Highest Number of American Men Ranked in Top 100 Since 1996

[Jack the Hack]

In the lead story on the ATP website today, I noticed this passage:

"The United States led all countries with 12 players in the Top 100 (most since 1996), followed by Spain with 10, France with 9, Italy with eight and Argentina with 7. It was the third straight year eight Italians were in the year-end Top 100. Spain and the U.S. had the most players in the Top 50 with six followed by Italy with four. The six Americans in the year-end Top 50 was the most since seven in 2003."

For many, the depth doesn't matter if the US can't consistently have at least one player in the top 10 that is seriously contending for Slam titles. However, with the Greatest Gen and the Frail Gen fading out in the next couple years, will any of these Americans under 25 step up? Will we see a resurgence of a sort of American domination again?

By the way, if you look deeper in the rankings, the US has 45 players in the top 500, with 21 of them being under the age of 25. Is there any significance in this? Is it hope or false hope?

Rank	Name	Age	Points
23	Taylor Fritz	24	2,050
24	John Isner	36	1,991
26	Reilly Opelka	24	1,936
38	Frances Tiafoe	23	1,492
41	Sebastian Korda	21	1,426
43	Tommy Paul	24	1,349
55	Mackenzie McDonald	26	1,084
56	Jenson Brooksby	21	1,063
65	Marcos Giron	28	929
67	Brandon Nakashima	20	917
83	Steve Johnson	31	812
95	Tennys Sandgren	30	773
105	Denis Kudla	29	733
108	Sam Querrey	34	715
122	Maxime Cressy	24	602
147	Jack Sock	29	461
159	Stefan Kozlov	23	434
161	Christopher Eubanks	25	428
165	Ernesto Escobedo	25	422
166	Bjorn Fratangelo	28	422
169	Mitchell Krueger	27	404
174	J.J. Wolf	22	390
217	Thai-Son Kwiatkowski	26	292
240	Ulises Blanch	23	249
249	Michael Mmoh	23	234
252	Christian Harrison	27	233
268	Alexander Ritschard	27	207
320	Emilio Nava	19	155
321	Bradley Klahn	31	154
341	Nick Chappell	29	137
344	Nicolas Moreno De Alboran	24	134
351	Alex Rybakov	24	127
353	Aleksandar Kovacevic	23	125
356	JC Aragone	26	125
367	Oliver Crawford	22	114
386	Noah Rubin	25	107
408	Zane Khan	19	96
418	Kevin King	30	93
420	Donald Young	32	92
439	Vasil Kirkov	22	85
451	Ryan Harrison	29	81
467	Michael Redlicki	28	77
480	Govind Nanda	20	73
483	Zachary Svajda	18	72
498	Gage Brymer	26	69

 

[Poisoned Slice]

This looks like a Zealand video on football manager.

Every single one of them ending up on his underachiever list.

 

[DjokoLand]

Yeah the problem for the US is they would give all 45 for a Agassi or Sampras.
Good for the US that they are producing players but no real elite one yet

 

[Milanez82]

Some solid players there but thats about it, none look like top 10 material at the moment

 

[FiddlerDog]

USA tennis has been dead since the 1970s and 80s glory.
Robot boring Pete killed tennis in the 90s.
Maybe USA tennis can come back

 

[FranzS]

12 10 9 eight 7
(???)

 

[DjokoLand]

12 10 9 eight 7
(???)

What ??

 

[nemala]

So many players but still no slam contenders. With such a large population and so many resources how do they have such plentiful mediocrity?

 

[Booger]

So many players but still no slam contenders. With such a large population and so many resources how do they have such plentiful mediocrity?

Tennis is now mostly a sport for pasty, spoiled children. Coaching is $75/hr. Hence why most of those dudes are buttery soft mugs and most real athletic talent goes to other sports.

 

[RaulRamirez]

Watch out for that Isner kid.
...
But seriously, perhaps Korda, Brooksby and Opelka have the most potential of this group? I don't know.

 

[Booger]

Watch out for that Isner kid.
...
But seriously, perhaps Korda, Brooksby and Opelka have the most potential of this group? I don't know.

I could see them vulturing a couple M1000's, maybe? Norrie did.

 

[Kralingen]

Brooksby if he fixes his serve is going to be a top 5 level player one day. That 6’4” frame desperately is crying out for a serve that doesn’t come off the racket like a 12 year old girl’s. Breadsticking Djokovic like that, at 20 years old, in your first US Open ffs, doesn’t just happen.

he improves that, he can be right up there.

