The Grand Slam drought for U.S. males’s tennis retains getting longer

“In the following yr or yr and half, I believe you will note one of many Americans win a significant.”

That’s John McEnroe, seven-time Grand Slam champion and broadly thought of one of many best male tennis gamers of all time, speaking at a Eurosport event on February 13, 2023 about the way forward for American males’s tennis, one thing he spent the Nineteen Eighties guaranteeing the success of.

Success in skilled tennis means successful a significant, often known as Grand Slams. There are solely 4 yearly: the Australian Open, the French Open, the Wimbledon Championships, the US Open, and this yr’s Wimbledon in July was the ultimate main within the 18 months since McEnroe made his prediction.

Two American males — Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul — made the quarterfinals, the primary Grand Slam to function a number of within the final eight since 2000. Fritz even defeated fourth-ranked Alexander Zverev en path to the quarterfinals, and Paul took the primary set off third-ranked and eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz and broke Alcaraz on his service recreation early within the second set.

But as has occurred at each Grand Slam since 2003, neither managed to win. There had been auspicious moments, promising outcomes, and even the phantasm of progress. Fellow American Francis Tiafoe pushed Alcaraz to the brink in a five-set thriller earlier within the match, and it regarded as if — lastly — an American man may break by means of into the highest tier. There had been loads of ethical victories.

Yet, as soon as once more, there have been no precise victories.

Wimbledon was merely the newest in a 21-year main drought for American males’s tennis, a interval often known as my whole life. Since Andy Roddick captured the 2003 US Open over Juan Carlos Ferrero in straight units, no American man has received a Grand Slam. And since 2009 — when Roddick was the runner-up to Roger Federer at Wimbledon — no American man has even reached a significant last. I used to be six years previous.

This is in stark distinction to American ladies’s tennis. In my lifetime, American ladies have received 24 main championships supported by steady topflight expertise; from Venus and Serena Williams’ consistency to one-offs from Sloane Stevens and Sofia Kenin all through the following era captained by Coco Gauff.

Yet American males had been shut out, and proceed to knock on a door that exhibits no indicators of opening.

There’s various causes American males’s tennis finds itself on this field — from the extent of competitors, nationwide curiosity to dangerous luck — however all of them beg the identical questions: how did this occur, and is there a means out? Will this be the era of gamers that brings American males’s tennis into the longer term, or will they be the newest in an extended line of contenders that received shut, however not fairly shut sufficient? And who is likely to be the one to lastly do it?

But for me, all of it yields to a easy, one sentence nervousness, born from a lifelong love of tennis and 20 years of listening to my dad speak about how nice American males had been when he was rising up:

Will I see an American man win a Grand Slam in my lifetime?

Photo by Frey/TPN/Getty Images

Ironically, American males’s lack of success since Roddick in all probability isn’t their fault.

2003 is a vital yr in males’s tennis, as a result of it marked the start of the apocalypse. The 2003 Wimbledon Championships — the foremost instantly earlier than Roddick’s victory — noticed the primary of the eventual 20 Grand Slams received by the Swiss Maestro: Roger Federer.

Federer was the primary of the three horsemen that will carry in regards to the finish of parity in males’s tennis. Along with Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, they received 65 of the 79 Grand Slams performed between the top of 2003 and the start of 2024.

Those three males are broadly thought of the three best gamers within the historical past of males’s tennis, collectively obliterating the scene for 20 years and counting, as — even with Federer and Nadal out of the image — Djokovic continues to compete for Grand Slams, holding the all-time file with 24.

It’s not as if American males are distinctive of their nationwide failure since 2003. With Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic representing Switzerland, Spain, and Serbia respectfully, solely 9 complete nations have received a significant since 2004 started.

That state of affairs can be comprehensible if American males’s tennis was like American males’s soccer: no historical past of success in a sport historically dominated by different international locations and areas of the phrase. A victory for the United States Men’s National Team within the World Cup or Copa América can be a revolutionary second, marking the crew’s first enterprise into worldwide victory on the highest stage.

But it hasn’t all the time been this fashion. In truth, America is the only most profitable nation within the historical past of males’s tennis… by loads.

