Its Just A Matter of Time for the Drought to End
The 21 Year Drought for American Men's Tennis Could Be Coming to An End
It has been long since an American male won a Grand Slam title. The last time this happened was the 2003 US Open when Andy Roddick won his only major title. However, that drought could end on Sunday, September 8th.
It is a wide-open men's field, as Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic were eliminated in Week 1. This has allowed an American male to win the 2024 US Open.
For the first time since 2006, an American will play for the Men's Singles US Open title, as Taylor Fritz will take on Frances Tiafoe in the semifinals on Friday. The last All-American semifinal was at the 2005 US Open when Andre Agassi defeated Robby Ginepri in five sets. That was 19 years ago. Considering the history of the US Open, that is a long drought.
Consider the American men who won the US Open titles in the Open Era: Arthur Ashe, Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, and Andy Roddick. Americans have dominated the event throughout its history, but not recently.
The Williams Sisters, Jennifer Capriati and Lindsay Davenport dominated the women's side. The younger generation, like Sloane Stephens, Sofia Kenin, Jessica Pegula, Coco Gauff, and Madison Keys, are exciting fans. They kept the flag flying during those lean years.
The state of American men's tennis has been poor. Roddick was the last great American men's tennis player. While he has only one major, he could have had more. He just ran into Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, and Novak Djokovic.
Roddick lost to Federer three times in the Wimbledon final and once at the US Open. He is also the last American male to reach a Grand Slam final, where he lost the epic 2009 Wimbledon Final to Federer.
However, after some lean years, when John Isner and Sam Querrey gave some hope but could not cross the finish line, there seemed to be a light at the end of this dark tunnel. Last year, three American men, Fritz, Tiafoe, and Shelton, reached the quarterfinals.
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It happened again this year when Fritz, Tiafoe, and Tommy Paul reached the quarterfinals. 2024 also marks the third straight year an American male has reached the semifinals in the US Open. That used to be a constant.
Throw that Fritz is the first American male to reach the fourth round in four majors in a year. The last man to do that was Andre Agassi back in 2003. How about another stat? Returning to 2003, the last time an American male won a major. Two American women were making the semifinals, and two American men were making the semifinals.
Can history repeat itself in 2024? Emma Navarro and Jessica Pegula are into the women's semifinals, joining Fritz and Tiafoe on the men's side. It feels like the drought could end.
This moment has been building—excellent results in the Masters 1000 events. Taylor Fritz won one at Indian Wells. Going back to 2003, when Tommy Paul made the Australian Open semifinals, which was bookended by Ben Shelton's run to the US Open semifinals, it feels like this breakthrough has been coming. Add Chris Eubanks's run to the 2003 Wimbledon quarterfinals, and this moment was coming.
It takes little breakthroughs to get to an even bigger one. And we know that Andy Roddick is getting tired of hearing about being the last American male to win a major. It is time for the streak to end.
Having Arthur Ashe Stadium electric and the crowd behind an American makes the US Open special. It has been too long, but it is good for the sport to see American men's tennis on the rise, especially at the US Open.
This article was first seen on Total Apex Sports.