By Jack Beatnik,Last Word On Sports

Copyright yardbarker

Tennis is not a sport that has been primarily dominated by one country, but if there is one nation that has given the sport an extraordinary amount of history, it would be the USA. While the status of the USA as a tennis powerhouse has fluctuated, sometimes stronger than others, it has generally remained a steady force in the world of tennis. There are always a couple of American players among the world’s best, and the country typically hasn’t embarrassed itself in any major way.

The Davis Cup loss to Czechia from a few days ago shouldn’t be considered an embarrassment, but it’s certainly a moment where you pause and start to think about the direction of USA tennis. The team was playing in Delray Beach on home soil, on a court familiar to most of the team. It wasn’t by chance that it was played in Delray Beach either.

A Davis Cup Letdown

Taylor Fritz won here a couple of times before, and it was expected that he would lead a pretty solid American team to victory. The Czechs are no slouches, of course, with Jiri Lehecka and Jakub Mensik, two players who have major-winning potential. But anything besides a win for the USA would have been considered an upset. So what happened?

Nothing good if you’re a fan of American tennis. Jiri Lehecka smashed Tiafoe in the opening match, with Fritz beating Jakub Mensik. The American doubles team barely pulled through to give the home team an advantage, but disaster struck on the final day as Lehecka overcame Fritz and Mensik bested Tiafoe to secure the tie for the Czech team.

While some might argue that these two teams should have never played each other this early in the Davis Cup, which is a sentiment many will agree with, the bigger question for USA tennis is, what does this mean?

It’s a warning sign in many ways because, realistically, the leading players of this generation of American tennis have largely failed to carry the torch properly. Frances Tiafoe remains a player with tremendous potential but very little to show for it in his actual resume. His performances in both matches were rather abysmal, and it’s becoming increasingly clear that, as of now, he’s not a player who will reach the highest heights of the sport.

Fritz played okay for the most part, but once again, he continues to be a player who fails in the biggest moments. With a chance to secure the win for his nation on a court where he lifted the trophy a couple of times and played numerous times before, Fritz failed to beat a player whom nobody would consider more talented than him in Lehecka.

He largely disappointed against Djokovic at the US Open recently as well, and certainly didn’t impress many during his US Open final against Jannik Sinner. In fairness, the US didn’t have the services of arguably their most exciting player, Ben Shelton.

Who Does American Tennis Turn To?

It’s become increasingly clear over the past few months that Shelton is in many ways the present but also the future of American tennis. The country will go as far as he goes for the time being, as some youngsters have come through the ranks as well. When it comes to this generation led by Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe, it has peaked.

This is likely as good as it’s going to get for these two. Sure, there is always a chance that either can find something more impressive than what they’ve shown so far and turn their careers around, but so far it’s been what it’s been. Both have largely failed to take it to the next level and challenge the top names at any given moment. Fritz, overall, has had a better career than Frances Tiafoe, though in both cases, they’re somewhat more of a “what if” than realized potential.

As for USA tennis, there will be some thinking to do because not being able to qualify for the final event is a rather big failure, even if you played one of the better nations in the qualifiers. They had a 2-1 lead going into the final day of the tie with two chances to close it out. They sent their two best available tennis players out there on a court with which they’re both somewhat familiar, and neither delivered what they needed to.