 

[Mainad]

Seems reports of the demise of American tennis have been somewhat exaggerated!

 

[Sampras-Bruguera 1993]

Tennis just isn't popular here in the states anymore. Hasn't been since the 90s. I had more of an audience at my potty training class than any tennis match in I saw in High School or College. If something isn’t popular, no athletic kids are going to waste time blowing the money time on rackets and training and classes

hell whenever I went to flushing it was damn near all Rich Europeans there

 

[Visionary]

@Jack the Hack that is a truly incredible statistic to be noticed. I know I may get shot down for saying this here but the Americans deserve this. I think the USTA has been working hard and so have the local academies. Bringing up just the foreign talent on American soil has been a thorn in the USTA's heel recently. I do sense something good's coming out of this (Fritz, Opelka, Tiafoe, Korda, Paul).

 

[SamprasisGOAT]

Any of those have a single backhand

 

[Jack the Hack]

USA tennis has been dead since the 1970s and 80s glory.
Robot boring Pete killed tennis in the 90s.
Maybe USA tennis can come back

I'm not trying to start a debate about which decade is the best, but consider this:

1970s: 12 singles Slams won by American men (4 Australian Opens, 0 French Opens, 3 Wimbledons, and 5 US Opens taken by a combo of Ashe, Smith, Connors, Tanner, Gerulaitis, and McEnroe).
1980s: 12 singles Slams won by American men (2 Australian Opens, 1 French Open, 4 Wimbledons, and 5 US Opens taken by a combo of Teacher, Kriek, McEnroe, Connors, and Chang).
1990s: 21 singles Slams won by American men (5 Australian Opens, 3 French Opens, 7 Wimbledons, and 6 US Opens taken by a combo of Sampras, Agassi, and Courier).
2000s: 6 singles Slams won by American men (3 Australian Opens, 0 French Opens, 1 Wimbledon, and 2 US Opens taken by Agassi, Sampras, and Roddick).

Personally, although I saw my first professional match in 1982 (Wilander vs McEnroe in Davis Cup), I didn't start following tennis seriously until around 1985. From 1984 to 1989 with Chang's surprise French title, there were no US champions. I know that Connors and McEnroe were dominant in the early 80s, but when I think of 80's tennis, I tend to think of players like Wilander, Lendl, Edberg, Becker, and Cash who won all the titles for about 5 years straight.

To me the 1990s were all about Sampras, Agassi, and Courier setting the standard for American players. All three had different styles, but all were #1, with Sampras standing out and setting the record for Slam titles that seemed like it would stand for a long time until the Big 3 came along. I agree that Pete was boring, but Agassi was the antidote.

 

[Booger]

Any of those have a single backhand

Eubanks is the only one I know for sure. Used to be real shaky, but he was smokin' em earlier this year.

 

[SamprasisGOAT]

Eubanks is the only one I know for sure. Used to be real shaky, but he was smokin' em earlier this year.

Sad times

 

[Jack the Hack]

Watch out for that Isner kid.
...
But seriously, perhaps Korda, Brooksby and Opelka have the most potential of this group? I don't know.

Brooksby if he fixes his serve is going to be a top 5 level player one day. That 6’4” frame desperately is crying out for a serve that doesn’t come off the racket like a 12 year old girl’s. Breadsticking Djokovic like that, at 20 years old, in your first US Open ffs, doesn’t just happen.

he improves that, he can be right up there.

Of the young guys, I agree that Korda and Brooksby seem to be the most promising of the group in terms of being potential top 10 and maybe Slam contenders. However, I think both of those guys are about 3 or 4 years away from their best form. I also like Nakashima's game, but I'm not sure what his top gear looks like and if it will be good enough for top 10.

As @Booger said, I could see Americans winning a M1000 with the right draw. Jack Sock and John Isner both won a M1000 in the past 5 years. With the best of three format, those tournaments are winnable by several of the American guys if they got some luck and elevated up at the right time like Norrie did this year. If you win a M1000 and grab a couple other titles, you can breach the top 10, so it wouldn't shock me to see someone get up there in the next couple years.

