Andy Roddick shares US Open hope as American males’s tennis ‘in actually great spot’

Andy Roddick believes that US males’s tennis is again on the up, though there hasn’t been a single American Grand Slam winner in 20 years. The US Open will get underway in New York on Monday and it was at Flushing Meadows in 2003 that Roddick clinched what would become his solely Grand Slam title with a straight-sets victory towards Juan Carlos Ferrero.

Despite arriving on the again of a golden period for the lads’s recreation in America, following within the footsteps of the likes of Michael Chang, Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras, ‘A-Rod’ was not capable of construct on his hard-court success and extremely, he’s nonetheless the final American man to win a Grand Slam title, twenty years later.

Speaking to Betway, Roddick, now 40, defined how making it to the most important finals as an American man was virtually a proper of passage throughout the early levels of his profession.

He mentioned: “The conversation around US men’s tennis at the moment centres on how long it’s been since I won in 2003, but there are a million US players who were way better than I was.

“When I used to be breaking by, it virtually felt like an entitlement for US gamers to be within the enterprise finish of a Grand Slam, to the purpose the place I may change my choice based mostly on who was nonetheless in.

“At that point, we’d hardly gone two, three years without having a men’s Slam winner – Agassi, Sampras, Chang – and I certainly felt their shadows.

“There’s simply been this bizarre hole in between, however I believe American males’s tennis is definitely in a extremely great spot in the mean time.”

US male hopes at this year’s event with centre around world No 9 Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe, who is ranked one place lower than his compatriot. But there will certainly be plenty of focus on Chris Eubanks, who has enjoyed a late bloom in the sport.

The 27-year-old only broke into the top 100 at the start of the year but has gone on to win the Mallorca Open before making a headline-grabbing run to the quarterfinals at Wimbledon. As a consequence of his form, he will be seeded at a Grand Slam for the first time in New York.

Roddick said: “Taylor Fritz is essentially the most constant at this level, however is but to make a long term in one of many Slams. Francis Tiafoe loves the large stage. He’s proven the upside that he has in reaching the semi-finals final 12 months, as has Tommy Paul.

“I’m so happy for Chris Eubanks after his run at Wimbledon. I’ve worked with him a little bit at the Tennis Channel, and he’s the most natural broadcaster I’ve ever seen go from the court to the booth. We’re going to see a lot of him, regardless of how well he plays on the court.

“We’ve acquired essentially the most gamers of any nation within the prime 100 proper now, and I’m excited to see what occurs. Hopefully, somebody can break into the highest 5 and win an enormous one. I’d like to not be the reply to a trivia query!”