NEW YORK — If there’s such a thing as momentum from tournament to tournament in tennis, the American men have some right now.
Taylor Fritz, Tommy Paul, Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe certainly are getting within reach of ending the United States’ unprecedented drought when it comes to Grand Slam titles in men’s singles, so maybe they’re finally ready to win one of those trophies — if anyone other than top-ranked Jannik Sinner of Italy or second-ranked Carlos Alcaraz of Spain is ever going to again, that is — at the U.S. Open, which starts Sunday.
“We have a really strong group. We’re closer; the closest we’ve been in a long time,” said Fritz, a 27-year-old from California who is seeded No. 4 in New York and was the the runner-up to Sinner there a year ago. “We have several players who are at the caliber it takes to win a Grand Slam title. We’re very close. But that last little bit is obviously the hardest part of it.”
It’s been 22 years since an American man won a Grand Slam title. Fritz’s appearance in the 2024 U.S. Open final was the first time in 15 years that a man from the U.S. even earned the right to play for a major singles championship. Fritz, No. 6 Shelton, who is 22, and No. 17 Tiafoe, 27, each has participated in Grand Slam semifinals twice; No. 14 Paul, 28, has been that far once.
“Taylor getting to the final of the U.S. Open is going to fuel Tommy, Ben and Frances. … That’s always the way it’s been with this generation: They spark each other,” said U.S. Davis Cup captain Bob Bryan, a 16-time Grand Slam doubles champion who is being inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame on Saturday alongside his twin brother Mike and five-time women’s singles major champion Maria Sharapova. “They see themselves making the final of a Grand Slam now. It is not unattainable. It’s not impossible.”