John McEnroe backs an American man to win a Grand Slam in ‘next year and a half’ and names his rising stars

Shahida Jacobs 13 Feb 2023 10:55 AM

No American man has won a Grand Slam since 2003, but John McEnroe believes the drought will come to an end in the next 18 months as he picked out some players with the greatest potential and “upsides”.

After Jimmy Connors and McEnroe himself dominated the 80s in terms of majors, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi and Jim Courier kept the stars and stripes flag flying in the 90s and the beginning of the 2000s.

Sampras, though, won his final Grand Slam at the 2002 US Open and Agassi followed it up with his last major at the 2003 Australian Open before Andy Roddick won his one and only Slam at the 2003 US Open.

Roddick also finished runner-up at Wimbledon in 2004, 2005 and 2009, but that was as good as it got for the United States men in the 2000s.

There has been a rise from the American men over the past few years though and that trend continued at this year’s Australian Open where Tommy Paul reached the last four – his maiden Grand Slam semi-final.

Meanwhile, 20-year-old Ben Shelton – playing in Australia for the first time – reached the quarter-final along with 22-year-old Sebastian Korda while Mackenzie McDonald upset Rafael Nadal in the second round.

Speaking during a Eurosport and discovery+ event, former world No 1 McEnroe was asked about the current crop of American players and who has the greatest potential and he replied: “I think at this time these players have been pushing each other and that is a good thing. They have spent a lot of time together, growing up as juniors like Tommy Paul, Frances Tiafoe, Taylor Fritz and I think they become better players because of it. [Reilly] Opelka he is another guy you wouldn’t want to play.

“I would say Korda to me has the biggest upside at the moment. I think Ben Shelton, I haven’t seen much of him, but this guy has some serious game and he is really a breath of fresh air.

“Paul was someone who came onto the scene and a lot of ability, but perhaps wasn’t prepared to do what it takes to get himself to that level of fitness and mental strength that you need, but now he has and you see how good he is.

“[Jenson] Brooksby was a guy a year and half ago that I perhaps would have put as the upside of all the Americans, but his serve needs to get a lot better if he wants to make that breakthrough.

“Taylor Fritz is the highest-ranked of all, he hits an incredible ball and he’s had some disappointing Grand Slam results the last couple of events, but to me he is a consistent top 10 player. I’m not sure I put him at the top as the highest upside, but he is certainly a great player.”

Tennis is going through a transition phase with Roger Federer retiring last year while Rafael Nadal is also in the twilight of his career with current world No 1 Novak Djokovic also on the wrong side of 35.

McEnroe feels Tiafoe, who reached the semi-final of the US Open last year, is probably the best-placed American to reach the top and he is expecting a Grand Slam breakthrough soon.

He added: “There is a void in tennis with Roger retiring we are not sure about Rafa so there is a place now that the players are trying to find out where they belong so there is an opportunity.

“Tiafoe I would put close to the top in terms of upsides because athletically he could be even the best of them all, but mentally he is getting stronger, disappointing result at the Australian Open.

“I think in the next year or year and half I think you will see one of the Americans win a major.”

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