DELRAY BEACH - Andy Roddick's clay-court season begins this week and could end with a Davis Cup match in September.
Flying high after big victories the past two weekends, Roddick heads to Houston to start a clay schedule that will prepare him for the French Open in May.
The Roddick-led U.S. Davis Cup team will consider clay for its Sept. 24-26 semifinal against visiting Belarus. Fort Worth, Texas, and Carson, Calif., are two early candidates for the site, which will be chosen in the next month.
Captain Patrick McEnroe said he'll talk with Roddick and other top American players before picking a surface. He'll also monitor tournament results in the next few weeks.
"If the guys feel strongly about a particular surface, that's probably what I'm going to go with, because they're the guys that are out there playing," McEnroe said. "If we have a lot of success on clay, then it might make that an easier decision for us."
The top players for first-time semifinalist Belarus, Max Mirnyi and Vladimir Voltchkov, prefer fast surfaces. For that reason, McEnroe's most likely choice will be clay or a slow, high-bouncing hardcourt similar to the one used for the Americans' 4-1 victory Sunday over Sweden in the quarterfinals.
Roddick said a slow surface against Belarus makes sense. He has won four clay-court titles and is hoping for a breakthrough at Roland Garros, where he lost in the opening round the past two years.
MORE TENNIS: Former Wimbledon champion Conchita Martinez won her 700th match Monday at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, S.C., becoming the seventh woman in the Open era to reach that milestone. The 16th-seeded Martinez beat Tian Tian Sun 6-1, 6-0 in the first round.
GOLF: Masters ratings down
Despite a thrilling final-hole victory by Phil Mickelson, television ratings for Sunday's final round of the Masters were down more than 20 percent. CBS's final-round coverage, from 1:30-6:28 p.m., earned a preliminary national household rating of 7.3. The 2003 Masters, won by Mike Weir in a playoff with Len Mattiace, had a 9.3, 21 percent better. This year's broadcast peaked with a 10.1 rating from 5:30-6 p.m., when Mickelson and Ernie Els made several dramatic shots over the final holes, including Mickelson's birdie on No. 18. The peak was down from last year's high of 12.4 during the playoff. The ratings might have been affected by going on the air an hour earlier, at 1:30 p.m., and by being played on Easter, when fewer people watch TV. A year-to-year comparison of the 2:30-6:30 slot showed a 4 percent ratings jump this year to an 8.1. Each rating point equals 1.08-million TV households. The ratings for the first two days of the tournament on USA were up 34 percent.
SOCCER: Ronaldo injured
World Cup star Ronaldo will be sidelined up to two weeks with a left leg injury, Real Madrid's team doctor said. The Spanish league's leading scorer was hurt during the first half of a 3-0 loss Sunday to Osasuna.
MORE SOCCER: Second-place Chelsea lost to Aston Villa 3-2, and Portsmouth moved away from the Premier League's relegation zone by beating Birmingham 3-1. Portsmouth moved up one place to 16th with the victory.
ET CETERA
CRICKET: West Indies captain Brian Lara set a world record by becoming the first player to score 400 runs in an international match. The record of 380 runs was set by Australia's Matthew Hayden against Zimbabwe in October. The 34-year-old Lara passed Hayden halfway through the third day of a five-day match with England.
ARENA LEAGUE: Storm kicker Matt George was placed on injured reserve after breaking his collarbone in Sunday's 51-36 loss at Chicago. The team will make a decision on a replacement this week.
- Times staff writer Frank Pastor contributed to this report.
