After which there have been three.
Seventeen males from america entered the 2024 U.S. Open as a part of the 128-player pool, together with 5 gamers seeded inside the highest 20. Because the slam approached its enterprise finish on Monday, solely world No. 14 Tommy Paul, No. 12 Taylor Fritz and No. 20 Frances Tiafoe remained alive.
Whereas Paul will face World No. 1 Jannik Sinner within the fourth-round on Monday (scheduled for 8:15 pm EST), Fritz and Tiafoe could possibly be on a collision course within the semifinals if they will beat No. 4 Alexander Zverev and No. 9 Grigor Dimitrov, respectively, of their quarterfinal matches on Tuesday.
Out of the three, it is truthful to recommend that Fritz has been the most impressive and is within the type of his life heading into his quarterfinal match. The 26-year-old San Diego native crushed his first three opponents in straight units earlier than beating No. 8 Casper Ruud in 4 units within the Spherical of 16. The victory towards Ruud — the 2022 U.S. Open finalist — was a press release win because the Norwegian ran away with the primary set, and appeared in whole management up 2-1 within the second set. Simply then, a swap went off in Fritz, who fed off the full of life Louis Armstrong Stadium crowd and started firing winners at will.
Fritz transformed on as many as 40 p.c of his break factors whereas Ruud seized solely 17 p.c of these probabilities. The American additionally hit 56 winners to Ruud’s 32, and even out-served the Norwegian, firing 24 aces to Ruud’s 4. Fritz was in his aspect, cruising to a 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 win.
As for Paul and Tiafoe, each males endured more durable roads to the Spherical of 16, going by robust four- and five-set battles. Whereas they have not been as dominant as Fritz, they’ve proven resolve in getting this far into the ultimate slam of 2024. These robust battles may work of their favor within the second week.
Is the tide turning?
No matter how issues shake out, the truth that three American males are nonetheless alive within the U.S. Open is a step in the appropriate route for the nation. Earlier than Brandon Nakashima misplaced to Zverev within the fourth spherical on Sunday, as many as 4 Individuals had reached the Spherical of 16 for the second consecutive yr. The final time that occurred in back-to-back years? 2002 and 2003.
As is properly documented, no American man has gained the U.S. Open since Andy Roddick in 2023. With Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz out of the image, a golden alternative awaits. Even Djokovic acknowledged as much after his surprising ouster on Friday evening.
Whereas the gradual enchancment of American males’s tennis might not yield a serious but, there’s momentum constructing in that route. Ben Shelton — who fell to Tiafoe within the third spherical — feels it is solely a matter of time earlier than one in all his countrymen ends the 21-year drought.
“I feel that the gradual enchancment of the rating of American gamers over the past three, 4 years, is proof to the place we’re going,” Shelton mentioned, via Forbes. “I feel it is inevitable that we’ll have a Grand Slam champion from our nation. I do not know when it’s going to be or who it’ll be.”
European males have dominated males’s tennis throughout the final 20 years, profitable 77 of the final 78 grand slam titles. It was a unique story by the Eighties and Nineties.
