Their careers certainly have had very different trajectories, and their styles and personalities are singular. But Mr. Roddick and Ms. Clijsters have one very important thing in common. Their tennis legacies were written on the hard courts of the Billie Jean King Tennis Center in Queens.

Both Mr. Roddick, who won the U.S. Open in 2003, and Ms. Clijsters, a champion in 2005, 2009 and 2010, chose to end their career at this year’s Open. Ms. Clijsters made it clear months ago that she would be hanging up her tennis bag after her last match in Flushing this year. Mr. Roddick surprised the tennis world by announcing mid-tournament that he, too, would retire after the Open.

Both players won the hearts and loyalties of New York’s discerning tennis fans with their professionalism, charisma and sense of style. Of course, it didn’t hurt that Mr. Roddick married a woman named Brooklyn (although she’s from Ohio, and they live in Texas), and Ms. Clijsters married a Jersey guy and now lives (among other places) on the Jersey Shore.

They may not have been New Yorkers, but they clearly felt at home here. It was in Flushing a decade ago that Mr. Roddick won his only major championship, and from that time until this week, he carried the flag for American men’s tennis in the post-Pete Sampras era. It was his bad luck to come of age just before a young Swiss champion, Roger Federer, burst on the scene, to be followed by another great champion, Rafael Nadal. Mr. Roddick never did get that second major championship. But he’ll always have Flushing.

Arthur Ashe Stadium was the setting for Ms. Clijsters’s comeback from a premature retirement in 2007, about a year before she gave birth to her daughter. Beginning with her opening match in 2009, she went on a two-year tear, winning back-to-back championships. New York’s supposedly hardened, sophisticated fans melted at the sight of Ms. Clijsters hugging her daughter after those two memorable victories.

The Open produces winners every year, but not every champion captures the city’s imagination. These two did—so it was fitting and gracious that they chose New York for their final matches.

It looked like it was his Serena Williams Foot Fault moment. But since it was in the third set--and far, far away from the situation that Serena faced with her match riding on the line--there was something that seemed gratuitous and irritating about his complaints. Something that seemed a little less spectacular than Serena's meltdown, and a little more grating.

What was odd about the foot fault was Roddick's fixation on it. Even after the match ended, he still couldn't give it up. He slammed the table he was seated at in Media Room 1 when it was brought up. He said if the lineswoman told him it was his left foot, he would have been fine--just fine--with the decision.

"There would have been no discussion," he said. "There would have been zero discussion. There was two [foot faults] after that. It was the fact that I couldn't get her to admit that it wasn't the right foot just infuriated me beyond..."

He trailed off.

The point is it doesn't matter. Not to the big picture. Roddick would lose the match in four sets, and so, here is yet another disappointing performance to put in the Big Book of American Disappointments Since the Era of Sampras-Agassi.

I think it's tempting to say "Andy Roddick ran into a wall tonight." And give credit to Janko Tipsarevic, sure. But this keeps happening to Roddick. It happened to him last year against Isner in the third round. It happened in 2005 in the first round. At this pace, we basically can go into every Open expecting as much out of him as we do Lleyton Hewitt.

This means that in three of his last six Opens he has been knocked out in the first week. The first week.

Did he feel like this was yet another opportunity lost?

"Tonight I felt like the guy earned it," he said. "That's probably easier to deal it, when you make the guy earn it and he comes up with the goods. Still not fun obviously."

No, not fun, and yet another excuse. The bottom line is another guy shouldn't earn it in the first week. Roddick should just win it.

When Roddick left the court tonight, and entered the tunnel inside Ashe, I was there waiting for him. He didn't curse. He didn't meltdown. He was just wearing a Lacoste baseball cap backwards looking cranky like a spoiled tennis club kid. Unfortunately, we've all seen this face on Andy before at the Open. It's exhausting to watch. And still not fun.

Since last year's Open, Roddick has done little, and after coming down with a case of mono (he's how old, again?) he hasn't entered any pre-Open conversation other than the fact that he's the highest ranking American man, at no. 9.

Roddick begins his 2010 Open run later this afternoon on Ashe, and how does Andy feel about flying under the radar?

"Obviously last year was a little bit different coming after Wimbledon and everything," he said. "But, you know, I've been in this position before; I've been in the other position before. To be honest, it doesn't make any difference to me."

Whatever works.

• The always promotional Andy Cohen shills for his Real Housewives of D.C. series. It's deeper than you think? Right.
• Fellow Bravo spokeswoman Alex McCord was awake till 3am writing blogs. We saw her and Simon out earlier in the night at a U.S. Open-related event getting her drink on.
• Also at the event were Andy Roddick and John Legend, who apparently enjoyed FatBooth together. (FatBooth is an iPhone app that makes your face look 100 to 200 pounds fatter.) Brooklyn Decker (Roddick's wife) wasn't there, but she noticed the shenanigans that occurred. This happened before midnight, but I thought it ought to be shared.
• Social-media expert Rachel Sklar retweeted a funny comment about fashion faux pas.
• Idiosyncratic punctuater 50 Cent was tweeting up a storm, as is his wont. The two best ones: he rages against a "funky bitch," and then he calms down.

That's all I've got for today. Follow the Observer on Twitter, please. Thanks.

Eep.

