Taylor Fritz, the leader (seed n ° 8), swept away by the Netflix curse, mowed down by the moving Australian Alexei Popyrin in the 2nd round of the Australian Open is missing but American tennis advances band.
And stands out.
Its young stars have, on Wednesday and Thursday, eliminated the seeds n°1 and 2 of the tournament.
Mackenzie McDonald (27; 165th) accompanied the limping outing of Rafael Nadal;
Jenson Brooksby (22 years old; 39th) got the better of Casper Ruud to cross the gates of the 3rd round.
“
What a night for American tennis
,” blew Patrick McEnroe on Twitter.
To discover
Australian Open: ladies schedule and results
Australian Open: men's schedule and results
To find traces of such an early elimination of the first two seeds, we have to go back to the 2002 Australian Open (Lleyton Hewitt and Gustavo Kuerten were eliminated in the first round).
American men's tennis (13 players in the top 100 in the world) nostalgic for the golden years of Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras dreams of conquering.
The last Grand Slam won by an American dates back to 2003 (US Open, Andy Roddick).
Frances Tiafoe (24 years old; 17th in the world), bursts the screen in Melbourne with the acid colors of her Nike outfit.
He has already made a name for himself, notably by reaching the semi-finals of the last US Open.
He runs after a confirmation.
For a place in 8th, he will face the Russian Karen Khachanov.
One of the shocks at the top of the table with Daniil Medvedev who will have to scrap with the American Sebastian Korda (22 years old; 31st) who had upset Novak Djokovic for a long time in the final in Adelaide a few days ago.
JJ Wolf (24 years old; 67th) will play against his compatriot Michael Mmoh (25 years old; 107th), the "
miraculous
".
“
Lucky loser
”, the American still has to pinch himself to believe it.
He erased a match point in the 1st round against Frenchman Laurent Lokoli.
Before dominating Alexander Zverev.
He who believed he would never set foot in the big picture of this Australian Open: “
I had packed my bags and booked my flights to the United States.
“Before being caught in extremis, to settle in a stunning tournament and to win the greatest victory of his career:”
Life is crazy.
When you think everything is dark, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
»
The round of 16 of a very open Australian Open will host another match between Americans with Tommy Paul (25 years old; 35th) against Jenson Brooksby (22 years old; 39th) who paraded his nonchalance and flashes to eject Casper Ruud ( n°2) who remained on a Grand Slam final at the US Open, before sharing a tour of Latin America with Rafael Nadal, proof of his progress.
Brooksby, shining symbol of American success: “
Against Tommy Paul, it will be another battle, that's for sure.
A lot of Americans are doing really well right now and we're all pushing each other.
I just can't wait for the next one.
“An ambition shared by Ben Shelton (20 years old; 89th) who will meet another player who was not expected at such a party, the
I've won as many matches this year as I did all of last year, and it's only January.
I never want to have that feeling again that I had last year.
I love that feeling, I want more
."
“
American players are doing great things
”, salutes the American Federation.
In an unpredictable tournament, the Americans want to keep seeing their stars shine.
An ambition shared by US players.
They are six in the 3rd round of the Australian Open (Danielle Collins, Bernbarda Pera who will play against Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula, Madison Keys and Katie Volynets, the lucky bag out of qualifications, 21 years old; 113th in the world who eliminated the Russian Veronika Kudermetova, seeded n°9), decided to participate in the celebration of American tennis.
