Patrick McEnroe expresses one big fear for American tennis as Taylor Fritz leads the way
American tennis is on the rise, but the challenge of ending their long wait for a Grand Slam champion may continue for some time.
That’s the concern expressed by former USA Davis Cup captain Patrick McEnroe, who expressed his concern that the depth in American tennis is not a recipe for success in the biggest tournaments of them all.
Taylor Fritz has led a thrilling revival in American men’s tennis, with Tommy Paul, Ben Shelton, Frances Tiafoe, Sebastian Korda and Alex Michelsen all making their mark in recent Grand Slam tournaments.
Yet progress up the ATP Rankings has not been translated into Grand Slam titles, with Andy Roddick the last American man to triumph in a major championship as he won the 2003 US Open.
McEnroe is excited by the rise of the American game that has also included Grand Slam wins for Coco Gauff and Madison Keys over the last couple of years, but he admits the prospect of a male player winning one of the four big events in tennis may still be some way off.
“It is a very good time for American tennis and the hope is it can become a great time,” said McEnroe, speaking exclusively to Tennis365 in his role as joint-President of the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
“Can any of these guys we have in the top 30 of the rankings win a major? I think the answer to that question is yes, it is possible. But it is going to be difficult.
“The problem is Carlos Alcaraz is not going anywhere and we also have a guy who is on a three-month suspension in Jannik Sinner and he will be back very soon.
“Those two guys are so good and they look like they are going to dominate the tournaments like [Roger] Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic did for many years.
“Shelton has a lot of upsides and has a big game. Fritz is solid as a rock and he is going to be there after getting to the US Open final.
“Tommy Paul is probably under-rated as an athlete and is probably the most pure tennis player of the current group, so all of them are in there as contenders, but none of them I would predict are favourites to win a major.
“To do that, they would have to go through one or both of those top two guys and I would throw Joao Fonseca into the mix as someone who may also be contending for majors in the next few years.
“So it’s not going to be easy, but it is nice to see the Americans doing so well in he rankings. When I was running player development [at the United States Tennis Association], we always used to say we wanted to flood the gates and get as many players as possible at the top of the game.
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“We never said we could create a new Pete Sampras or Andre Agassi, but what we thought we could do is help to create a lot of winners and we are doing that now, with Korda also in the mix and Michelsen doing well at this year’s Australian Open.
“Getting to that promised land and winning a Grand Slam title is not going to be easy.”
The International Tennis Hall of Fame (ITHF) officially opened its Letters to Greatness booth at an event hosted by ITHF Presidents, Patrick McEnroe and Kim Clijsters.
McEnroe and Clijsters were joined by ITHF CEO, Dan Faber and upcoming 2025 Inductees, Bob and Mike Bryan, to kick off the event by recording their own Letters to Greatness – congratulatory messages to Maria Sharapova and the Bryan Brothers ahead of their formal induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame later this summer.
The Letters to Greatness booth will remain open throughout the remainder of the BNP Paribas Open, where tennis fans will have the chance to record or pen their own personal messages to the Class of 2025.
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