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Novak Djokovic has just won the 2021 Wimbledon men's singles tournament by taking down Matteo Berrettini in five sets in the final. The Serbian winning that match was close to a dead giveaway as he was the pre-tournament favorite and was the overwhelming chalk prior to the title match against the Italian. What wasn't sure, especially for US tennis fans who watched that contest, was whether they could see an American win a men's Grand Slam title anytime soon.
It has been a long time since an American has won a men's major championship. One has to reach for a 2003 Sports Almanac to read about the last one to do it, which was Andy Roddick during the 2003 US Open. Since then, it has been radio silent on that US tennis front as made even more apparent by this tweet from Reuben Frank of NBC Sports.
Grand Slam titles since Andy Roddick won the 2003 U.S. Open:
20 … Federer
20 … Nadal
20 … Djokovic
3 … Murray
2 … Wawrinka
1 … Guadio
1 … Safin
1 … Martin
1 … Čilić
1 … Thiem
0 … U.S. men— Reuben Frank (@RoobNBCS) July 11, 2021
That's got to be at least a little painful to read for American tennis fans. Just imagine that during all these years that Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, and Rafael Nadal have been collecting Grand Slam championships like TVs on a Black Friday, the best moment for US men's tennis was John Isner's marathon first-round 2010 Wimbledon clash against Nicolas Mahut of France?
It's not as though the US did not have a near chance of winning a Grand Slam since Roddick did it 18 years ago. Andre Agassi managed to make it all the way to the 2005 US Open finals, where he lost to some guy who went by the name Roger Federer. It took over 10 years before another American reached at least the semis of a major, with Sam Querrey losing in the Final Four of the 2017 Wimbledon tournament.
The future is not looking bright for US men's tennis. Right now, the highest-ranked American on the ATP Tour is Reilly Opelka who is 32nd overall. Behind him is Isner. Taylor Fritz is 40th then there are seven more inside the top 100.
With the titans of the sport in Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, and Rafael Nadal all in their 30s and likely out of the competitive circuit years from now, things will start to better for US men's tennis. Until then, it would take a miracle run for someone to end the drought.
