Individuals are tennis aristocrats. They’ve gained a document 32 Davis Cups and gamers representing the US have collected a world-leading 147 males’s singles Grand Slam titles. Invoice Tilden, Don Budge, Jack Kramer, Arthur Ashe, Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras bagged 59 Majors amongst them, shaped era-defining rivalries, and had a transformational impression on a sport they cherished dearly and performed with ardour.
Previously 20 years, nevertheless, the lords have seen a dramatic shrinking of their as soon as extravagant riches. No American man has gained a Grand Slam singles championship since Andy Roddick on the 2003 U.S. Open. And till Taylor Fritz made it to the title spherical in New York final yr, the U.S. had endured greater than 15 years’ distress, having not had a male participant within the summit conflict since Roddick at 2009 Wimbledon.
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On a swing and a prayer
However earlier than each Main, particularly the one at Flushing Meadows, there’s a fervent prayer for this drought to finish and for the U.S.’ superb previous not be diminished to merely a quaint historic enquiry. Forward of Sunday, when the newest version of the season’s final Slam, the U.S. Open, will get underway, there may be sure to be one other determined invocation of the holy spirits to bathe some grace and advance their case.
Prima facie, the Individuals are nearer than ever. The U.S. has 4 members within the top-20 — Fritz at No. 4, lefty Ben Shelton, who gained the Toronto Masters this month, at No. 6, Tommy Paul at No. 14 and Frances Tiafoe at No. 17. Fritz’s run to the U.S. Open ultimate in 2024 and his semifinal end at Wimbledon this July are encouraging indicators. Tennis should be a distinct segment sport within the States, but it surely hasn’t fallen out of favour, as seen from the truth that the U.S. has as many as 13 gamers within the top-100, joint-highest with France.
However a mixture of things, just like the dominance of the Huge Three of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in successful 66 of 81 Majors from Wimbledon 2003 to U.S. Open 2023, and the meteoric rise of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, who’ve swept the final seven Slams and ensured a wrinkle-free transition into the following period, seem to have left Fritz, Shelton, et al. with little wriggle room to work with.
It might even be that America’s long-time reliance on the Kramer-inspired ‘Huge Sport’ of the Nineteen Forties and 50s — a cannonball serve adopted by a crushing putaway — has not helped the blossoming of extra full types of play. The U.S. produced fleet-footed geniuses who mastered the quicker surfaces, however not clay, which is alleged to inculcate all-court expertise like endurance, self-discipline and level development.
Getting nearer: Ben Shelton begins the season’s ultimate Main in glorious kind, having gained the Toronto Masters this month. He has additionally misplaced to the eventual winner in every of the three Grand Slams this yr.
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There are after all superb exceptions in seven-time French Open champion Chris Evert — arguably one of the best girl on clay ever — who grew up on the inexperienced clay courts in Florida, fairly a rarity in right this moment’s world. Amongst males, two-time Roland-Garros winner Jim Courier and Agassi, who claimed all 4 Majors, are vivid examples.
However the common American tennis participant remains to be bred on medium to quick acrylic, which is the floor for the 4 ATP Masters 1000s (Indian Wells, Miami, Canada and Cincinnati) and the one Slam North America hosts. Fritz, Shelton, Paul and Tiafoe have reached six Main semifinals and one ultimate. None of these have come on the Parisian pink dust.
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Whereas it’s true that three of the 4 Slams are nonetheless performed on pretty fast courts, modern-day tennis, pushed by superior racquet know-how, use of heavier balls and a baseline-dominant approach, is shifting in the direction of a sure homogenisation. Although there are bespoke expertise that also carry rewards, the differentiation between surfaces isn’t as stark because it was once.
An almighty jostle
Federer and Nadal had their preferences, and so do Djokovic, Alcaraz and Sinner. However even on their less-favoured courts — clay for Federer, grass for Nadal — there have been no evident weaknesses. Djokovic is arguably probably the most full participant in historical past, and early indicators are that Alcaraz and Sinner will be a part of him. All of this has meant that the tennis of the final 20 years has been an almighty jostle, with no customised home windows of alternative for specialists to strike gold.
However former World No. 1 and eight-time Main winner Agassi opined that issues would flip and equated the present state of American males’s tennis to the late Eighties when McEnroe and Connors have been on the wane and the nation was in search of new heroes.
“I feel you want one another to succeed,” Agassi mentioned final December at an occasion in Bengaluru. “I used to be the primary one to show professional and I made [Michael] Chang, Pete and Courier consider they might do it. Chang was the primary one to win [French Open 1989], and he made Pete and Courier consider that they might.
“And Courier mentioned, ‘Properly, I could be No. 1 on the planet’. I’m saying, ‘Wait a second, what the hell about me?’ So all of us helped one another in quite a lot of methods. And I feel these Individuals now are beginning to show [that] to the opposite Individuals.”
Fritz & Co. also can draw inspiration from the ladies. Within the interval since Roddick’s solely Main triumph, American girls have gained 25 Slams. Whereas 20 of those are Venus and Serena Williams’, the successes of Sloane Stephens (2017 U.S. Open), Sofia Kenin (2020 Australian Open), Coco Gauff (2023 U.S. Open and 2025 French Open) and Madison Keys (2025 Australian Open) present the emergence of a brand new wave of champions.
Lifted by competitors: Andre Agassi is of the opinion that the present group of American males are starting to push one another to enhance, very like an earlier golden technology, headlined by Pete Sampras and himself, had.
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4 ladies are within the newest WTA top-10 — Gauff (No. 3), Jessica Pegula (4), Keys (6) and Amanda Anisimova (9). Pegula and Anisimova may have added to the Main tally if not for his or her defeats to Aryna Sabalenka (2024 U.S. Open) and Iga Swiatek (2025 Wimbledon).
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Hope will also be had from the truth that the sphere under Alcaraz and Sinner seems to be ethereal. The celestial duo might have established a close to stranglehold on the high and ensured that the European supremacy of males’s tennis doesn’t miss a beat, however the remainder of the Tour is chaotic and messy. The legendary Djokovic, 38, seems to be fading; No. 3 Alexander Zverev has flattered to deceive regardless of reaching three Slam finals whereas Daniil Medvedev, the 2021 U.S. Open winner, and Casper Ruud, three-time Main finalist, appear to have stagnated.
The following step
“I feel it’s solely a matter of time earlier than somebody takes the following step,” American Sebastian Korda, a former World No. 15 who’s on a comeback path from harm, instructed The Hindu.
“Taylor making the ultimate final yr was one thing that hadn’t occurred for lengthy. That’s already big progress. Ben [Shelton] misplaced to the 2 [eventual] champions each at Roland-Garros and Wimbledon. So that they’re clearly each extraordinarily shut, making quarters and semis of Slams fairly persistently. So, I feel, it’s gonna be an excellent couple weeks for the Individuals.”
