For quite some time, American men have been threatening to break through tennis\u2019 elite and, at this year\u2019s US Open, it appears that time has finally come. <\/p>\n
For the first time since 2005, three Americans have progressed to the quarterfinals of the men\u2019s draw. It also means there is guaranteed to be at least one US star in the semifinals. <\/p>\n
Taylor Fritz, Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton are the trio still harboring dreams of winning a home grand slam. Not since Andy Roddick in 2003 has an American man won the US Open. <\/p>\n
Tiafoe and Shelton will play each other on Tuesday, while Fritz has a rather tricky tie against 23-time grand slam winner Novak Djokovic on the same day. <\/p>\n
Andre Agassi, James Blake and Robby Ginepri were the previous American triumvirate to reach the last eight of the men\u2019s competition. On that occasion, 18 years ago, Agassi made it to the final before being beaten by Roger Federer. <\/p>\n
Given Djokovic and Spanish superstar Carlos Alcaraz are both still in the draw, the likelihood of a home winner this year remains small \u2013 albeit not impossible. <\/p>\n
World No. 9 Fritz says morale in the US group is high and that watching others be successful helps motivate his own performance. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve said it for a long time, whenever one of us does something, achieves something, it makes everyone else feel like they can do it, too,\u201d he said, per the US Open website. <\/p>\n
Fritz, who has cemented himself inside the Top 10 over the last year, certainly has the hardest opponent on Tuesday. <\/p>\n
In Djokovic, he faces arguably the greatest tennis player of all-time, but the 25-year-old American said he would not be overwhelmed by the occasion. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not going to overplay. I\u2019m not going to do anything different because I\u2019m playing Novak,\u201d he told reporters after reaching the quarterfinal. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to play my game, play within myself and trust that if I play well, it\u2019s enough.\u201d <\/p>\n
While Fritz must find new levels to get past Djokovic, both Taifoe and Shelton face a very different type of challenge. <\/p>\n
The pair know each other well. Bidding to make a second consecutive US Open semifinal, world No. 10 Tiafoe is the likely favorite for the clash and has dropped just one set at the tournament so far. <\/p>\n
His 20-year-old opponent, though, certainly has the skills to cause Tiafoe problems. The youngster has a booming serve and an impressive forehand, but will be facing Tiafoe for the very first time in his senior career. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a big match. He\u2019s Bugs Bunny. He\u2019s got crazy energy, endless energy,\u201d Tiafoe told reporters about facing Shelton. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s going to come after me, and I\u2019m going to come after him. It\u2019s going to be a great battle, we\u2019re going to compete really hard.\u201d <\/p>\n
Shelton upset fellow American Tommy Paul to reach his first US Open quarterfinal. The result matches his best run at a grand slam, having reached the same stage at the Australian Open earlier this year. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s further evidence of his impressive rise from outside the Top 100 last year to his current position as world No. 47. <\/p>\n
\u201cI really learned how to be mentally tough,\u201d Shleton said, explaining how he\u2019s improved since the Australian Open. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was playing in Australia after a long week, I was looking at my box, saying, \u2018My legs are dead. I\u2019m tired. I can\u2019t go anymore.\u2019 <\/p>\n
\u201cI realized how important it is for me to believe in myself, believe that I can go all the way, the full distance, emotionally and physically, and now I have that belief here.\u201d <\/p>\n\n
For quite some time, American men have been threatening to break through tennis\u2019 elite and, at this year\u2019s US Open, it appears that time has finally come. For the first time since 2005, three Americans have progressed to the quarterfinals of the men\u2019s draw. It also means there is guaranteed to be at least one <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":7831,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-7830","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7830\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}