The American guys will celebrate the Fourth of July with a party in the United Kingdom, which will take place just in time for the holiday weekend.
Eight men from the United States were in position to go to the third round of the famed Wimbledon event as the sun set on Thursday at the All England Club. This represented 25 percent of the remaining 32 available slots in the competition. Since 1995, when nine American men qualified for the third round during the heydays of Sampras, Agassi, and Courier-Chang, this is the most American men that have advanced to the round since 1995. Additionally, it is the most in any Grand Slam event since the 1996 edition of the United States Open.
One American guy was crashing, slicing, or grinding his way into the last 32 on Wednesday and Thursday, and one more will secure his berth on Friday. If one glanced almost anywhere, they would have seen an American man advancing. It would seem that the period has come to an end in which every male American player had a powerful serve, a forehand, and not much else in their game.
Now, before anybody in the United States rushes out to the nearest liquor shop to pick up some Pimm’s on ice for a celebration of a victory, it is important to note that no one expects any of these players to really win the men’s singles title, at least not this year. The top of the American men’s tennis scene isn’t as strong as the rest of the field.
The United States now has eight men who are ranked in the top 50 and thirteen men who are ranked in the top 100, which is more than any other nation. Sebastian Korda, son of Petr Korda, a former world No. 2 tennis player, had to withdraw from the Wimbledon tournament due to shin splints ten days earlier. Some consider him to be the most promising of the bunch.
Despite the rush that occurred this week, there are no Americans who are ranked in the top 10, and there are only two that are ranked in the top 20: Fritz and Reilly Opelka. Both Russia and Spain have two players ranked in the top 10 in the world. Spain, which has been the world’s most successful tennis nation over the last 10 years, has four players ranked in the top 20.
The United States Department of Transportation is well aware of this fact. It has been striving for many years to perfect a method to aid in the development of players that would be successful in a big nation with more than 330 million people and lots of competition from more popular sports that are less expensive for talented young athletes to pursue.
Instead of trying to discover a unicorn, the group has been focusing its efforts for the last ten years on developing a trout farm. It designed a three-tiered programme consisting of local, regional, and national camps that bring together elite talent throughout the year but also let children to remain at home for as much of the time as possible and work with their own coaches. Airfare to the camps is not covered, but just about everything else is, including some money for private coaches to go periodically so that they don’t feel pushed out of the process as a young kid grows older and better. The only item that isn’t included is room and board at the camp.
Blackman is also opposed to the idea that the organisation should advocate for a certain playing style. The serve-and-volley game that Cressy brings to the table is equally as valuable as Brooksby’s dexterity, Tiafoe’s serve-and-forehand power, and Nakashima’s all-court approach, respectively.
Text threads and group meals, which might be fancy at times or just consist of burgers and pizza at other times, as well as extended bull sessions, are helpful. Tiafoe competed in a tournament in Portugal earlier this year and advanced all the way to the championship game. Following each victory, he would walk off the court to discover congratulatory messages from the posse waiting for him on his phone.
Getting into the top 10 and becoming fixtures in the last matches of the biggest tournaments, the way that American women, led by the Williams sisters, have performed for years, is still an enormous challenge that lies ahead for the next generation and the one that is right behind them. This is a task that will be extremely difficult.
