The state of US men’s tennis is certainly on the way up. If the recent Australian Open was any indication, the likes of Sebastian Korda, Ben Shelton, Taylor Fritz, Frances Tiafoe, Tommy Paul, Jenson Brooksby, J.J. Wolf and Reilly Opelka will be in the mix for every Major event for at least the next decade.
In fact, there are currently 14 US men in the top 100 as of Monday. The future looks bright.
The drought for the U.S. men’s grand slam glory will unlikely end the year’s second Major at the French Open. Taylor Fritz, the highest ranked American player is considered an outsider. In fact, BetMGM has priced him +1600 to lift the trophy on the Parisian terre battue. Considering that no American man has won on French soil since Andre Agassi way back in 1999, picking Fritz or any other American would not be a wise choice.
The U.S Open will probably present the best chance for an American Grand slam victory, where Sebastian Korda has the highest odds amongst the American players with +1800 odds at BETMGM. It is obviously way too early to predict the winner of any of these events and even a world-renowned site like BetMGM with some of the most competitive odds for betting futures, cannot predict who will win a tournament six months ahead of time.
The recently completed Australian Open was won by Novak Djokovic for the 10th time. And it seems like his Grand Slam reign will not be ending anytime soon.
That said, the tournament also showcased a tremendous amount of upside for the current crop of US men’s tennis.
Korda in particular was very impressive throughout the fortnight. Even though he lost in the quarterfinals to Karen Khachanov in the quarterfinals due to a wrist injury, his effortless ground-strokes and potent serve will surely be rewarded in future tournaments.
Going one step further than Korda in the event was his countryman Tommy Paul. The New Jersey born right-hander continued to impress the tennis world with his steady and explosive game. Being touted as one of the quickest players on Tour, Paul’s charge to the semifinals in Melbourne has him currently posted at No. 19 in the world rankings.
Looking back at last year’s US Open, Tiafoe’s flashy game was the talk of the event in New York City. Using his potent offence and great defence to make a run to the semifinals, Tiafoe has made it his mission to one day hoist the hardware at his home-country Slam.
There’s no question that the current stable of American men’s tennis players have a lot to live up to. The likes of Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Michael Chang and Andy Roddick were all Major winners and at the top of game for many years. American fans want to see winners at the biggest events and that has always been their standard.
Their dream of once again seeing a Major men’s winner could very well happen sooner rather than later. Maybe even this year.
