When the open era of tennis began in 1968, allowing pros to compete in the Grand Slam events and other major tournaments, the men's game was dominated by players from the United States and Australia.
Players from those two countries won seven of the first eight open era Wimbledons, Rod Laver (Australia) in 1968 and '69, John Newcomb (Australia) 1970 and '71, Stan Smith (USA) '72. Jimmy Connors (USA) '74 and Arthur Ashe (USA) '75.
Jan Kodes from Czechoslovakia won in 1973 when most of the top players, including Laver, Newcomb, Smith and Ashe, boycotted due to a dispute with the national federations.
Americans and Aussies won 14 of 17 U.S. Open championships between 1968 and '84, Connors five times.
How times have changed! It has been two decades since an American won a Grand Slam event, Andy Roddick at the 2003 U.S. Open, and one year longer for Australia since Lleyton Hewitt won 2002 Wimbledon. Roddick is also the last American to reach a Grand Salm final, the 2006 U.S. Open.
The men's game has been dominated by Europeans, winners of the last 52 and 73 of the last 74 Grand Slam events.
The last non-European to win a Grand Slam event was Juan Martin del Potro from Argentina, who won a five-set final against Roger Federer at the 2009 U.S. Open.
Rafael Nadal (Spain) and Novak Djokovic (Serbia) each has won 22 slams, Federer (Switzerland) 20, Andy Murray (Great Britain) and Stan Wawrinka (Switzerland) three each.
The top six players in the current world rankings are Europeans, including Djokovic at No. 1 and Nadal sixth.
When will the drought end for the United States? There are some good young Americans. The question is whether they are they good enough to win seven best-of-five matches over two weeks against the best players in the world.
Twenty-five-year-old Taylor Fritz is the highest ranked American at seven. He has the game to win a slam, but at this year’s Australian Open he was defeated by a player outside the top 100.
Francis Tiafoe (25) is the next highest American at 15. He had a great U.S. Open last year, reaching semifinals with a victory over Nadal along the way. But he has been maddingly inconsistent throughout his career.
Tommy Paul (25), ranked 18th, was a surprise semifinalist at this year’s Australian Open. But he doesn’t appear to have the game to win a slam.
The best American hope might be 22-year old Sebastian Korda, ranked 26th, but with a powerful game capable of beating anyone. He is from an extraordinary athletic family.
Father Petr Korda, won the 1998 Australian Open and was ranked as high as two. His wife, Regina Rajchtova, also played the sport, with a high ranking of 26.
They were from Czechoslovakia, but their children, Sebastian and his two sisters, were born in the U.S.A. And speaking of those sisters, both play professional golf. Nelly has been ranked No. 1, Jessica as high as sixth.
Sebastian joked that he is the worst athlete in the family.
