John McEnroe: American Men ‘Have To Make A Breakthrough’ At Wimbledon

An American man hasn’t won Wimbledon since Pete Sampras lifted the last of his seven trophies in 2000.

And an American man hasn’t played in the final since 2009 when Andy Roddick lost his third Wimbledon final to Roger Federer.

John McEnroe, who won three of his seven Grand Slam titles at The All-England Club, says now is the time for the young American men to finally make a breakthrough.

“Some of these guys have to make a breakthrough and be in there with these other guys,” McEnroe said on an ESPN conference call ahead of the start of Wimbledon on Monday. “That would make it more interesting, as well.”

Eight American men are ranked among the top 54 in the world, including Top 10 players Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe. Chris Eubanks, a two-time All-American at Georgia Tech ranked No. 50 in the world, won his maiden title on Saturday when he routed veteran Adrian Mannarino, 6-1, 6-4 to capture the title in Mallorca, Spain on grass.

Tiafoe enjoyed a breakthrough at the U.S. Open last year where he played entertaining tennis to take out Rafael Nadal and Andrey Rublev before falling to eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz in five sets in the semis.

Last month he won his first title on grass by saving a match point en route to a 4-6, 7-6 (1), 7-6 (8) victory over Jan-Lennard Struff in the Stuttgart final. Tiafoe made the fourth round at Wimbledon a year ago, losing to David Goffin after leading by two sets to one.

He said his Stuttgart title showed he is a “complete player” who when “locked in can compete on all three surfaces.” The No. 10 seed opens play Tuesday against Wu Yibing of China.

No. 22 Sebastian Korda, who has a tricky first-round match against Jiří Veselý of the Czech Republic, is another American many experts predict to make a run. He reached the Australian Open quarters in January, taking out former runner-up Daniil Medvedev and 10th seed Hubert Hurkacz along the way.

He reached the semifinals at Queen’s Club, losing to top seed Carlos Alcaraz in the semis, but says he’s confident going into Wimbledon.

“I’m very confident in myself on a grass court,” he said. “I move really well, I definitely have a game that not very many people have. I’m an aggressive player, like to come to the net, I have good hands.”

Fritz is the highest-ranked American man but disappointed on grass after reaching the Wimbledon quarterfinals last year.

He was the No. 2 seed in Stuttgart and lost in straight sets in his second match to Marton Fucsovics. He was the defending champion at Eastbourne but dropped his first match to fellow American Mackenzie McDonald.

Ben Shelton is another young American. who is playing his first summer on grass. The 20-year-old with the big lefty serve hasn’t won back-to-back matches on the ATP Tour since his run to the Australian Open quarterfinals in January.

“I think his game will be very well suited to grass with the way he plays, his serve and everything, he’s very athletic, likes to come forward so I think he’ll do well,” two-time Wimbledon winner Andy Murray said.

In his first Wimbledon appearance, No. 32 Shelton opens against Taro Daniel of Japan.

Other American hopefuls include No. 15 Tommy Paul along with fellow top 50 players JJ Wolf, Brandon Nakashima and Eubanks.

McEnroe thinks Tiafoe, Fritz and Korda could all make a run, depending on how the draw plays out.

“I think at this time those two and maybe Korda are the guys,” he said. “Tommy Paul looks like he’s fallen off at the moment a little bit. I know he’s playing right now. Hopefully he’ll get it back.

“I think there’s going to be guys soon, Americans, that are going to make the breakthrough within a year or two hopefully. I think that’s going to be big.”