Tennis
Mediocre American tennis players tear at the Australian Open. What were they fed?
Photo: © REUTERS/Jaimi Joy
The last time the generation of Agassi and Sampras played so cool was 23 years ago. In the United States found the elixir of strength?
The performance of the US representatives at the Australian Open Grand Slam tournament this year is simply amazing. Three Americans will play in the quarterfinals at once, and at least one of them is guaranteed to make it to the semifinals.
Surprisingly, most of the surprise heroes of the tournament are outside the top 30 ATP rankings and have no major achievements.
Where did these Americans come from?
The current Australian Open has already become one of the most sensational in a decade. Many favorites finished the fight in the early stages in both the women’s and men’s brackets. Moreover, not only individual athletes, but also entire nations are surprised. First of all, we are talking about the United States, three representatives of which have already made it to the quarterfinals of the tournament. Given that two of them will play each other, America will be represented in the semi-final with one hundred percent probability.
In general, the last time three Americans played in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open exactly 23 years ago. Then it was Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi and Chris Woodruff. The first two are absolute tennis legends. By the way, Agassi then played in the final with our Yevgeny Kafelnikov and won a difficult victory in four sets. And now, after more than two decades, the Americans are again massively tearing apart rivals. Now it’s Sebastian Korda, Ben Shelton and Tommy Paul.
Moreover, it cannot be said that they are players with the prefix “top” at the moment. On the contrary, their high results look like a sensation, because Korda, Paul and Shelton are, respectively, on the 31st, 35th and 89th places in the world rankings. If we dig deeper, the trend with the upcoming dominance of American tennis becomes even more obvious. In the third round, there were eight tennis players representing the United States at once. That is, every fourth player at this stage has an American passport. This proportion was preserved in the ⅛ final
An isolated case or a new force in world tennis
But most importantly, the vast majority of these Americans are 25 or younger. That is, they are not even in the middle of the road, but are just getting ready to reach the peak of their careers. It is terrible to imagine what will happen, when and if they succeed. The Americans could, in theory, have their own Grand Slam semi-finals on a regular basis. They are brash, well-trained and superbly prepared physically.
The first two seeded Australian Open 2023, Rafael Nadal and Kasper Ruud, were eliminated from the tournament by American tennis players Mackenzie McDonald and Jenson Brooksby, respectively. Russian tennis star Daniil Medvedva was knocked out of the Australian Open by another American, Sebastian Korda, and German Alexander Zverev, Michael Mo. There is probably a very good diet in America that allows you to achieve such results.
But seriously speaking, it is quite obvious that the American training system in men’s tennis worked perfectly. And this is not just an isolated case when the stars converged. When you have eight people playing in the third round and three tennis players in the quarterfinals, this cannot be called an accident. So very soon quantity will gradually turn into quality. It’s nice that the second after the Americans in terms of representation in the ¼ finals are the Russians. Karen Khachanov and Andrei Rublev will try to prove that Russia is capable of confronting the United States at the highest level. All the more so for Khachanov to play just with Korda.
Source: Sportbox
I am a sports journalist who has written for a number of Sportish. I have a background in journalism and have been writing since I was young. My main focus is sports news, but I also write about general news. I am currently working as an author at Sportish.
January 25 Ukraine Elina Svitolina won against Mirra Andreeva In the 1/8 final at the Australian Open.
Elina won in two sets with scores of 6:2 and 6:4 in 1 hour 24 minutes. Svitolina faced Andreeva for the second time and defeated the Russian for the first time.
The best moments of tennis matches LIVE on Telegram channel Tennis on Sport.ua
Spor.ua invites you to familiarize yourself with the photo gallery of the confrontation between Svitolin and Andreev!
Elina will compete against world number three Coco Gauff in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open.
🏆 Australian Open 2026. 1/8 final
Elina Svitolina [12] – 🏳️ Mirra Andreeva [8] – 6:2, 6:4
PHOTOGRAPH. He pushed another Russian woman away. How it happened: Svitolina beat Andreeva
Source: Sport UA
I am a sports journalist who has worked in print and online. I have authored articles for a sports website and have covered sports news for over 6 years.
