The future is BRIGHT as US tennis thrives at the Australian Open
As Tommy Paul finished off Roberto Bautista Agut with a fortuitous net cord Monday, it marked the first time in 23 years that three American men - Paul, Ben Shelton and Sebastian Korda - reached the quarter-finals of the Australian Open.
The last trio to do so were Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras andChris Woodruff, nowcurrent head coach at the University of Tennessee.
American tennis has pulled itself out of the slumber that has set in since Andy Roddick's 2003 US Open win and the greatest barometer of success comes in the form of Monday's updated ATP rankings. They will show 10 American men inside the world's top 50.
The United States will occupy 20 per cent of the world's top 50. Big things are happening.
It is important firstly to insist this is no fluke. Work has been put in for years at the United States Tennis Association (USTA) to improve the pathway and the quality of the programs youngsters are being nurtured in.
It should be qualified, too, that collegiate tennis is proving an incredibly useful pathway to the top for America's rising stars.
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