They weren’t simply extra profitable earlier than 2003; they had been totally dominant. In the 21 years previous Roddick’s victory, American males received 34 Grand Slams, greater than a 3rd of all accessible championships over that span. This got here on the backs of legends like Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Jim Courier, Jimmy Connors, and John McEnroe.

And it goes again even additional. Connors and Arthur Ashe had been constant main winners within the early Nineteen Seventies, and even earlier than the Open Era — starting in 1968 when skilled gamers may compete in all Grand Slams — American males captured the occasional main. Even although the late-Nineteen Fifties and Sixties had been largely dominated by Australian gamers, Americans Tony Trabert to Alex Olmedo nonetheless snagged wins, and Jack Kramer and Frank Parker dominated the sport by means of the Nineteen Forties.

In the Nineteen Eighties and Nineties, Americans weren’t simply constant contenders for Grand Slams, they had been the very best gamers on the planet. They didn’t have to determine beat the remainder of the world; the remainder of the world had to determine beat them. Once McEnroe left the scene within the late Nineteen Eighties, it regarded like they’d figured it out, with European gamers Ivan Lendl, Stefan Edberg and Mats Wilander dominating the scene within the again half of the Nineteen Eighties.

But even throughout this drought, American males nonetheless discovered a one-off main by means of 17-year-old Michael Chang within the 1989 French Open. He walked so Courier, Sampras and Agassi may run only a few years later, and regardless of their four-year intermission, American males had been as soon as once more the premier gamers on the planet.

And they remained remarkably constant. Once Chang broke the seal in 1989, American males one at the very least one of many 4 Grand Slams for the following 14 years till Roddick capped the run in 2003.

American males lead the sphere in complete Open Era main wins with 52, with Spain in a distant second at 32. If you depend pre-Open Era wins, America has 147 to Australia’s 100, with Great Britain at 48 in third. In truth, within the whole recorded historical past of males’s tennis, American males had by no means gone greater than 5 years with out capturing at the very least one Grand Slam title.

They had been so profitable within the early days, that the International Tennis Hall of Fame is in Newport, Rhode Island.

But in 2003, it was over. I used to be born, and the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic triumvirate determined that American males would not be capable of seize Grand Slams. The closest they received was in 2009, with Roddick’s loss to Federer at Wimbledon coming by means of a 4 hour, 17 minute, five-set marathon that ended with a 16-14 fifth set; over twice so long as an everyday set because of Wimbledon’s distinctive ruleset on the time.

But the successes of these three all the time in some way felt inevitable. Americans or in any other case, the remainder of the lads’s tennis world solely managed a number of outliers within the final 21 years, with no person in a position to constantly problem the three. But with such a robust historical past of top-level gamers, it’s price asking why there was no critical American challenger throughout that span. The highest ranked participant throughout their primes was John Isner, although he solely managed a single main semifinal in his profession.

Where was the top-level participant? There hasn’t been an American man on the extent of Sampras or Agassi since they retired, and no present American has proven top-level consistency both. The glass ceiling of good-but-not-good-enough has remained intact.

The purpose for the shortage of really elite gamers is a tough query to reply and an inconceivable one to show. Talent and growth aren’t predictable, and it’s anybody’s guess why Carlos Alcaraz was born in El Palmar, Spain as a substitute of Des Moines, Iowa.

Jim Courier — an American four-time Grand Slam champion — chalks up the difficulty to a democratization of teaching, with many of the finest tennis academies and coaches working within the United States earlier than the flip of the twenty first Century.

“Back within the Seventies, America had loads of the very best coaches on the planet, whether or not it was Harry Hopman, the nice Australian who had arrange store in Florida, or Nick Bollettieri who was revolutionising coaching by having an academy,” Courier said to The Times in 2020. “Loads of the worldwide gamers would come to America to get the very best data, and possibly that wasn’t as prevalent in smaller international locations in Europe.”

That is actually not the case. Top coaches hail from everywhere in the globe, and America not has a monopoly on topflight teaching because it had previously. However, it’s onerous to say if different international locations even have higher developmental assets, particularly given the overwhelming success of American ladies all through the identical interval.