In 2014, by which time the folks at Roland Garros will have finished building a new center court with a retractable roof, the U.S. Open will be the only Grand Slam without a roof.

And how do the players feel about the roofless Ashe? They were asked at a press conference before the Open began. Apparently, they love it.

Dinara Safina: It doesn't rain so often here, so I don't think they should change something.

Andy Murray: I don't think it's necessary really to have a roof. There's only normally a couple of days during the tournament where there is some bad weather.

Serena Williams: I think it would be kind of hard to add a roof on this wonderful stadium, so I think we're fine. You know, historically we've done well, and you know, it will be just kind of weird to put a roof on Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Andy Roddick: I think it's a rarity that it gets backed up enough to where it becomes a real problem. Plus then when would we watch Connors and Krickstein again? 

There was only one player in favor of the roof.

Roger Federer:  Last year, was it a Monday final? Yeah, it was. Those are just things that are unpredictable, and with a roof you can make it more predictable for fans, sponsors, TV, for players. You know, that's why it's a good thing to have. That's why I'm obviously for it. I think especially in America we have so many wonderful stadiums, I mean, you figure it's kind of normal that they would be taking the lead with something like this.

It was a premature loss, and we're not quite sure who the boys of New York are going to turn to now. There's always Mirka Federer, who's lovely, even if she's never received the sex-symbol treatment from the media. And there's still Andy Murray's girlfriend, Kim Sears.

In a marathon shootout, John Isner, the 24-year old boy giant, shocked Roddick in a 3 hour, 51 minute five set victory, which ended in a 7-5 tiebreak.

But Roddick didn't choke. It was one of those strange matches where Roddick got matched up against someone who can be very, very good, but generally isn't. Today, Isner had his game.

"You can't really teach 6'9", especially coming down on a serve," said Roddick in an admirably candid post-match press conference. "You try to fight it off as much as you can. Sometimes you can, and sometimes it's completely out of your hands."

He's right, too. This wasn't Phil Mickelson missing a three footer, or Armando Benitez blowing a save. Isner's serve was too much. He saved his best tennis for the final 12 points of the match in the tiebreak, and he broke Roddick's serve once in the match, which is all he needed to do.

It was a strange match to watch. Isner, with his Frankenstein-like stature and agility, isn't exactly a picture of grace, and his serve today made Roddick twist and turn and groan in a way that took a typically elegant player completely out of rhythm. 

But that's a giant's game. He wants the match to look ugly. The thing about tall players is that they usually can't sustain that level of play throughout an entire match. We saw this two years ago when Isner unraveled after taking the first set against Roger Federer.

There were no such mistakes this year, and Roddick is the unfortunate victim to Isner's surprising four hours of competence.

What particularly hurts is that Roddick really had the game to make a run this year. He said he came into this tournament with as much confidence as he ever has into a Slam.

"That's just the way tennis is," he said. "The fact that I was able to make a quarterfinal last year and I was playing just terrible, and then I didn't make it past the third round this year--that's just the way it is sometimes. That's the thing with sports. There's not always a good reason for it."

Roger Federer v. Lleyton Hewitt; Ashe, 11 a.m.:

Now, this really shouldn't be much of a match, but you know, it's two Grand Slam winners going up against one another and it's the first real "test" on paper that Fed will have to face. Plus, more Anna.

Novak Djokovic v. Jesse Witten; Armstrong, 11 a.m.:

As Novak tries to rebuild his image here in the City, he'll have to go up against a formidable opponent: The Witten Wall.

Melanie Oudin v. Maria Sharapova; Ashe, Early Afternoon:

It'll be like the 90s! An American 17-year-old underdog (and now, an instant star) versus a player who has been here before and has won before. Sharapova said two nights ago that Oudin had clear weaknesses in her game that Elena Dementieva didn't exploit. We'll see, Maria! And  remember, the last time Sharapova played in an Open, she lost in the third round on a Saturday afternoon to a 16-year-old.

Fernando Verdasco v. Tommy Haas; Armstrong, Early Afternoon:

Of all our featured matches this one might be the most evenly fought. Also, watch for Sara Foster, our favorite superfan.

Robin Soderling v. Sam Querrey; Grandstand, Mid-Afternoon:

Querrey is probably the favorite going into this, but it would be a big step for his career to knock off the French Open finalist.

John Isner v. Andy Roddick; Ashe, Late Afternoon:

The battle of the Americans. Roddick is the great American hope for this tournament, but the crowd will give Isner a big push. Isner said the other night that his fitness level isn't as good as Roddick's, so he'll have to take a gamble or two. Use the height!

Shahar Peer v. Svetlana Kuznetsova; Grandstand, Early Evening:

The Israeli Peer always has strong crowd support here in New York, and this has all the indications of a trap game for Kuznetsova.

Littlefield has been a Roddick fan "forever and ever," and she speaks of his shot at the championship with the caution of an Andy-lover seasoned by disappointments: "We're hoping...He's got a chance."

"He's hot," her sister Georgia interjected, maybe more to the point.

The night matches turned out to be less eventful than the crowd issues. Maria Sharapova's shoulder looked just fine as she easily did away with Christina McHale (of New Jersey!), 6-2, 6-1. And Andy Roddick followed up with a rather sleepy victory over Marc Gicquel, 6-1, 6-4, 6-4.