(Provided by Tennis World USA)
Andy Roddick thinks Taylor Fritz is the American male tennis player with the best chance at making a strong French Open result. Earlier this year, three American men made the Australian Open quarterfinal – Sebastian Korda, Tommy Paul and Ben Shelton.
But now, it’s time for the French Open and clay has never been a very popular surface among the Americans. However, world No 9 Fritz has had some notable results this clay season as he made back-to-back semifinals at the Monte Carlo Masters and Munich.
American men’s tennis hasn’t had a Grand Slam champion since Roddick won the 2003 US Open. “Yeah, I think Fritz is our most reliable choice right now. He played great in Monte Carlo, made the semis, had a couple of huge wins along the way there, Tommy Paul, fluid movement.
Seb Korda slides very naturally on the clay but hasn’t had much of a run-up. He has been struggling a little bit to get matches,” Roddick said on Tennis Channel, per Sportskeeda.
Roddick warns American WTA stars could also make some noise
Last year, Cori Gauff made the French Open final while Jessica Pegula reached the quarterfinal.
The United States has several big names on the WTA Tour and Roddick thinks some of them definitely have a chance at making a strong French Open result. “As I was thinking through this on the American women’s side, I am going, wait a minute, we have three players who have been active, who have been in the finals of this slam with Coco Gauff, Sofia Kenin with the big win over Aryna Sabalenka, Sloane Stephens made the finals.
Madison Keys made the semi-final at Roland Garros. And all of those are not the most reliable picks that we have week-in and week-out, and that’s Jess Pegula. So American women have a fair amount of upside. It’s going to be fun to watch,” Roddick said.
