Nothing against them, of course. But based on recent history, at least one of these players from the Wimbledon junior draw will soon make us hopeful that the next American tennis champ has finally arrived—before they're repeatedly thwarted in every Grand Slam by seemingly superhuman Europeans.
Alexios Halebian, Mackenzie McDonald, Mitchell Krueger, Noah Rubin, and Spencer Papa
Image by Matthew Lewis / Getty Images
Ever since Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi hung up their tennis rackets, America has been waiting for her next whites-wearing, little-ball-hitting champion. (In men's, at least. Women's tennis is fine.) Andy Roddick hasn't done the trick, and so far, neither have presumed successors John Isner, Mardy Fish, Ryan Harrison, Donald Young, or James Blake. (Although we haven't given up on them yet.)
As such, here are the next crop of potential American stars who could make the good old U.S.A. just as relevant of a tennis term as the word "Djokovic." Hopefully these guys are great and prove our very dire headline wrong. Also, obviously, our reasons why they'll bog down into mediocrity are, uh, very hypothetical.
STILL ALIVE AT WIMBLEDON:
Mitchell Krueger
WHO HE IS: Mitchell Krueger is the great American hope. Krueger's the highest-ranked U.S. junior, at #8, and he made it to the semifinals of the French Open — the best American showing — before losing to world #2 Kimmer Coppejans, a Belgian. Krueger, an 18-year-old native of Aledo, Texas, is headed to Texas A&M, one of the nation's top programs, to play next year. And so far so good at Wimbledon — he beat 28th-ranked Brit Kyle Edmund in the first round and beat Croat Borna Coric in two sets in the second. He tweets here.
WHY HE'LL BOG DOWN INTO MEDIOCRITY: At Texas A&M, finds his true calling as an All-SEC defensive lineman.
Image by Dan Kitwood / Getty Images
