American tennis continues to progress upward to superpower status in the ATP.
Three players reached the quarterfinal stage of the year’s first Grand Slam – Sebi Korda, Tommy Paul and Ben Shelton. The last time USA tennis performed so well at a Grand Slam was the 2005 US Open where Agassi, Blake and Ginepri were the heroes. Agassi beat Blake in the QF and Ginepri in the SF, both in five sets, before losing the final to Roger Federer 63 26 76 61
Several other Americans made impacts on the Grand Slam. Mackenzie McDonald upset the defending champion Rafael Nadal in the second found. Jenson Brooksby routed the no. 2 seed Casper Ruud. Sebastian Korda knocked off former world no. 1 and last year’s finalist Daniil Medvedev. Brandon Nakashima extended McDonald to five sets in the first round.
USA’s highest ranked male player Taylor Fritz was upset in the second round by Alex Popyrin, who was then eliminated by Shelton.
Here are the rankings of America’s best…
8 Taylor Fritz
15 Frances Tiafoe
19 Tommy Paul
26 Sebastian Korda
38 Jenson Brooksby
42 John Isner
44 Ben Shelton
48 JJ Wolf
49 Reilly Opelka
50 Brandon Nakashima
Also lurking just outside the top 50 are Maxime Cressy at 54 and Marcos Giron at 57. McDonald is at 63 and Michael Mmoh, who beat Alex Zverev at AO, is at 83.
Also noteworthy is two Americans won the junior boys doubles title – Learner Tien and Cooper Williams.
Ben Shelton · Sebastian Korda · Taylor Fritz · Tommy Paul
