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NEWPORT - Dan Robillard was breathing a sigh of relief when the sun shined and the wind blew off of Narragansett Bay the past three days at the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

In a decade's worth of tending to the hallowed grass on Bellevue Avenue, never has the Seekonk resident been deluged as he has this year.

And that's before some of the world's touring tennis pros began deluging him with criticism and comments about the state of the turf at the oldest existing tennis tournament in America.

"This has been the worst in 50 years, never mind 10 years," said Robillard Monday as the $500,000 ATP Tournament began its 33rd season of grass court competitions.

And with hearty thanks to Sports Turf Specialists of Plainville, the $26,000 project directed by Attleboro's Denny Brolin to excavate and replace the two Stadium courts and tidy up the three outside courts used for matches, Robillard and his staff were able to firm up the top two or three inches of turf that had been inundated with water. "The top two or three inches dried out, but underneath will take a while," said Robillard. "We had rain 14 of the first 17 days in June and last Tuesday and Wednesday we had 3.8 inches of rain. You can't just pick it up and move it, like you would snow."

Mark Stenning, the Tennis Hall of Fame's Executive Director could not praise Robillard and Brolin, who served for a while as turf specialist at Gillette Stadium, any harder. "They came in and completely re-sodded the main courts and did a really nice job to get them ready. I'll let you know Monday (after the tournament ends) what I think after the players get tired of running up to the net."

The Hall of Fame sought out Sports Turf Specialists late last summer to begin the project for leveling out the three main courts, removing a slight mound which had grown at each baseline. That trapped the water, produced thatch, which created sponge-like conditions.

Brolin and his Sports Turf Specialists staff stripped the sod in October with a Bleck Machine, according to Robillard, which tills the soil six to eight inches. The soil was then laser-graded and covered with a bed of bent-grass sod. Fortunately, the comparatively mild months of October and November allowed the sod to root before the snow and cold weather settled down in southern New England.

"I didn't have one bad bounce," offered 2008 finalist Prakesh Amritraj, who played and won (6-1, 6-4 over Thailand's Danai Udomchoke) on the very first match played on the new courts. "It (the ball) stayed constantly low."

Taylor Dent, the 2002 champion, while commenting that the courts were "very soft, but it's great for someone like me (eight aces, winning 21 of 22 second service points in a 6-2, 6-1 win over Brazil's Marcos Daniel). Here passing shots will be really tough on courts that bounce this low."

Even though the courts are covered with tarps, the dampness and deluge almost offset the work that Robillard his staff did in rolling the new turf and mowing it down to one-quarter of an inch. "Then the rain came and slowed things down," he said. "Because it was so wet, we had to wait to roll and mow.

"Thank God for the sun and the wind the last two days, that'll firm things up." Once in a while, in years past, helicopters were actually flown in to expedite the drying process with their gusts of wind.

"That's good for show, but we needed all the help that we could get from Mother Nature - anything other than rain."

Double Faults There will be no curse of the No. 1 seed losing as top-seeded Mardy Fish withdrew Monday morning to accept a U.S. Davis Cup assignment after Wimbledon finalist Andy Roddick withdrew his spot. Fish left London for Porec, Croatia To that end a "lucky loser," the highest seed coming out of the qualifying round advanced, No. 160 Rajeev Ram of Florida Two-time defending champion Farbrice Santoro, ranked No. 37 and No. 2 seed does not ascend to the No. 1 spot with the draw having already been made Watching courtside were two members of coach Russ Severs' Attleboro High tennis troops, Evan Heller and Brant Holt No. 4 seeded Benjamin Becker of Germany was upset by Michigan's Brendan Evans 7-6 (2), 3-6, 7-5, while Vince Spadea made an early exit in his eight appearance, falling 6-0, 6-4 to Germany's Daniel Brands Jesse Levine, at 21, the youngest player in the field, won a pair of 7-2 tiebreakers to beat Chris Gucci one Dent, now seeded No. 235, is "kind of adjusting my game since my resurrection" from injuries. "I feel like a $1-million, so much better than in '04 and '05. My consistency of execution isn't where it was, but my body is great, my legs are springy and my fitness issues are not an issue" Robbie Ginepri, the 2003 champion, survived a scare, winning a 167-point, 6-2, 1-6, 6-4 verdict over Spain's Santiago Ventura Beverly Christian Jaeger of Foxboro is serving as one of the USTA officials for the tournament, the Northeastern University faculty member also to be working the US Open in New York.