By Nick Georgandis

I've given Andy Roddick a lot of grief over the past few years for a whole host of things -- his rapidly-expanding bald spot, his rapidly-diminishing skill set; the fact that he must be some sort of wizard to have confounded Brooklyn Decker into marrying him, etc. Despite all that, it was a nice treat to see Roddick lift the championship trophy Saturday at Eastbourne -- his 31st career title and 601st on the ATP tour.

The 31 titles moves Roddick into third among active players, breaking a tie with Novak Djokovic. He's also third in career finals, with 51 and has moved into a tie for third place in Open Era history for the most consecutive seasons winning at least one title: 12.

That last stat is truly a remarkable one. Roddick is now tied with Stefan Edberg, Boris Becker, and Roger Federer with a dozen straight years winning at least one title. The only men ahead of him are Jimmy Connors at 13 and Ivan Lendl at 14.

Winning the US Open so young at in 2003 made Roddick the poster child for the future of American tennis. And while he stayed in the Top 10 for almost a decade, that second Grand Slam title never came, mostly because of Federer's brilliance.

While Roddick is unlikely to ever add another Grand Slam to his trophy case or rejoin the Top 10, his overall body of work is too often overlooked, admittedly by me as well as harsher critics of the lack of American superstars.

Roddick's 20 hardcourt titles are the 10th most in history, his five on grass tied for the ninth-most. Among active players, he's second only to Federer in matches played (809) and wins -- and he won't drop any lower than third in that category in the next three to five years.

Rafael Nadal is hot on his heels at 582 wins, but the three players after him -- Lleyton Hewitt, Tommy Haas, and Juan Carlos Ferrero -- are all in the twilights of their careers.

In the Open Era, Roddick's 418 wins on hard court are fifth all-time, and he'll likely pass American legend Pete Sampras (427) before year's end. Depending on how much longer Roddick desires to play, he could wind up third in the category; Connors is within his reach at 488 career hardcourt wins.

His victory at Eastbourne on Saturday also allowed Roddick to leapfrog Andy Murray for eighth place in the all-time winning percentage on grass.

Roddick is 83-20 (.8058) on the soft stuff -- a full percentage point ahead of Murray, and slightly behind world No. 2 Rafael Nadal (.8167).