To me, Fritz, Paul, Opelka, and Tiafoe all have the talent to consistently be in that #15 to #25 range, but up to this point, I didn't know if they believed in themselves. However, all three played very well at the end of 2021. Add a deep run at a Slam or a M1000 title, and one of those guys could make a big jump. Now, I'm not crazy... I don't see any of them anywhere near the top 5 or winning multiple Slams, but grabbing 1 Slam isn't a completely crazy concept in a post-DjokoFedNadal era.

Are there any up and coming American teens that we haven't heard of yet? I've seen Zach Svajda and Emilio Nava play and both kind of remind me of Alex De Minaur - quick guys that grind, but no huge weapons, so they have to work their butts off to win against the top 50 level players.

 

[Sudacafan]

In the lead story on the ATP website today, I noticed this passage:

"The United States led all countries with 12 players in the Top 100 (most since 1996), followed by Spain with 10, France with 9, Italy with eight and Argentina with 7. It was the third straight year eight Italians were in the year-end Top 100. Spain and the U.S. had the most players in the Top 50 with six followed by Italy with four. The six Americans in the year-end Top 50 was the most since seven in 2003."

For many, the depth doesn't matter if the US can't consistently have at least one player in the top 10 that is seriously contending for Slam titles. However, with the Greatest Gen and the Frail Gen fading out in the next couple years, will any of these Americans under 25 step up? Will we see a resurgence of a sort of American domination again?

By the way, if you look deeper in the rankings, the US has 45 players in the top 500, with 21 of them being under the age of 25. Is there any significance in this? Is it hope or false hope?

Rank	Name	Age	Points
23	Taylor Fritz	24	2,050
24	John Isner	36	1,991
26	Reilly Opelka	24	1,936
38	Frances Tiafoe	23	1,492
41	Sebastian Korda	21	1,426
43	Tommy Paul	24	1,349
55	Mackenzie McDonald	26	1,084
56	Jenson Brooksby	21	1,063
65	Marcos Giron	28	929
67	Brandon Nakashima	20	917
83	Steve Johnson	31	812
95	Tennys Sandgren	30	773
105	Denis Kudla	29	733
108	Sam Querrey	34	715
122	Maxime Cressy	24	602
147	Jack Sock	29	461
159	Stefan Kozlov	23	434
161	Christopher Eubanks	25	428
165	Ernesto Escobedo	25	422
166	Bjorn Fratangelo	28	422
169	Mitchell Krueger	27	404
174	J.J. Wolf	22	390
217	Thai-Son Kwiatkowski	26	292
240	Ulises Blanch	23	249
249	Michael Mmoh	23	234
252	Christian Harrison	27	233
268	Alexander Ritschard	27	207
320	Emilio Nava	19	155
321	Bradley Klahn	31	154
341	Nick Chappell	29	137
344	Nicolas Moreno De Alboran	24	134
351	Alex Rybakov	24	127
353	Aleksandar Kovacevic	23	125
356	JC Aragone	26	125
367	Oliver Crawford	22	114
386	Noah Rubin	25	107
408	Zane Khan	19	96
418	Kevin King	30	93
420	Donald Young	32	92
439	Vasil Kirkov	22	85
451	Ryan Harrison	29	81
467	Michael Redlicki	28	77
480	Govind Nanda	20	73
483	Zachary Svajda	18	72
498	Gage Brymer	26	69

So ironic, isn’t it?

 

[FiddlerDog]

I'm not trying to start a debate about which decade is the best, but consider this:

Robot Pete is precisely what destroyed tennis ratings in the USA in the 90s.
They have never recovered. Slam count stupidity has also destroyed tennis.

 

[RaulRamirez]

Seems reports of the demise of American tennis have been somewhat exaggerated!

...but not greatly exaggerated.

 

[aldeayeah]

Brooksby if he fixes his serve is going to be a top 5 level player one day. That 6’4” frame desperately is crying out for a serve that doesn’t come off the racket like a 12 year old girl’s. Breadsticking Djokovic like that, at 20 years old, in your first US Open ffs, doesn’t just happen.

he improves that, he can be right up there.

To be fair, Djokovic is known to gift sets left and right. I wouldn't bat an eyelash at anyone in the top 100 taking a set from him. Two sets, on the other hand...

 

[Sudacafan]

Robot Pete is precisely what destroyed tennis ratings in the USA in the 90s.
They have never recovered. Slam count stupidity has also destroyed tennis.

Please define slam stupidity.