Roddick American heir apparent?

Teenager Andy Roddick has had an impressive run since joining the ATP Tour. In only his 10th match, he won his first career title at Atlanta, and then followed that up with a win at Houston. This is quicker than Sampras, Chang or Courier took to win their first career titles. Oh, and did I mention that Roddick beat Sampras himself during the prestigious Ericsson Open tournament in reaching the quarter finals? Could this be the American heir apparent to Agassi and Sampras?

Roddick has come a long way since playing in the juniors last year, when he won at the Australian Open and the U.S. Open. He is currently the No. 1-ranked junior.

"It's no secret that the transition from the juniors to the professional tour is so big," he said. "In the juniors you can sometimes slack off a bit, but you can't do that at the professional level. You have a real sense of professionalism and you have to approach every match the right way."

Roddick's results on the ATP Tour this year have brought him attention. He won his first career title in only his 10th match on the tour. By way of comparison, Sampras took 34 and Agassi 24. The closest of the current American players was Michael Chang who still took 17 matches. Perhaps even more impressively, Roddick followed up the win with another title at Houston, as with Atlanta on clay-courts. Also this year Roddick beat Pete Sampras and won his only singles match in America's losing Davis Cup effort against Switzerland. He's only 18 years old, but clearly Roddick has talent to burn.

Level headed, too. Roddick isn't carried away by his victories, including a 10-match winning streaks and comparisons to Agassi and Sampras.

"I've always looked up to those guys. It's great to get people thinking, but I'm not them."

Not yet.

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