US Open: Tiafoe, Fritz, Pegula and Navarro reach the semifinals and make US tennis matter again

NEW YORK (AP) — To hear Frances Tiafoe tell it, Taylor Fritz predicted this sort of moment for the two of them.

And for American men's tennis.

It was during an early morning plane ride together a few years ago that the conversation turned to the future and possibilities, Tiafoe recounted after setting up a U.S. Open semifinal on Friday against Fritz, another 26-year-old American, that guarantees the United States will have a man in a Grand Slam title match for the first time since Andy Roddick lost to Roger Federer at Wimbledon in 2009.

“He's a pretty to-himself kind of dude, and he’s, like, ‘Bro, I think me and you are going to be the 1-2 Americans and leading the way.' ... I was, like, ’Dang, dude, (it's) 6 a.m., I’m pretty tired, but let’s do it.' Why not? He's kind of had that mindset, and he’s pushed me a lot, you know what I mean?” Tiafoe, who is from Maryland, said about the chat with longtime pal Fritz, a Californian.

“Times I’m playing really bad, or whatever the case may be, and he’s doing it, or vice versa, I think we have kind of always pushed each other," said Tiafoe, who's known Fritz since they were participating in 14-and-under tournaments more than a decade ago. "Now I think it’s great that we get to compete against each other in such a big match, and I’m happy for him. I know he’s happy for me.”

This sort of thing has seemed to be on the horizon for a bit for American men, thanks to a generation that includes the 20th-seeded Tiafoe and 12th-seeded Fritz, along with Tommy Paul, and two younger players also in their 20s, Ben Shelton and Sebastian Korda. All five are ranked in the ATP top 20.

There also are five U.S. women in the WTA top 20, including Jessica Pegula, who upset No. 1 Iga Swiatek 6-2, 6-4 on Wednesday night to get to the semifinals at Flushing Meadows, and Emma Navarro, who reached the final four with a win on Tuesday to follow up her upset of 2023 champion Coco Gauff. Both Pegula, who plays unseeded Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic, and Navarro, who faces No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, will be appearing in a major semifinal for the first time.

Not since 1996 has the United States had five women and five men ranked this highly all at once.

And not since the 2003 U.S. Open have there been two American women and two American men in the semifinals at the same major.

“It’s great for American tennis,” said Navarro, a 23-year-old who was born in New York, grew up in South Carolina and won an NCAA title for Virginia as a freshman in 2021. “Of course I want to see myself and my fellow Americans go as far as we can go in the tournament.”

This is a country that produced the Williams sisters and their combined 30 Grand Slam singles titles, other stars such as Chris Evert and Billie Jean King, plus more recent major champions and runners-up such as Gauff, Sloane Stephens, Sofia Kenin, Madison Keys and Danielle Collins. The country's men went from the grand tradition of the likes of Don Budge and Bill Tilden way back in the day to multiple Slam champs like Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Jim Courier, John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors and Arthur Ashe — but the last major men's winner, famously, was Roddick at the 2003 U.S. Open, making the current drought for the group by far the longest in history.

“The standard is always going to be a Grand Slam champion,” said Martin Blackman, the head of the U.S. Tennis Association’s player development program since 2015. “That will always be the standard for American tennis.”

But it had been a while since the men even were coming close.

When Tiafoe reached the final four in New York two years ago, beating 22-time Slam champion Rafael Nadal along the way, it was the first time since Roddick in 2006 that a male semifinalist at the U.S. Open was from the host country. Roddick got to the final that year before losing to — guess who? — Federer.

At the next major after Tiafoe's breakthrough, the 2023 Australian Open, Paul made it to the semifinals before losing to Novak Djokovic. And at last year's U.S. Open, Shelton was a semifinalist, eliminating Tiafoe in the quarterfinals before losing to Djokovic.

“(I) was always genuinely just really happy for my friends to see them have the success,” said Fritz, who was 0-4 in Slam quarters before getting past two-time major runner-up Alexander Zverev in four sets Tuesday. “And if anything, it always gave me the confidence that I can do it, too.”

Two of his quarterfinal exits were against Djokovic, and one was against Nadal.

With Federer, 43, retired, Nadal, 38, playing sparingly after hip surgery and other injuries ( and not in New York ), and Djokovic, 37, going through his first season since 2017 without at least one Grand Slam trophy, there are more chances for new faces.

“We've spoken about it for years: 'This is the group. This is the group.' We openly speak about it. We've all been knocking on the door,” Tiafoe said. “You put yourself in positions, it’s only a matter of matter of time. And the game is open. It’s not like it once was, where you make quarterfinals, you play Rafa, and you’re looking at flights.”

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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

Howard Fendrich, The Associated Press