John McEnroe has named the American player he feels is most likely to capitalise if Carlos Alcaraz doesn’t have a deep run at the US Open.
After more than four months out with a wrist injury, the 23-year-old settled back into competitive tennis again as he teamed up with Serena Williams at Flushing Meadows’ revamped mixed doubles format.
The Spaniard and the 23-time major winner beat Lloyd Glasspool and Erin Routliffe 5-3 4-1 in their opener, before losing 5-4 (7-4) 4-1 in the quarter-finals to Flavio Cobolli and Belinda Bencic.
Some have speculated that Alcaraz will only play in the mixed doubles and won’t be ready for best-of-five-set tennis from next week, which would be something akin to jumping into the deep end.
If the seven-time Grand Slam winner and defending US Open champion does pull out or suffers an early exit, this tournament could be more open than ever.
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Indeed, Wimbledon champion and world No 1 Jannik Sinner is out with a knee injury and question marks will continue to be raised about Novak Djokovic‘s physical conditioning.
With Alcaraz and Sinner both absent in recent weeks, Ben Shelton retained his Canadian Open title and Arthur Fils captured his first Masters 1000 crown in Cincinnati.
Alexander Zverev capitalised on a very open draw to win his first Grand Slam title at the French Open and now McEnroe believes if Alcaraz exits the tournament, the door is open for a host of American players.
He said on TODAY, “I am most excited about Carlos Alcaraz being back playing, he’s been hurt for four months. He had a wrist problem.
“If he doesn’t go all the way, I think the door is more open for the American male players. I’d go with Ben Shelton. But there’s a couple of other guys, Frances Tiafoe.
“It would be nice to break that streak of 23 years of an American male not winning a major (last man Andy Roddick at 2023 US Open). What’s going on? You cannot be serious!”
On that note, fellow Americans Taylor Fritz and Tiafoe both backed themselves to be the last man standing on Arthur Ashe in a couple of weeks.
The latter told ATP Tour, “I’m backing myself. It’s time to start believing in it. I’ve flirted with it, so I’m backing myself.”
Shelton is currently the highest-ranked American in ninth, with Fritz a spot behind him, and Tiafoe is down in 12th. Learner Tien and Brandon Nakashima are inside the top 20 and in the ATP Tour Race, Shelton is sixth, Tiafoe is eighth, and Fritz is 10th.
Shelton and Tiafoe have both made the US Open semi-finals in the past, while Fritz was runner-up to Sinner in 2024.
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