NEW YORK -- There are these jarring, incongruous moments when reality seeps into the once-charmed life of Michael Chang:

	These days, Michael Chang revels in the small victories.

A low-rent, minor-league Challenger event in Tarzana, Calif., and a first-round loss to Brian Vahaly -- his sixth straight failure in the first round ... one victory in this year's three previous Grand Slam events, the worst defeat a five-setter to someone named Sebastien De Chaunac ... finding himself in the qualifying draws for major tournaments he used to dominate.

He was ranked among the top 15 men's players for nine consecutive seasons, but Chang now sits at No. 102 in the ATP Champions race, between Kenneth Carlsen and Alex Calatrava. He has won only six of 20 ATP matches this year, including Monday's first-round, four-set victory over Francisco Clavet, and a paltry $130,000 -- a drop in the ocean of the $19 million in prizes he has amassed over his career.

And yet, Chang seems oddly at peace.

"I feel good about where I am," Chang said, sounding as if he meant it. "I'm pretty relaxed coming into this year's Open. I think it's a little bit uncharacteristic in certain aspects because in past years I've come out -- I always tend to be a little bit more tense knowing that I'm a contender.

"I feel like it's easy for me to come out and swing away, go for my shots. It just seems a little bit easier, this year's U.S. Open. I don't feel a whole lot of pressure."

Does he dwell on his flacid ranking, his first experience outside of the top 100 players since he was 15 years old?

"No, it really doesn't cross my mind a whole lot," Chang said. "I think when you've played at the level that I've played, anything outside the top 10, in certain aspects, is just a number."

Chang, startlingly, is only 30 years old. In his 16th season, he has been playing professional tennis for more than half his life. There are a few stray gray hairs in his black hair and a few creases in the once smooth skin of his forehead. Once the fastest player in the game, Chang doesn't run down quite as many balls as he used to, a development he readily acknowledges.

Pete Sampras is often held up as the face of the gifted young Americans who looted the Grand Slams for a combined 25 singles championships between 1989 and 2001. Sampras, now 31, has a record 13 of those rare titles, but he is the No. 17 seed here at the Open. While Agassi, 32, has won seven Slams, he hasn't taken any of the last six and seems to have settled comfortably into family life with Steffi Graf. Jim Courier, who turned 32 last week, won four Slams -- two Australian Opens and two French Opens in a span of three years -- but is retired and now holds serve high above the court in the USA broadcast booth.

Perhaps Chang is a more appropriate example of the state of American men's tennis. He was the first among those best and brightest to win a Grand Slam title and he was the youngest (17 years, three months) in history. From there, almost by definition, there was nowhere to go but down and, ultimately, out.

"Sports is all about overcoming odds and obstacles and digging down deep," said Agassi after winning his first round match Monday night. "He's seen the top of the game for a decade and every time he's out there, it's an opportunity for him to rediscover that form. I think that's a lot to root for."

Is there a sense that this is the last stand for a generation that carried men's tennis for so long?

"If you're talking about the older American boys, for the next year, two, three, I would say yes," Chang replied. "We've been playing the tour for quite some time. I think they know it. They know they're not going to be playing for five or 10 more years. Obviously, all of us would love to go out on a high note. I think that's any professional athlete's dream.

"But, you know, we're definitely toward the twilight of our careers. We want to give it our last good run, last good effort."

While the effort has been undoubtedly sincere, results have been elusive. After six consecutive seasons among the ATP's top 10, Chang slid to No. 29 in 1998. The decline to No. 32 to No. 50, to No. 94 to the present No. 102 has been gradual but consistent.

This year, Chang said, has been his most difficult. His ranking is so low that even when he winds up in the main draw he is often looking at a highly seeded player. He started his season with first-round losses to Marat Safin and Roger Federer in Auckland and the Australian Open, respectively, and has never found a reasonable rhythm. After losing those six consecutive first-round matches, he rallied to win the Calabasas Challenger, but the names of the five vanquished players -- Arvind Parmar, Alexander Waske, Kenneth Carlsen, Justin Gimelstob and Cecil Mamiit -- placed the title in a more sobering context.

Chang's ATP record was an abysmal 2-13. In Cincinnati, however, Chang left the baseline, where he carved out his legacy, and attacked the net. He stunned Tommy Haas, a good player, in the first round and backed it up with a win over Fernando Vicente. A loss to Carlos Moya in the Round of 16 did little to mitigate those good feelings.

"I'm having fun," Chang said. "You can only track down so may balls after so long. I probably hit more winners at net over the past few weeks than I maybe have in my lifetime.

"I'm trying to mix things up, trying to do something different. I've been playing the same style of tennis for so many years. You know, I'm a very stubborn person. It's difficult to get away from what has worked for so long.

"I realize that I'm in the twilight of my career. I feel like if I don't change something, don't do something, the results maybe are going to continue the way that they have. That is not something that I want to really be a part of."

Chang was asked if the Cincinnati tournament helped to swell his waning confidence.

"To be able to beat a guy in the top five, you know, for me, is great. To be able to have that kind of win, to be able to get any kind of wins right now, you know, is great."

And Chang smiled and almost giggled at his self-deprecating humor. He is finding small victories -- like Monday's three-hour and 13-minute victory over Clavet. It's the only way he can continue amid the new reality.

"It has been a difficult road this year," he said. "But still, you know, I look at each day as a new opportunity. Maybe my attitude has changed a little bit. Maybe it's helped me relax a little bit.

"I won a lot more matches over the past few weeks than I have the entire year. Maybe attitude, just a way of looking at things, maybe that's helped me to play better tennis."

Greg Garber is a senior writer for ESPN.com.