In his 1996 essay, “The String Theory,” David Foster Wallace — amid other musings on the burgeoning tennis career of an early-20s Michael Joyce — briefly considers the psyche of the typical sports consumer.
“Americans revere athletic excellence, competitive success, and it’s more than lip service we pay; we pay with our wallets,” Wallace writes. “We’ll pay large sums to watch a truly great athlete; we’ll reward him with celebrity and adulation and even go so far as to buy products and services he endorses.”
For decades, American men’s tennis basked in this reverence. Of the ten men to win seven or more Grand Slams in the Open Era, four — Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Andre Agassi, and Pete Sampras — donned the Stars and Stripes. Between 1968 and 1984, only two years passed without an American Grand Slam champion. After Michael Chang’s 1989 French Open victory snapped a record four-year title drought, the U.S. was represented atop a Grand Slam podium for 14 consecutive years.
To belabor the point: 143 men’s Grand Slams were contested between the 1968 French Open — the first to feature professional players — and the 2003 U.S. Open, claimed by a 21-year-old Andy Roddick. An American won 52 of them.
No American man has won in the 84 Slam titles since.
Perhaps even more staggeringly, they have not had many opportunities to do so. Agassi faltered in his last major final, losing to Roger Federer at Wimbledon in 2005. Roddick shared his countryman’s fate in four championship matches against the Swiss. A heart-breaking 5-7, 7-6, 7-6, 3-6, 16-14 loss at Wimbledon in 2009 — where, in defeat, his serve was only broken once en route to winning a record-breaking number of games in a final at the All England Club — was his final crack at a Grand Slam winner’s trophy. Taylor Fritz climbed to the summit of last year’s U.S. Open, only to fall in straight sets to world No. 1 Jannik Sinner. The technical term for this in the superstitious sports fan’s dictionary is simple, yet chilling: the United States is cursed.
Picture the embodiment of the modern American man’s tennis championship drought. Some amalgamation of John Isner and Sam Querrey, perhaps with a hint of Jack Sock. His brain is haunted by the decades-long dominance of Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic. Dual dark shadows — memories of Sampras and tinges of jealousy toward 23-time champion Serena Williams — loom large. This Frankenstein’s monster hits a big serve but cannot really do much else. If four years seemed long in 1989, try 22 years in 2025. Unless vanquished soon, he will have to find his own health insurance.
However, for the first time since the curse’s infancy, it seems close to death. A host of Americans are threatening title contention, and — despite some upset losses — the 2025 Australian Open indicates more are waiting in the wings.
A trio of 27-year-olds may be the conventional title picks. Taylor Fritz is considered the most obvious candidate for a breakthrough, earning a No. 4 ranking after a stellar 2024 season. His disappointing third round exit last week was an anomaly to an otherwise promising recent Grand Slam record; Fritz had reached at least the fourth round in his last five attempts. His countryman and world No. 11 Tommy Paul was not too far from beating No. 2 Sascha Zverev in their quarterfinal match, but he has yet to prove he can overcome pressure moments. While No. 16 Frances Tiafoe faces similar criticism, he is talented enough to warrant a mention. Tiafoe reached the U.S. Open semifinals in 2022 and 2024, losing twice in five sets.
An even younger duo of Americans tossed their hat into the championship ring in Melbourne. 19-year-old Learner Tien — ranked No. 114 entering the tournament — parlayed a first-ever Grand Slam victory into a second round five-set upset of No. 5 Daniil Medvedev and an appearance in the round of 16. Tien was joined by fellow Orange County native Alex Michelsen, who — at only 20-years old — beat two ranked players in his second Australian Open appearance. Tien and Michelsen were surprising late round participants; if their respective games continue to develop, the shock factor may soon wane.
Ben Shelton — the bonafide rising star of U.S. men’s tennis — is the prototype for this trajectory. Shelton broke onto the scene during the 2023 U.S. Open, reaching the semifinal of a Grand Slam in only his fifth attempt. After faltering slightly in 2024, he dazzled the Melbourne crowd last week, making it back to the final four for the second time in his career. Paired with a powerful forehand, his rapid left-handed serve has propelled him to stardom; despite only being 22-years old, Shelton is probably America’s best chance at a major title. He may not be as talented as Fritz, nor as experienced as Paul or Tiafoe, but he exudes a brazen confidence — rare for his age and his sport — that is typically reserved for the winningest of athletes. Shelton clearly believes he can reach that echelon, so why shouldn’t we?
There are two answers: No. 1 Jannick Sinner and No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz. At 23- and 21-years old, respectively, the pair already claim a combined seven Grand Slams — including all four titles last year. Sinner dispatched Shelton in straight sets to make this year’s final, then repeated the prior round’s feat against Zverev for his second consecutive Australian Open win. The next two Slams will be defended by Alcaraz, who will be itching to avenge last week’s quarterfinal loss to Djokovic. If Sinner and Alcaraz live up to their potentials, they will maintain a stranglehold on the sport’s most coveted trophies for a decade. They might as well be considered gatekeepers of tennis immortality, and they desperately hope to limit their exclusive club to two.
Shelton and company will have to overcome Sinner or Alcaraz en route to a title. They have not proven they can do so, and perhaps they never will. But curses tend to be broken; look no further than Madison Keys, who won her first-ever Grand Slam on Saturday at age 29, the second-oldest first-time major winner ever. Keys went to three sets in five of her seven matches, dispatching four top-10 seeds, including No. 2 Iga Swiatek in the semifinal and No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the championship match. Like the current crop of American men, Keys had earned a reputation of faltering before the final hurdle — until she sailed past it.
The blueprint and the talent, therefore, exists; buoyed by youth, American men’s tennis is the best it has been in 20 years. Questions remain about whether this generation is good enough or if the ticker tape parade will have to wait. Yet, for the first time in a while, America’s hope is not waning, but waxing. The long night — and it has been oh-so long — may soon be over.
