Although the sport of tennis has been predominantly an individual sport with lesser focus on team events (Olympics, Davis Cup and now Laver Cup & ATP Cup), there has always been the strong European, American and Australian frontiers represented in the sport itself.
The early years of the Modern Era on the ATP tour witnessed a heavy Australian focus with the likes of Rod Laver, Roy Emerson, John Newcombe and Ken Rosewall among others.
However, most of the era thereafter witnessed rivalries that primarily spread across Europe and the US.
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Europe vs US Has Been The Underlying Theme
The late 1970s witnessed the Bjorn Borg, Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe rivalries with 26 Grand Slams between them, with Borg winning 11, Connors 8 and McEnroe 7.
Although the 1980 five-set battle between Borg and McEnroe at the Wimbledon final, with Borg winning the decider 8-6 stands out as one of the all-time classics, there were many memorable matches played amongst these three individuals.
While Borg maintained the strong European presence in the sport across clay and grass, McEnroe and Connors kept the stars and stripes flying high for what would be several years of strong US participation in the sport.
As the mid 1980s saw the rise of Mats Wilander and Ivan Lendl, the waning American careers of McEnroe and Jimmy Connors continued into the late 1980s and early 1990s way longer than anyone had expected and with both of them continuing to make the second week of the majors even in the twilight of their careers.
While Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg became the rivalry to look forward to in the late 1980s, the US presence continued although in fits and starts for a bit.
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US Dominated The Tour in the 1990s
1989 saw teenaged American Michael Chang win the French Open upsetting top ranked Edberg and Lendl en route; young Pete Sampras won the 1990 US Open, and Andre Agassi was the French Open finalist in 1990.
With Jim Courier winning the 1991 French Open and Agassi the 1992 Wimbledon, the 1990s promised to be another decade of strong US presence on the ATP tour, and so it was. Courier won the ’91 & ’92 French Open titles and ’92 & ’93 Australian Open trophies and having already made the finals of the other two majors, looked like he was ready to be the next dominant force on the tour.
Despite their early success, Chang and Courier were not quite able to dominate the tour as they had hoped to, although continuing to remain a force for years to come.
What the 1990s will be remembered for is the Sampras-Agassi rivalry, with Sampras’ career witnessing 14 major titles and Agassi’s 8 (including the career slam).
It was a rivalry of two contrasting players, personalities and strengths, with the iconic Sampras serve and the penetrating Agassi returns etched in memories for decades to come.
Although one can never discount the presence of strong forces like Goran Ivanisevic, Pat Rater, Petr Korda, Carlos Moya and Yevgeny Kafelnikov among others (all listed here being Grand Slam winners), the 1990s was truly the decade of US tennis on the ATP tour.
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Waning US Presence in the 21st Century
The turn of the millennium and the twilight of Sampras and Agassi’s careers saw the birth of the next generation of potential stars in Lleyton Hewitt, David Nalbandian, Marat Safin, Roger Federer, Andy Roddick and more.
With Federer winning the 2003 Wimbledon and Roddick the 2003 US Open, one began to wonder if this was the next upcoming rivalry on the tour and once again pitting Europe against the US. While Federer’s career could be referred to as the most perfect the sport has ever seen, unfortunately Roddick was not able to win another major, and ended with a 3-21 head-to-head against Federer.
The last two decades on the ATP tour has been one dominated by the ‘Big Three’- i,e. Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic and may well be the Golden Era of men’s tennis.
However, what has lacked has been any noteworthy presence of the US. While the presence of the Big Three has prevented the levels of US representation seen during the last quarter of the 20th century, US men’s tennis has unfortunately not managed to make any mark at all on the tour during this time.
The most noteworthy challengers to the Big Three have been the likes of Andy Murray, Stanislas Wawrinka, Juan Martin del Potro, Thomas Berdych, Marin Cilic and very few others, but none of the Americans.
While the likes of James Blake, John Isner, Sam Querrey, Mardy Fish to name a few have been consistent over periods of time, with recently Isner and Querrey even being Wimbledon semi-finalists, one would agree that they have not been close to the levels that their predecessor compatriots were at.
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Looking Forward
As we enter into the third decade of the century, and look at what has been perceived as the Next Gen on the ATP tour, the US representation has still been lacking.
Frances Tiafoe and Taylor Fritz lead the American ‘Next Gen’ force, but it will be fair to say that they are not quite at the levels of Dominic Thiem, Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas yet.
When the tennis world returns to the new normal after the unprecedented Covid-19 pause, one hopes the decade once again witnesses the rise of the strong force that US men’s tennis has been, and brings it with plenty to cheer for US tennis fans in what has historically been one of the strongest proponents of the ATP tour.
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