Shelton, Tiafoe and Tien have advanced to the quarterfinals, along with fellow American Alex Michelsen, a 23-year-old ranked 46th in the world. It’s the farthest Michelsen has advanced in a major.

Shelton is playing the best tennis right now among the Americans, having dominated Stefanos Tsitsipas in straight sets Sunday night. His reward for that is a Tuesday night quarterfinal match vs. world No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz.

The two best men’s players in the world right now are No. 1 Jannik Sinner, who is sitting out the Open this year with an injury, and Alcaraz, who is playing his first major since a wrist injury sidelined him for four months. With Sinner out and Alcaraz possibly not 100%, it’s no surprise that questions about the American drought are at an all-time high. Specifically, is this tournament the best chance for an American man to win a major?

“I feel like I answer this question every press conference, for sure, especially here in New York,” Shelton said after his first-round victory.

“I can’t tell you the last time I’ve thought about the American drought, other than, you know, being in these rooms. … I’m kind of just running my own race and focusing on the next round, thinking about the ways that I can improve and get better and continue to improve my game.”

Tiafoe, Fritz and Paul are the “elder statesmen” of the highly ranked Americans. Paul is 29 while Tiafoe and Fritz are both 28. They’ve been together on the tour for years.

“We’re super-close friends,” said Fritz, who was a surprising Round 3 loser to Argentine Francisco Cerundolo. “It’s just a good time when all of us get to spend time together, not in a tennis environment, which also is kind of rare. Yeah, it’s great to just be around these guys I’ve known for, I mean, close to 15 years. We’re all really close, and yeah, I’d consider a lot of those guys like my absolute closest friends.”

Among the top six Americans, Fritz is the only one who has reached the finals in any major — losing to Sinner in straight sets at the 2024 US Open. Tiafoe has reached the semifinals at the Open twice (2022, 2024); Shelton reached the semis at the 2023 US Open and the 2025 Australian Open; Paul reached the semis at the 2023 Australian; Tien’s best run was to the quarterfinals at this year’s Australian; Nakashima has yet to reach the quarters at a major.

At least one American is guaranteed to reach the semis this week, as Tiafoe squares off against Michelsen in the quarters.

“I think the Americans have been playing great tennis leading into the US Open,” said Paul, who was a straight-sets loser to Alcaraz in Round 4. “This is always where we want to play well. This is always where we have, I guess, the most energy going into matches.”

Not just an American drought

Before this drought began, there was nothing unusual about American men winning Grand Slams. From 2000 through 2003, Americans won six of the 16 Grand Slam events — three for Andre Agassi, two for Pete Sampras and one for Roddick.

But here’s the thing: The last 23 years haven’t just been a drought for American men. The first 20 years of this century were completely dominated by the “Big 3” of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. The last few years have been dominated by the “Big 2” — Sinner and Alcaraz.

The results are staggering. There have been 90 Grand Slam events since Roddick’s US Open victory in 2003. The quintet of Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Sinner and Alcaraz have won 77 of those 90 majors.