[SBR Drew]

Andre Agassi, 17 years ago....

[Maizey]

Technically it was Andy Roddick, who won the US Open that year (Agassi won the AO earlier that year).

Can't see that changing in the foreseeable future. It could be another decade or more. Sad for American tennis.

[chargers4222]

Sofia Kenin, literally like two weeks ago.

[Maizey]

Women are a different story. There has been a very bright past and an equally bright future. Unfortunately, the popularity of the sport in America is primarily driven by the success of (or lack of) the men.

[chargers4222]

Women are a different story. There has been a very bright past and an equally bright future. Unfortunately, the popularity of the sport in America is primarily driven by the success of (or lack of) the men.

I disagree. ESPN is on Serena's nuts anytime she does anything remotely noteworthy. Coco Gauff was the biggest story in global sports this past summer and will eventually be the most popular American tennis player of all time if she keeps this up.

It's disappointing that Kenin didn't get more coverage, but America wasn't exactly "tennis crazy" when Andy Roddick was in the top 3. Plus if she keeps winning, she will get more coverage. If anything, the typical American cares more about a woman winning than a man. Tennis has a very stable base of fans in every country -- just because ESPN isn't talking about it doesn't mean it isn't popular.

[Maizey]

Roddick was the beneficiary of a very weak era of men's tennis, and he was hardly a dominant player, so comparing him to Serena, the greatest female player of all time, is comparing apples to oranges. Think of how much more poplar tennis was in America during the peak of Sampras and Agassi careers. And even more so during the Connors and McEnroe era. If the men had anywhere near the success of the women over the past decade, the game would be way more popular in America.

We'll just have to agree to disagree.

[chargers4222]

Roddick was the beneficiary of a very weak era of men's tennis, and he was hardly a dominant player, so comparing him to Serena, the greatest female player of all time, is comparing apples to oranges. Think of how much more poplar tennis was in America during the peak of Sampras and Agassi careers. And even more so during the Connors and McEnroe era. If the men had anywhere near the success of the women over the past decade, the game would be way more popular in America.
We'll just have to agree to disagree.

Agreed. Also worth noting that those two pairs of guys you mentioned had each other as rivals. Roddick didn't have an American counterpart. If Fritz and Opelka come out of nowhere and both get into the top 10, it'll be a big deal. Unfortunately that's very unlikely to happen, but Coco vs. Sofia vs. Anisimova vs. Keys vs. McNally will be a thing for the next 10 years, or more in some of their cases.

[Jeff_Black]

I disagree. ESPN is on Serena's nuts anytime she does anything remotely noteworthy. Coco Gauff was the biggest story in global sports this past summer and will eventually be the most popular American tennis player of all time if she keeps this up.

That's because ESPN don't really care much for actual tennis news and whatever generates headlines. But Bodo writes about it year round so I can respect him for that and probably the only guy i'll listen to from ESPN on tennis.

[Maizey]

but Coco vs. Sofia vs. Anisimova vs. Keys vs. McNally will be a thing for the next 10 years, or more in some of their cases.

Interesting list of young American women. My take on those that you listed:

Coco - the sky's the limit for her; she appears to already be reasonably adept at every aspect of the game; obviously being so young, she has to stay healthy and not derail mentally, but both look pretty good at this point

Sofia - love her and her work ethic; I think she will be formidable for several years based on that, but I don't see her getting too much further than she is currently at; her size is a detriment and I can see her weight becoming an issue as she ages

Anisimova - hugely talented but injuries appear to be her limiting factor; for somebody as big as she is, her serve is mediocre; if that improves AND she can stay healthy, she will almost certainly win some slams

Keys - I gave up on her many years ago; she's a mental midget and her strokes are so flat that she can't dial back when needed

McNally - I'm not very high on her; her aggressive net attacking tactics work well at lower levels and can cause some problems due to the uniqueness, but today's game just doesn't reward that type of play; I think she's destined to be a great doubles player, much like Coco Vanderweghe

One that you left off is Danielle Collins. She's not really that young because she played a full college career and didn't start on the tour until much later than most, but she's still borderline young; I think she still has potential to get in the mix over the next several years; she needs some improvement in parts of her game, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say she cracks the top 10 at some point over the next several years; probably a long shot, but I like her makeup

[SCI]

Interesting list of young American women. My take on those that you listed:

Coco - the sky's the limit for her; she appears to already be reasonably adept at every aspect of the game; obviously being so young, she has to stay healthy and not derail mentally, but both look pretty good at this point

Sofia - love her and her work ethic; I think she will be formidable for several years based on that, but I don't see her getting too much further than she is currently at; her size is a detriment and I can see her weight becoming an issue as she ages

Anisimova - hugely talented but injuries appear to be her limiting factor; for somebody as big as she is, her serve is mediocre; if that improves AND she can stay healthy, she will almost certainly win some slams

Keys - I gave up on her many years ago; she's a mental midget and her strokes are so flat that she can't dial back when needed

McNally - I'm not very high on her; her aggressive net attacking tactics work well at lower levels and can cause some problems due to the uniqueness, but today's game just doesn't reward that type of play; I think she's destined to be a great doubles player, much like Coco Vanderweghe

One that you left off is Danielle Collins. She's not really that young because she played a full college career and didn't start on the tour until much later than most, but she's still borderline young; I think she still has potential to get in the mix over the next several years; she needs some improvement in parts of her game, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say she cracks the top 10 at some point over the next several years; probably a long shot, but I like her makeup

I like Collins too, but she will always be inconsistent with her limited weapons. She reminds me of Konta. She defended her Miami run in 2018 and AO run in 2019 very very poorly.

[Maizey]

Hard to argue. On paper she certainly doesn't have top 10 weapons. She does however, have the tenacity factor, and I think that she has the work ethic and desire to improve. One thing that would really help her mentally would be to actually win a main tour tournament. She's gone deep in several, but she's had trouble getting over the hump.

[Jeff_Black]

One of the coaches working with Kenin in the present including her Australian Open win was one that coached multiple grand slam champions including the Williams sisters. I can't remember off the top of my head who else it was but Jim mentioned it during the final, and you could kind of see how she adjusted her take to take advantage of Muguruza's decline and show of fatique as the match went on.