1999 v 2021: The glory days of American men's tennis are set to be back
Men's tennis in America appears to be on the rise. Many youngsters. including the likes of Frances Tiafoe, Taylor Fritz, opelka" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-is-sponsored="false">Reilly Opelka, Sebastian Korda, and others made a mark on the ATP tour in the 2021 season.
Tokyo was the first time in 101 years that the American tennis contingent failed to win any medals at the Olympics. The squad missed the services of Venus and Serena Williams, who have brought immense success to the United States over the past two decades.
Venus and Serena Williams each have a gold medal in the women's singles. They have three gold medals in the women's doubles. Venus Williams also has a silver medal in mixed doubles.
While Serena did not clearly state why she was opting out of the Tokyo Olympics, the American mentioned that she didn't want to spend so much time away from her daughter. Venus Williams did not automatically qualify for the Olympic Games this time, but still had the chance to be selected, which she presumably declined.
This season, however, the young American men on the tour seem to be on the road to success and can make a name for themselves in the coming years.
Eight American male tennis players managed to finish the year within the top 60 of the ATP rankings. The list includes John Isner, Reilly Opelka, Taylor Fritz, Sebastian Korda, Frances Tiafoe, Tommy Paul, Mackenzie McDonald, and Jenson Brooksby. Marcos Giron was on the list for a while, but he finished the season ranked 66.
9 American Men currently sit inside the Top 60 of the Singles Rankings. The last time the US ended a season with that many Top 60 Men? 1999
Here's what that group looked like. FWIW, the current group is younger on avg (25.1 vs 27.3). Hard to not be excited about the next decade https://t.co/rm2dIODBsG
The last time this happened was way back in 1999 when the Americans were dominating the ATP tour. Back then, nine Americans finished within the top 60 of the rankings by the end of the season.
Two of their star players, Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras, were World No. 1 and World No. 3 respectively at the time. However, there's a difference now in the average age which was 27.3 in the 1990s compared to 25.1 right now.
Since most of the current crop of players are less than 25 years old, there is a high possibility that they can go on to dominate the tour in the future.
The glory days of American men's tennis are back in the day now but good to see young talent rising
Taylor Fritz 23
Frances Tiafoe 23
Reilly Opelka 23
Tommy Paul 23
Sebastian Korda 20
Brandon Nakashima 19
JJ Wolf 22
Others too, including Mackie McDonald, 25, coming back https://t.co/FwJKr1DPsl
Performances of American male tennis players in the 2021 tennis season
Eight different American male tennis players reached the finals of an ATP tournament in 2021, which is also exactly what happened in 1999. These eight players are John Isner, Sam Querrey, Mackenzie McDonald, Reilly Opelka, Taylor Fritz, Sebastian Korda, Jenson Brooksby, and Brandon Nakashima.
Another first for the 🇺🇸 Men since 1999: 8 different Americans have reached @atptour Finals in 2021
2021: Isner, Querrey, Mackie, Opelka, Fritz, Korda, Brooksby, Nakashima
1999: Sampras, Agassi, Courier, Martin, Tarango, Spadea, Woodruff, Gambill
#Progress twitter.com/GreatShotPod/s…
John Isner emerged victorious at the 2021 Atlanta Open. Apart from this, he was also a semifinalist at the National Bank Open and a quarterfinalist at the Mutua Madrid Open.
Sam Querrey ended up as the runner-up of the Mallorca Open and semifinalist of the Stuttgart Open, while Reilly Opelka finished as the runner-up of the National Bank Open and as a semifinalist at the Italian Open.
Taylor Fritz made headlines when he defeated zverev" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-is-sponsored="false">Alexander Zverev in the quarterfinals of the Indian Wells Masters, but he failed to kick on and lost in the semifinals. Later in the year, he finished as the runner-up at the St. Petersburg Open and reached the quarterfinals of the Rolex Paris Masters.
Frances Tiafoe played exceptionally well at the 2021 Vienna Open. Beginning as a qualifier, he defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas, Diego Schwartzman, and Jannik Sinner in back-to-back matches to reach the finals of the tournament. However, Zverev defeated him in the finals and ultimately, the American had to be satisfied with the runners-up trophy.
21-year-old Sebastian Korda also earned a name for himself in the 2021 tennis season. He ended up as the runner-up of the Next Gen ATP Finals and reached the round of 16 of the Wimbledon Championships in his maiden appearance.
Another American youngster, Brandon Nakashima, delivered some stunning performances on the court. However, he was quite unfortunate as he lost back-to-back finals at the Los Cabos and Atlanta Open.
Despite not having a successful Olympic campaign, 2021 proved to be a great tennis season overall for the new generation of American men on the tour. American fans will be hoping that one of them will go on to life a Grand Slam trophy in the future.