updated 2:18 p.m. ET Aug. 30, 2004

ATHENS, Greece - Yep, just as everyone predicted, Andy Roddick was at center court for the Olympic gold medal match.

One thing, though: He was in the stands, rooting for teammate Mardy Fish.

The rest of the U.S. tennis squad was nowhere to be found, long gone from Greece without so much as a medal. The same can be said for several of the sport’s best and brightest from other countries, too.

Venus Williams? A first-round loser in doubles, third-round loser in singles.

Martina Navratilova, an Olympic rookie at 47? Out in the quarterfinals.

Roger Federer? Knocked off by a player who’s won two Grand Slam matches. Not tournaments — matches.

And the list goes on.

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As is often the case with tennis at the Olympics, especially on the men’s side, the list of medalists isn’t so much a “Who’s Who” guide to the game as a “Who’s He?”

Fish lost to Nicolas Massu of Chile 6-3, 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 in an error-strewn singles final Sunday night that went four hours. Chile had never won a gold medal at any Olympics until Massu and Fernando Gonzalez won the doubles title in a match that lasted more than 3½ hours and ended in the wee hours Sunday morning.

And Gonzalez, who upset Roddick in the third round, beat Taylor Dent for the single bronze.

None of those four semifinalists ever has been ranked in the top 10. Only Gonzalez has been as far as the quarterfinals at a Grand Slam tournament — and he’s never made it past that stage.

But he fits right in with past Olympic medalists such as Arnaud Di Pasquale and Jordi Arrese.

Perhaps it’s because the elite don’t take the Olympics as seriously as majors, although Federer, Roddick and Williams all seemed to be genuinely disappointed at their showings in Athens.

“I saw Federer,” Massu said. “I saw what he looked like when he lost. I’ve never seen him like that. He looked totally devastated.

“I won the gold medal. I’m not going to worry about whether (other players) feel like playing an Olympic Games or not. That’s their business, not mine. This has been a historic achievement. For me, the Olympic Games are much more important.”

Half of the men’s top 10, including Andre Agassi and Lleyton Hewitt, didn’t enter. Nor did such female stars as Serena Williams, Jennifer Capriati and Lindsay Davenport, though No. 1 Justine Henin-Hardenne did meet — and defeat — No. 2 Amelie Mauresmo in a gold medal final worthy of a Slam.

But those absences open the way for players such as Fish or women’s bronze medalist Alicia

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Molik to have a breakthrough week.

“I’d like to say that in a normal tournament, I would have tried just as hard, but there’s definitely something extra there,” Fish said. “I kept saying to myself, ‘This is the Olympics. This is the Olympics.”’

Just two weeks ago, the U.S. squad appeared stacked, with four past No. 1s and major champions slated to play singles: Roddick, Capriati, the Williams sisters and Capriati. The roster also included Navratilova, plus the top-seeded men’s doubles team of Bob and Mike Bryan.

But Capriati and Serena Williams pulled out with injuries after the deadline for replacing them on the roster. Then, all in one day, Roddick, Venus Williams, Chanda Rubin, Lisa Raymond and the Bryan twins lost. Navratilova left 24 hours later.

Federer, meanwhile, waited four years to get another crack at a medal after losing the bronze match to Di Pasquale at the Sydney Games.

The two-time Wimbledon champion carried Switzerland’s flag in the opening ceremony, then looked sluggish in a three-set victory in his opener, followed by his loss to Tomas Berdych, an 18-year-old from the Czech Republic ranked 65th.

“Everybody,” Berdych said, “is beatable.”

Certainly at the Olympics.

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