LONDON—Despite years of nonstop talk about the lack of success in American men’s tennis, three men from the United States have quietly advanced to the third round of Wimbledon, and two others have moved into the second.
“I think us, as a country, we have sort of turned the corner,” John Isner said after beating Marcos Baghdatis in the first round on Thursday. “I think there [are] a lot of players doing very good things.”
Many are sick and tired of talking about when the next American Grand Slam champion will arrive, but the topic is unavoidable.
“We all try to do the best we can,” said Sam Querrey, who took out Thomaz Bellucci in the second round. “That’s all we do. It doesn’t bug me. I don’t think it bugs John or Steve [Johnson] or Jack [Sock] that we don’t have an American vying for a Slam four times a year. It would be great if we did, but I don’t lose sleep over it.”
Johnson ousted Jeremy Chardy in straight sets to advance to the third round on Thursday, and next faces Grigor Dimitrov.
The last American to win a Grand Slam was Andy Roddick, back in 2003 at Flushing Meadows. The search for another Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Michael Chang or Jim Courier has been in vain for over a decade, with fans missing both the rivalries and the champions.
“[There were] many more rivalries back then, where you felt like guys didn’t actually like each other,” Querrey said. “Everyone now is pretty friendly. Most of it was due to [having] Agassi, Sampras, Chang, Courier—someone in a final at every Slam, it seemed like, for a long time.”