American men’s U.S. Open drought poised to continue, says McEnroe

A U.S. Open drought for American males that stretches again 20 years is more likely to proceed when the yr’s closing main kicks off in New York subsequent week, John McEnroe mentioned.

It has been 20 years since Andy Roddick hoisted the trophy at Flushing Meadows and although Frances Tiafoe, who made an exciting run to the semis final yr, and Taylor Fritz are each ranked within the prime 10, the match favourites are just too dominant proper now.

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“It’s hard to envision,” McEnroe mentioned of whether or not anybody not named Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev and even Jannik Sinner might triumph.

“I’d love to see Francis get his act together and do something, but he got to the semis, so he’s going to feel pressure even trying to replicate that,” mentioned McEnroe, a four-time U.S. Open champion who’s now a broadcaster with ESPN.

“But it would be incredible for an American player to make a breakthrough to me, but the likelihood is that it isn’t going to happen.

“You can see it’s going to be Djokovic or Alcaraz, Medvedev is the next guy, and then Sinner. After that, it’s going to be pretty tough to envision a guy going all the way.”

Tiafoe’s semifinal look, after beating Spanish nice Rafael Nadal within the spherical of 16, elevated him to a family title, with former First Lady Michelle Obama amongst those that packed into his sold-out matches final yr.

But the North American onerous court docket swing following Wimbledon has been disappointing for the 25-year-old son of immigrant mother and father from war-torn Sierra Leone.

After making the quarters at his residence match in Washington DC, he suffered first and second spherical losses in Toronto and Cincinnati.

Fritz had a barely extra fruitful summer time however was mauled by Djokovic final week and has by no means made it previous the third spherical in New York, together with a first-round loss final yr.

Ranked ninth, Fritz does have probably the most dominant serves within the recreation and if his main weapon is firing, a deep run is just not onerous to think about.

Tommy Paul, who beat Alcaraz on the Canadian Open, Wimbledon quarter-finalist Christopher Eubanks and Sebastian Korda are among the many different American gamers who will look to snap the Grand Slam dry spell on the U.S. Open, which runs from August 28-September 10.