Are U.S. men ready to cross final major threshold in New York?

American Men Soldier On

A good way to describe the state of American men’s tennis: encouraging, but not quite fulfilling. Following Wimbledon, 14 have double-digit rankings, with seven in the top 32. But many of the higher-ranked competitors withered at the All England Club. Stylish Sebastian Korda (ranked No. 32) withdrew with a stress fracture in his right shin. Tommy Paul (No. 16), who’d labored hard to reach the quarters at Roland Garros, grappled with an abdominal injury that was likely a factor in his second round Wimbledon loss. Frances Tiafoe, also a quarterfinalist in Paris, was beaten at the same stage by an inspired Cam Norrie. The best efforts came from Ben Shelton (No. 9) and Taylor Fritz (No. 4).

Read more: Taylor Fritz on what makes Alcaraz, Sinner so tough to beat

Shelton brought trademark passion on the way to his first Wimbledon quarterfinal. Frustrating as it was to have joined the large group of people beaten by Sinner, Shelton afterwards was upbeat about what’s to come. “There's no doubt in my mind that I'm going back to my favorite surface now and the U.S. summer a better player compared to where I was in March,” said Shelton. “I feel like my game has improved a lot, gotten a lot better. Fitness is huge. In the U.S. summer that's one of my main focuses before I start in DC. Yeah, I want to be at my best at the US Open.”

Fritz competed exceptionally well throughout the fortnight. Winning two five-setters and two four-setters to reach the Wimbledon semis for the first time, Fritz proved once again why he’s the preeminent American male—particularly when he twice stood a point away from pushing Alcaraz into a fifth set.

“Every time I play these guys,” Fritz said following that match, “I learn a lot about what I need to do to improve and get better. Moving ahead, I just want to keep working on the things that are going to get me better, that are going to help me compete with these guys because at the end of the day, my ultimate goal is to win a slam. I think I'm going to have to at some point beat these guys to do it. It's obviously a tough ask.”

Once they’ve taken some time off, all of these men should be primed to play well in the American summer season.

The New College Try

Twenty-six men who played college tennis competed in the men’s singles at Wimbledon this year. While many years ago, the vast majority of those college players were Americans, in 2025, 16 of the 26 were from other countries.

What are we to make of this? As is the case at a great many junior academies, is America at heart the world’s best possible developmental training ground? At the same time, are the American juniors who go straight to the pros missing an opportunity for building their own set of technical, tactical and, perhaps most importantly, social and personal management skills?

Shelton, for example, has spoken frequently about the life lessons he gained from attending college and being part of a team when he played for the University of Florida.