Australian Open 2012: Biggest Losers from Year's First Grand Slam Tournament

As the Australian Open winds to a close, several players will leave Melbourne with high hopes for the rest of the year. There's another group, however, that will need to find ways to rebound after getting off to a disappointing start in the season's first major.

Here are the three biggest losers of the past two weeks.

Sam Stosur

After winning last summer's US Open, Stosur should have entered her home major with some leftover momentum. Instead, the pressure got to her once again as she bowed out in the first round to Sorana Cirstea. She's never played beyond Round 4 in the Aussie Open.

It's not uncommon for a shocking early-season loss to affect a player for the entire year. So it will be up to Stosur to turn things around quickly in some smaller tournaments before the French Open in May.

The key, as always, will be limiting her errors because she doesn't have enough firepower to make up for mistakes. There's no reason she can't get back on track moving forward.

Fernando Verdasco

It wasn't long ago that Verdasco was one of tennis' fastest rising stars. That improvement has stalled out over the past year, though, and he's actually even taken a couple steps back. His first-round loss to Bernard Tomic marked the third straight Grand Slam event in which he didn't make it past Round 3.

Verdasco's biggest problem continues to be a lack of concentration in matches. He won the first two sets against Tomic, but then his level of play dipped dramatically and his opponent took full advantage. It's something the Spaniard must fix if he wants to be a bigger threat.

While he's shown flashes of top-five talent throughout his career, playing at that level more consistently is what it will take for him to turn the tide back in his favor.

American Men

There were 11 men carrying the United States flag when the Australian Open began, and none of them made it to the fourth round. Andy Roddick was forced to retire from his Round 2 clash with Lleyton Hewitt, and Mardy Fish lost in the same round to Alejandro Falla.

It's just the latest failure for the American men, who have failed to make an impact at majors for several years now. Roddick was the last one to win a Grand Slam title, but that came all the way back in 2003 at the US Open.

Unless something changes in a big way in the coming years, things are only going to get worse. After the poor showing Down Under, maybe those in charge of the USTA will finally realize that.