World No.1 Jannik Sinner withdrew from the U.S.
Open prior to the tournament with a knee injury.Then, Novak Djokovic lost in the first round.Finally, in a stunning upset, Ben Shelton sent defending champion Carlos Alcaraz home after a five-set battle that ended at 3:33 a.m.
Wednesday morning.BEN SHELTON TAKES DOWN CARLOS ALCARAZ TO EARN THE BIGGEST WIN OF HIS CAREER IN LATEST US OPEN MATCH EVERNow Shelton and Frances Tiafoe will meet in the semifinals on Friday, which guarantees that an American man will play for the U.S.Open championship on Sunday afternoon in Flushing.That's nice, but it isn't enough.
One of them needs to hoist the trophy.Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe will meet in an all-American U.S.Open semifinal with a spot in Sunday’s championship match at stake.
(Getty Images)Andy Roddick remains the last American man to win a Grand Slam singles title.He did it at the U.S.
Open in 2003, which means the drought is well into its third decade.We've spent more than 20 years searching for the next guy.There have been promising teenagers, big servers, top-10 players and a lot of perfectly respectable runs to the second week of major tournaments.
But this is America, and we don't do "respectable." We do dominant.Taylor Fritz reached the U.S.Open final in 2024.
Tiafoe made the semifinals in 2022.Shelton got there in 2023.
Those are all good runs.But American men have been living off close calls for long enough, and it's time to finish the job.
There's arguably never been a better opening for it to happen.The two best men's tennis players in the world aren't standing in the way.Sinner, the No.
1 player in the world and reigning Wimbledon champion, withdrew before the tournament with a right knee injury.Alcaraz, the reigning Australian Open and U.S.Open champ, made it to New York after missing the past two majors with a wrist injury, but Shelton beat him.
Djokovic's 39-year-old body betrayed him in a stunning first-round loss to Mariano Navone.Novak Djoko...