American tennis legend John McEnroe thinks an American male tennis player will win a Grand Slam in the next year or year and a half. Throughout history, American tennis has had some very talented and successful players.
But in today’s men’s tennis, one of the most astonishing statistics is that there has been no American tennis champion. Grand Slam since Andy Roddick won the US Open in 2003.
“There’s a vacuum in tennis with Roger’s retirement, we’re not sure about Rafa, so there’s a space now where players are trying to find their place, so there’s an opportunity.
I would place Tiafoe near the top in terms of benefits because athletically he might even be the best of them all, but mentally he is getting stronger, despite a disappointing result at the Australian Open.
I think in a year or a year and a half you’ll see one of the Americans win a major tournament,” McEnroe told Tennis365.
McEnroe predicts the Americans will make a Slam breakthrough.
At Wimbledon, Taylor Fritz reached the quarter-finals before losing to Rafael Nadal in five tight sets.
2 months later, Frances Tiafoe reached her first Grand Slam semi-final at the US Open before losing to Carlos Alcaraz in five sets. At this year’s Australian Open, three American men reached the quarter-finals: Tommy Paul, Sebastian Korda and Ben Shelton.
Of these three, only Paul reached the semi-final after defeating Shelton. In the Australian Open semi-final, Paul was unlucky and suffered a straight-set loss to eventual champion Novak Djokovic.
At the last two Grand Slams, American male tennis players have achieved remarkable results. McEnroe thinks all of the players mentioned above are quality players, but he thinks Korda has the most long-term potential.
