The last American man to win a Grand Slam was Andy Roddick, 13 years ago at the U.S. Open. Since then, the search has been in vain. American fans have faced disappointment year after year. There were days when Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Jim Courier ruled the tennis courts. It appears tennis in America isn’t as popular as it was in the 1990s. For a country with such a rich history, it’s unfortunate that there are no Americans vying for a Slam four times a year. Today, it is harder to name the best American man — they keep replacing each other as the highest ranked American.
Here are the four top American men:
1) Jack Sock
At 24, Jack Sock is ranked 23rd in the world, and by reaching the quarterfinals of the Shanghai Masters, he became the highest ranked American man. In American tennis’s heyday, he would be fifth or perhaps sixth. Sock’s forehand has always been a talking point. He has the unique ability to mix both spin and speed on his forehand, and it’s often compared with Rafael Nadal. Sock’s forehand is also commonly regarded as the game’s best. As the next big thing in America, the expectations have always been sky-high, and he has often fallen short of matching that expectation. At the U.S. Open, he not only beat Marin Cilic in straight sets but also made the second week of a major for the second time in his young and short career. Sock is just 70 points shy of a top-20 ranking, and if he can go deep in Stockholm, he’ll be the only American in that list.
2) Steve Johnson
Steve Johnson has proved that a college player can become pro and survive the grind of the ATP circuit. Johnson started the year with a career-high ranking but it wasn’t until June that he got his act together. He won his first title in Nottingham. At Wimbledon, he reached the second week, where he lost to Roger Federer in the fourth round. Johnson continued his good run at the Olympics in Rio, where he went down to Andy Murray. To his credit, Johnson put up stiff resistance, eventually falling in three competitive sets. That’s not a bad experience for the multiple-time NCAA champion. He earns his livelihood by serving big and hitting huge forehands on the ATP Tour. Johnson may have lost to 103rd-ranked Radu Albot in the first round in Stockholm, but the loss to an unheralded player doesn’t take away the year he has had. Johnson will look to come back to his winning ways and end the year in a position he has never held before — the top 20.
3) John Isner
At the start of 2016, John Isner was No. 11 in the world with 2495 ranking points, but as the year progressed, his ranking also slipped. Isner once peaked at No. 9 in the world in 2012 but couldn’t sustain his stay in the top 10. In college, Isner was nicknamed ‘grandpa’ because he was a slow mover, but when he serves, the ball whizzes past the receiver and even the quickest of reflexes isn’t enough to put the ball back in play. For all the 7000-plus aces he has fired past his opponents, he has been labeled as a one-trick pony. That label never left him because he doesn’t have the volleying skills to kill the point and back up his monster serve, nor does he have the backhand to dictate terms in the prolonged rallies or generate a good return of serve, a huge weakness. He has just one quarterfinal appearance at the Grand Slam level. Isner has had a miserable 2016 and it could well be the last time he will be ranked as high as No. 11.
4) Sam Querrey
Sam Querrey knocked out world No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon third round and further went on to make the quarterfinals– his career best showing at a major. If that win over Djokovic was an ultimate high, Querrey reached the lowest ebb in the ongoing Stockholm Open, where he was dismissed in straight sets by Jurgen Zopp in the qualifying rounds. Instead of using the win over the world’s best player as a jumping board, he has regressed. He was expected to reach at least the second week in his home Slam but made an early exit. Querrey is still in the top 30 and is one of the top American men, but he cannot be trusted to deliver consistent results.
The state of American tennis is such that none of the top-ranked Americans are expected to win bigger prizes in the future. Currently, there may be a dearth of Americans in the top tier of tennis, but the next crop of youngsters featuring Taylor Fritz, Francis Tiafoe, and Jared Donaldson showed a lot of promise in the junior circuit and are beginning to make noise on the pro tour. That day isn’t far when Americans start to build optimism in tennis again.
