Commentary: Querrey's early exit

It wasn't too surprising to see Sam Querrey fall in the first round of Roland Garros to Robby Ginepri on Tuesday. After all, the third-ranked American player and 22nd overall on the ATP Tour has never won a match at the French Open.

What was surprising was Querrey's reaction to losing 4-6, 7-6, 6-4, 6-2.

In a press conference following the match, the 18th seed announced he was going home to California the following day and withdrawing from the doubles, which he had entered with fellow American John Isner.

"The main thing is I didn't enjoy myself on the court - wanted off the court," Querrey said of his match.

"I just need to be in a better mood or just need to enjoy the competition and enjoy being out there more than I do," he continued. "Right now, I mean, I'll enjoy it, and as soon as one thing goes wrong, I'm done."

Americans have a recent history of doing poorly on clay, especially at the French, but Querrey's clay-court season has been the best of the American gang, and better than a lot of clay-court specialists this season. He won an event on the surface in Belgrade and made it to the final in Houston.

Querrey acknowledged when you get to a Grand Slam on clay, it's different than the ATP 250 events. The draw at Roland Garros is much bigger and has better competition, and the matches are best of five sets, not three.

"A tournament win is a tournament win," he said. "A final is great. It builds my confidence, but I won Belgrade and my ranking didn't move. I'm kind of past that point right now. Those 250s do nothing for me, ranking wise. It's all about the Masters Series and the Grand Slams."

Apathy on the court is a bigger problem than simply being a big-serving American player at Roland Garros. It's a problem Querrey will have to solve to elevate his game to the next level. And if he can't find the passion to win in Paris, he'll have to hope he can find it at Wimbledon next month and the U.S. Open in August.

Hopefully he'll use the time at home to take a vacation, regroup and prepare for Wimbledon. But even that wasn't reason enough to drop out of the doubles draw with John Isner. The pair were the No. 12 seed in the tournament and won the clay court event in Belgrade earlier this year.

Now it seems like he only entered into the doubles event for some practice while he was still alive in singles — something many good singles players have done. But this kind of attitude towards doubles isn't healthy for the game. Doubles players already have enough trouble, not getting paid nearly as much as singles and not getting the attention, and singles players using it as their side show makes it look even worse.

But faced with the choice of playing with the enthusiasm he displayed Tuesday in singles or going home, maybe his decision was right. Isner probably would have felt like a fool standing beside Querrey as he was "mentally not there," on his side of the doubles court.

The tennis world will know for sure if Querrey's mood improves when Wimbledon gets started at the end of June. Meanwhile, he will be warming up for the grass-court slam with the Queen's Club tournament in London... if he feels like it.

When asked if he thought he would make it there, Querrey answered: "I don't know. I'm going home tomorrow, and then, yeah, hopefully I'll be there."

Video of Querrey's press conference after the match.