Over the years, the USA has given a few of the greatest tennis players of all time. Talking about the men’s category, they had greats like Jimmy Connors, Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, and John McEnroe. However, with time, male tennis players have degraded in the terms of quality. It has been over 22 years since an American man won a Grand Slam title. On the other hand, Serena and Venus Williams did great to change the scenario for US women’s tennis. In a recent podcast, Jimmy Connors discussed what went wrong for men’s tennis in the US.

Jimmy Connors on the sad state of men’s tennis in the US

In a recent episode of Advantage Connors, while interacting with Jeanie Buss, Jimmy Connors answered the most important question regarding US men’s tennis. Why are there no Grand Slam-winning performances in the past 22 years? Here’s what the legendary former tennis star said.

“Of course, tennis in the US for 35 to 40 years was it. For my generation, I can name a few of them myself and McEnroe and then Sampras any Agassi and ending up with Andy Roddick. In 2001, I think he won the US Open. He was the last US man to win a grand slam.” 

Connors further added, “But all of a sudden we started building these big stadiums in New York and I want to get blistered for this, but I don’t care. You know, showcasing foreign talent. It’s okay but somewhere the guys got to step up and say it’s time now for my career not to be judged on my bank account but on the number of tournaments that I win. And the number of Grand Slam that I win”

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Seemingly, the legend blames the easy money players earn these days. However, is it really the culprit behind degrading performances? It will be interesting to see how modern-day players react to the same.

Connors lauds NCAAs for providing a great initial platform

While Connors is against the excessive money that flows in tennis nowadays, he respects the tournaments that put pressure early on the players. He himself came from NCAAs and knows the level of competition there can be very high. It not only hones the skills of young tennis players but also prepares them to absorb the pressure at the highest level.

One such player who transitioned from the NCAA to the top stage is Ben Shelton. Shelton had a great run in the Australian Open 2023. Connors credited his hard grind at NCAA for the same.

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He had a quarterfinal run and bowed out in a close encounter with compatriot Tommy Paul. It will be interesting to see if he can replicate Connors and end the Grand Slam drought for American men.