However, easy monetary precedence might clarify that one disparity, with the very best younger athletes naturally pursuing essentially the most profitable sports activities. Due to the unlucky historical past of pay disparities between males’s and ladies’s sports activities, tennis is among the few with equal prize cash. It can also be by far essentially the most profitable sport for feminine athletes — American or in any other case — with seven of the top eight highest paid female athletes being tennis gamers. By distinction, zero male tennis gamers are within the high 50, an inventory dominated by skilled soccer and basketball gamers.

Popularity may additionally partially clarify the disparity. Americans rank outdoors the Top 20 nations with the very best proportion of tennis followers, with a pedestrian eight p.c saying they comply with the game.

This could possibly be a purpose for the shortage of latest victory, resulting in much less financial funding and curiosity from high younger athletes — a idea often used to explain the failures of American men’s soccer — although it’s equally probably that the shortage of success has led to fewer followers in a downward suggestions loop. Additionally, on the US Open, the Women’s Final has routinely outperformed the Men’s Final in US-based viewership, probably as a result of frequent presence of American ladies on the high stage.

It’s no shock that Spain tops the checklist of most tennis-interested nations, with a pipeline of greatness working instantly from Nadal to right this moment’s dominant pressure in Alcaraz. So who may reignite American curiosity in males’s tennis?

In the Association of Tennis Professionals’ (ATP) — the governing physique of males’s tennis — world rankings, there are 5 Americans within the Top 30: Taylor Fritz, Tommy Paul, Ben Shelton, Sebastian Korda, and Frances Tiafoe.

Shelton is the latest of the group to achieve a significant semifinal on the 2023 US Open, however was eviscerated by soon-to-be-champion Djokovic in straight units, his solely encounter with a Top-10 ranked participant so far. Fritz has constantly carried out properly at majors and all through the tour, however has but to achieve a Grand Slam semifinal, dropping at Wimbledon to Lorenzo Musetti — a decrease ranked participant who he was favored to beat — in 5 units to be held up within the quarterfinals once more.

By far the largest situation for American males has been a basic incapacity to beat high gamers. Prior to defeating Zverev, Fritz was 0-9 versus Top-5 ranked gamers in Grand Slams. Tennis is a person sport, and one has to have the ability to beat the very best gamers on the planet in 5 set matches, the distinctive attribute of the Grand Slams, with a purpose to win them.

Fritz beat Nadal within the 2022 Indian Wells Open — an ATP 1000 occasion and probably the most prestigious non-Grand Slam tournaments of the yr — however has been largely unable to beat high gamers in 5 set matches; solely registering two wins on Top-10 gamers in Grand Slams complete and by no means as soon as over a Top-3 participant, normally by far the more than likely group to win a significant.

But the closest an American man has come to a significant win since Roddick’s 2009 loss was on the 2022 US Open, throughout a legendary run by Frances Tiafoe.

Tiafoe beat Nadal within the fourth spherical, turning into the primary American to beat the Spaniard in a significant since James Blake in 2005. He then went on to achieve the semifinals the place he would fall to Nadal’s religious successor in Alcaraz, going the space in a four-hour, 5 set marathon that gave me extra hope for American males’s tennis than I had felt in years.

But the difficulty hasn’t been hope. Flashes and sparks have flown all through my life, with Paul taking a set off Alcaraz throughout Wimbledon and Fritz defeating Zverev. Reaching main semifinals and beating high gamers is an efficient begin, nevertheless it has all the time been met by a complete lack of comply with by means of.

And tennis is all about comply with by means of. When you swing your racket, your shot might be floaty and delicate for those who don’t full the movement. Hitting defensive stabs may win a number of factors, however finally it’s important to grip a forehand and hit a winner. That’s the comply with by means of. That’s the way you win.

Photo by Karwai Tang/WireImage

McEnroe’s unfulfilled prophecy, that an American man would win within the subsequent 18 months got here on February 13, 2023 often known as my twentieth birthday.

I like tennis as a result of life gave it to me. My great-grandmother beloved the sport her entire life and was married to legendary coach Harry Hopman, who taught McEnroe and fellow American champion Vitas Gerulaitis within the Nineteen Seventies. It’s been handed down by means of my household by means of the many years, however each prior era had one factor in frequent: they noticed an American man win a Grand Slam.

