Eight male, six female players proceed to Australian Open third round for the first time in 27 years
It’s been a great Australian Open for USA tennis as a number of players have reached the third round, the most to advance that far since 1996
USA tennis managed to place eight of its 14 representatives in the third round of the Australian Open men’s draw for the first time in 27 years: Mackenzie McDonald, Jenson Brooksby, Michael Mmoh, Ben Shelton, JJ Wolf, Tommy Paul, Frances Tiafoe and Sebastian Korda. The last time this happened was in 1996 when Sampras, Washington, Chang, Patrick McEnroe, Courier, Martin, Steve Bryan, and Agassi reached that height of the tournament. Now, a young group (24.07 years on average compared to 25.81), as well as a diverse one in terms of playing style, and a physically powerful one, rears its head with the ability to surprise even the best players in the world.
The oldest, McDonald (27 years and 65th), clearly surpassed the number one seed, Rafael Nadal, on Wednesday, when the Spaniard was injured in the second set and could no longer do anything to come back. He is characterized by patience, stability, and good defenses, although on Thursday he failed against the Japanese Yoshihito Nishioka, who is very fit.
The following day Brooksby (22nd and 39th), a tennis player with unsightly mechanisms, but with tactical intelligence, beat the second favorite, Casper Ruud, in four sets. He will be measured for a spot in the round of 16 with his compatriot Paul (25th and 35th), who is talented and stable. The multi-ethnic Mmoh (25 and 107th), with a good tennis education and electric movements, will face his countryman Wolf (24 and 77th), who passed the Argentine Diego Schwartzman in the second round.
Shelton (20 years old and 95th), who is the left-hander of the American squad, is also the youngest. This Saturday he faces Australian Alexey Popyrin, who eliminated one of the forefronts of American tennis, Taylor Fritz (25th and 9th). Behind the Californian, there are Tiafoe (24th and 17th), a beast with a runaway right swing, and Korda (24th and 31st), perhaps the most classy exponent of all. Other interesting youngsters stayed along the way, such as Maxime Cressy (25th and 41st) and Brandon Nakashima (21st and 49th), Aleksandar Kovacevic, Emilio Nava, and Stefan Kozlov.
The success of this generation with very different characteristics, which has replaced that of John Isner, Sam Querrey, and Jack Sock, embodies a European touch: big servers with a lethal drive. It was influenced by tennis player José Higueras, a two-time Roland Garros semifinalist, who has worked independently for the USTA since 1989, collaborating in the education of Sampras and Chang. Years later, around 2008, he started traveling across the country training 2,500 coaches and young promises, including Reilly Opelka and Paul, among others. All this investment has not yet been rewarded with Grand Slam titles and only Fritz is top 10, for now.
Female American players making a buzz
Higueras, who cooperated with Patrick McEnroe, also included a few female athletes in the USTA program who began to stand out and are now among the best in the world. Six of them (there were 17 in the draw) made it to the third round in Melbourne: Danielle Collins, Bernarda Pera, Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula, Madison Keys, and Katie Volynets. Gauff (18) and Pegula entered the round of 16 this Friday and have a serious chance of being champions. Volynets (21), who got off the Russian Veronika Kudermetova, will look one step ahead of Chinese Shuai Zhang.