NEW YORK, Aug 22: If there’s such a thing as momentum from tournament to tournament in tennis, the American men have some right now.
Taylor Fritz, Ben Shelton, Frances Tiafoe and Tommy Paul certainly are getting within reach of ending the country’s unprecedented Grand Slam men’s title drought, so maybe they’re finally ready to win one of those trophies — if anyone other than Jannik Sinner or Carlos Alcaraz is ever going to again, that is — at the US Open, which gets going on Sunday.
“We have a really strong group. We’re closer; the closest we’ve been in a long time,” said Fritz, a 27-year-old from California who is seeded No. 4 in New York and was the the runner-up to Sinner there a year ago. “We have several players who are at the caliber it takes to win a Grand Slam title. We’re very close. But that last little bit is obviously the hardest part of it.”
22 years since a Grand Slam title
Fritz’s appearance in the 2024 U.S. Open final was the first time in 15 years that a man from the United States even earned the right to play for a major singles championship. Fritz, No. 6 Shelton, who is 22, and No. 17 Tiafoe, 27, each has participated in Slam semifinals twice; No. 14 Paul, 28, has been that far once.
“Taylor getting to the final of the US Open is going to fuel Tommy, Ben and Frances. … That’s always the way it’s been with this generation: They spark each other,” said US Davis Cup captain Bob Bryan, a 16-time Grand Slam doubles champion who is being inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame on Saturday. “They see themselves making the final of a Grand Slam now. It is not unattainable. It’s not impossible.”
All four have spent time in the top 10. Indeed, when Shelton cracked that milestone in June, he joined Fritz and Paul to give their nation three representatives in that elite group for the first time since 2006.
American women, meanwhile, occupy four of the top nine places in the WTA rankings and five of the top 11. They keep earning spots in title matches — at least one has participated in each of the past four Slam finals, winning two. (AP)