American men's tennis has been longing for a long time to return to its beautiful years.
In the 1980s it was John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors who starred in the giants, the following decade was won by Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi, and in the 2000s it was Andy Roddick who was the number 1 racket of the USA, before the era of the Big Three.
Since Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic entered the picture, the Americans have been pushed aside, and no American player has been able to conquer the top of the rankings since Roddick did it sometime in 2003.
Currently, the Americans are far from recapturing the top of world tennis, but tonight (between Wednesday and Thursday) and this morning, it seems that something is starting again there.
After the sensational ouster of Rafael Nadal by the talented youngster Mackenzie McDonald, three more Americans were responsible for huge surprises at the 2023 Australian Open.
Mackenzie McDonald.
Responsible for the biggest surprise in Australia, photo: EPA
The morning started with a surprising ouster of Diego Schwartzman by JJ Wolf, who simply ran over the Argentine in three smooth sets, continued to another huge sensation when Jenson Brooksby (48 in the world) knocked out the second-ranked Casper Rude, and ended with a less big surprise True, but still surprising, when Michael from the American brain of Saudi origin beat Alexander Zverev who came back from a serious injury.
Another and no less big surprise came precisely from the direction of Taylor Fritz, the number 1 racket of the United States (9th in the world), who was defeated by the local Alexei Pophirin at the end of a heroic five-set battle.
"He played annoyingly well today," admitted a frustrated Rude at the end, after seeing the American hit him again and again with shots that left the Norwegian unanswered.
Brooksby actually had a lot of answers for Rod: "There were many interesting rallies where we played not like cat and mouse, he attacked, I regained control of the point, and then somehow he guessed the ball correctly and returned to the rally."
"Casper is a warrior. I knew it would be a great battle out there."
Jenson Brooksby • #AusOpen • #AO2023 pic.twitter.com/dFAi83ri84
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 19, 2023
"It's going to be another big fight for sure," said Brooksby, who will face compatriot Tommy Paul, who qualified after a win over Alejandro Davidovich-Pokina, in the third round.
"A lot of Americans are doing really well now and we're all pushing each other."
In total, eight Americans qualified for the third round of the Australian Open: Francis Tiafoe (16th in the world), Sebastian Korda (31st), Paul (35th), Brooksby (48th), McDonald (63rd), Wolf (66th), Ben Shelton (92nd) and brain (109).
At least two of this great list will not go on to the round of 16, as Wolff and Brain, and Paul and Broxby will meet in All-American derbies, but there is no doubt that there is one country that is celebrating more than any other in this Grand Slam and that is the United States.
Now her mission is to recapture the top of world tennis, and she has already taken the first encouraging step in that process.
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