I by no means needed to fear about American ladies’s tennis. Venus and Serena had me coated for just about my whole life. I all the time rooted for them, however was by no means involved that I’d be staring down eternity in the event that they misplaced a quarterfinal. Because all of us knew they’d be again; they had been the very best.

But the lads’s facet has me fascinated with without end, one thing no sports activities fan needs to do. Cutting by means of the historical past, the reasons and the justifications is an existential concern that this truly might by no means occur once more. Sure, Federer and Nadal are gone and Djokovic can’t stick round without end, however what of the following era that’s already coming into view? Alcaraz could possibly be simply as unbeatable as these three had been of their primes, and Europe continues to supply weaponized 20-year-olds with explosive forehands and surgical precision like Jannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev.

At the second, I don’t see the present crop of American males maintaining. It’s led folks like me to ask if Roddick will without end be generally known as the final American man to win a significant, one thing he himself might be sick of.

“No one’s benefited extra from one win,” he said to GQ in 2023. “Ever. Had an American man received the following yr, you wouldn’t be right here.”

Ironically, the person Roddick defeated in 2003, Juan Carlos Ferrero, is now teaching Carlos Alcaraz, right this moment’s strongest roadblock to Americans. You may say the Spanish continuity working from Ferrero by means of Nadal to Alcaraz began simply because the once-unbroken generations of American champions lastly fell. History has a patriotic humorousness, and as Alcaraz captured his second straight Wimbledon, McEnroe was within the broadcast sales space and Agassi watched from the stands.

Some would argue that it doesn’t matter. Tennis is a person sport, and not one of the Grand Slams are based mostly on nationwide affiliation. Some would say that tennis isn’t a patriotic sport in any respect, and by no means has been.

I don’t assume I may disagree extra. Apart from the apparent significance of the Olympics and Davis and Hopman Cups — explicitly nationwide tournaments the place gamers compete instantly for his or her nation — each main match broadcast has every participant’s flag prominently displayed subsequent to their identify. There is a purpose that Wimbledon made the provocative option to ban Russian and Belarusian gamers in the course of the 2022 Championships as a result of invasion of Ukraine, with most tournaments now solely permitting them to compete beneath impartial flags.

Friendly patriotic competitors by means of sports activities has been a staple of the put up World War II world order, and tennis is among the few yearly sports activities the place nationality stays outstanding. At the 2024 Australian Open, it was a giant deal that Sinner turned the primary Italian to win a Grand Slam, male or feminine. And the aforementioned reputation of tennis in Spain is instantly tied to their run of spectacular gamers.

For American tennis followers like myself, getting the lads’s recreation out of its straight jacket issues. It’s inconceivable that such a broad historical past of success could possibly be adopted up by an indefinite string of failures, and appears plainly unlikely that America has failed to supply even a constant challenger, not to mention a champion.

The excellent news? As the triumvirate retires, not one of the Top-30 ranked Americans have even turned 28. Shelton is barely 21, with numerous room to enhance and compete on the highest stage. The dangerous information? Alcaraz can also be 21, and Sinner is 22. It’s going to take loads for an American man to finally succeed with these figures, and it’s onerous to think about any of the present crop constantly difficult the very best on the planet. It would take a significant growth to alter that.

Or, somebody may simply get fortunate.

It’s fairly steadily higher to be fortunate than good in sports activities. Winning a championship — any championship — is so unlikely as a result of sheer quantity of different gamers or groups accessible. It’s virtually unprecedented for a crew or participant to have minus-odds — a betting line for an final result being extra probably than not — going right into a season or match. Way an excessive amount of can go unsuitable, so the sphere is all the time extra probably than the “finest” competitor.

As miserable as it could appear, possibly that’s the present playbook for American males’s tennis. Keep pushing ahead, hold banging your head towards that wall and hope — as a result of rebellions are constructed on hope — that sufficient goes proper one in every of today to get an American man one other shot at a Grand Slam last.

It’s not the answer I needed to supply, however somewhat than on the lookout for a silver bullet, I merely suggest we attempt to open the door. Get again to a last, and determine it out from there. It isn’t going to be a one-step or two-step course of; it’ll be a loopy lengthy staircase.

But there’s an finish to it someplace, and I’m decided to see it at some point. Even if it takes one other 21 years.