The next American Wimbledon champion is probably ‘playing wide receiver on an NFL team’ as US men endure grand slam drought

There was once a time when American men dominated the tennis world at Wimbledon, but those years are long gone and the US athletes that could win at SW19 are probably playing another sport.

There was once a time when American men dominated the tennis world at Wimbledon. The likes of Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Stan Smith and Arthur Ashe saw widespread success in the 70s and 80s, before Pete Sampras simply dominated the 90s at the All England Lawn Tennis Club. When Sampras won his final Wimbledon title in 2000, the realistic expectation was that it wouldn’t be too long before another American man replicated the achievement. In reality, though, it would be the last title for a very long time. It is now 25 years and counting since an American man has lifted the Wimbledon trophy above his head. Since then, the competition has been hogged by arguably the greatest tennis players in history, with Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray winning every title between 2003 and 2023. Andy Roddick came closest to breaking the streak in 2009, but the American eventually lost a memorable five-set final against Federer. Big serving John Isner then reached the semifinals in 2018 before losing a marathon match against eventual runner-up Kevin Anderson.