American men being deprived of a victory at the French Open since Andre Agassi
The French Open, also known as the Roland Garros, takes place in Paris, France every year. The tournament lasts over a period of two weeks between late May and early June and is one of the most prestigious events in the world of professional tennis. It is the second Grand Slam occurring over the year and is held on clay courts and marks the end of the spring clay court season on the tennis calendar.
This grand tennis tournament is considered to be the most physically exhausting competition in the world because the clay surface is said to be a slow playing surface. Also, the men’s singles matches are played over five sets without a tiebreak in the final set, which puts the players under a lot of stress.
Many American men have graced the game of tennis over the past decade but very few have managed to make it to the top. It is not difficult to point out that out of the four tennis Grand Slams taking place over the year, namely the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open, America has had the least success at the French Open.
Andre Agassi has been the last male American tennis player to have won at the Roland Garros. This event took place in 1999, when Agassi was able to overthrow his opponent, Andrei Medvedev, in a five-set battle at the French Open final. This was a grand achievement for the former world number one, as this victory led to him being a champion at each of the Grand Slam tennis tournaments at least once. It completed his Career Grand Slam, making him the fifth tennis player in history to have accomplished this feat.
The magic did not stop there at the French Open for this amazing American tennis star. At the Winners’ Ball, his romance with the German tennis champion, Steffi Graf, blossomed and the couple got married two years later. They have both retired from the game and are still happily married.
It has been over a decade now and there has been no male American tennis champion in Paris since then. Andy Roddick, who is currently the highest ranked American tennis player and is a former world number one, has gotten far in all of the Grand Slams except for the French Open. He was the champion at the 2003 US Open, he made it to the final at Wimbledon and reached the semi-finals at the Australian Open. However, when he participated at the French Open he was eliminated in the fourth round.
It took almost a decade for Andre Agassi to claim a victory at the French Open in 1999 after the American player, Tim Courier, won at this tournament two consecutive years in a row in 1991 and 1992 respectively. Before Courier, another American player, Michael Chang, had made America proud by becoming the youngest ever tennis player at the age of seventeen, to have won at the French Open in 1989.
Having had only three men to have conquered the French Open men’s singles title in the past nearly fifty years is a shortcoming for a superpower nation like the United States. It has been a long drought for the Americans in this category and it is time for their male professional tennis players to start working harder in order to claim a French Open title.
Tags: