been an American in eight of the last 10 men's US Open finals, but they have won only one of the last five - Agassi in 1999. By local standards this is failure, hence the weight of expectation on Roddick, in particular, and Blake. "Even if we don't have the same ability as Sampras and Agassi I feel like we have the enthusiasm," Blake said.

But such enthusiasm may not be enough. Winning grand slams, and particularly the US Open, is now an imperative.