January 25, Australian Open 2026 Ukrainian youth started.
In the main draws of the competition, Ukraine is represented by one tennis player and three tennis players: Nikita Belozertsev, Antonina Sushkova, Sofia Belinskaya and Polina Sklyar.
All four Ukrainian teenagers won their starting matches and advanced to the 1/16 final.
Australian Open 2026. Youth
R1: Nikita Belozertsev [6] – Aaro Gabet [Q] – 6:4, 6:1
R2: Nikita Belozertsev [6] – Vihaan Reddy
R1: Antonina Sushkova – Zhang Qian Wei – 7:6 (7:1), 6:4
R2: Antonina Sushkova – Ellen Hirschi
R1: Polina Sklyar [Q] – Teresa Germanova – 6:4, 6:2
R2: Polina Sklyar [Q] – Ksenia Efremova [3]
R1: Sofia Belinskaya – Emily Chen [WC] – 6:3, 6:4
R2: Sofia Belinskaya – Maia Ilinka Burcescu
Nikita Belozertsev and Polina Sklyar performed in the doubles tournament on Sunday. Unfortunately, no one made it to the second round.
Antonina Sushkova and Sofia Belinskaya will also compete in the girls’ doubles category; They will face each other in the first round.
Australian Open 2026. Couples. Youth
Nikita Belozertsev / Jamie Mackenzie- Ymerali İbrahimi / Cooper Pouch [WC] – 6:7 (6:8), 6:4, [5:10]
Polina Sklyar / Aishi Das- Mariella Tamm / Zhang Rui’en [6] – 5:7, 7:6 (7:2), [6:10]
Source: Sport UA
I am a sports journalist who has worked in print and online. I have authored articles for a sports website and have covered sports news for over 6 years.
Ukrainian tennis player Elina Svitolina She held a press conference after defeating Mirra Andreeva in the 1/8 final of the Australian Open 2026:
– Elina, congratulations on reaching the quarter-finals here for the fourth time. What does it feel like?
– Yeah, that’s great. Another chance to play in the semi-finals. But I am very happy with the match, and I am also very happy with my performance today. I think I implemented the plan well. I am very pleased with the result.
– Your next opponent will be Coco. If we talk about the preparations for this match in terms of temperature, I believe that the conditions will be similar to yesterday, at the same temperature. I know you don’t know when and where you’ll play yet. How do you prepare for conditions where temperatures will be very high?
– I didn’t actually think about it. I tried to prepare for today’s match. Someone told me a few days ago that it would be hot on Tuesday. So I’ll have to prepare. I think the preparations will start tomorrow with fluid intake and trying to stay calm. I think it’s important to prepare as much as you can, but we’ll both be in the same conditions. It is important to use tomorrow just to rest and prepare for this intense heat.
– You had incredible matches with Coco. What are your expectations and what do you need to do to reach your target semi-final?
– I need to discuss the plan with the coach and understand how to implement it. We had difficult matches, the last two I think were in three sets. We made the final in Auckland and the US Open a few years ago. We know each other’s game well. It is important to work on some points tomorrow, meet with the coach and be prepared for extreme heat. We will play not only against each other, but also against the conditions in which we will have to play in the heat.
– Is it more convenient for you to play in the daylight or under the roof?
– Of course, it’s better to play later. But I don’t decide the program. Maybe one match will be in the afternoon and the other in the evening. In the evening the weather is more pleasant, although the ball will still fly faster due to the heat, but in general everything will be fine.
– Considering the previous three quarter-finals, what does it mean to you to reach the semi-finals?
“Of course it means a lot to me, but I don’t want to think about it too much.” This is another opportunity to go far in the tournament. I want to focus on recovery and the game plan I need to execute well. These are my priorities now. If everything goes well, we will have a chance to win the next match.
– What gives you the confidence that you can take your game a step or two further?
– We did our pre-season preparations well. We worked on a lot of things on tactical issues. It was important to analyze what went well in 2025 and understand what could be improved and how. We worked with statistics, looked at where I could improve my serving, receiving and other aspects of the game. It opened my eyes to some things that I continue to work on. Everything is going well but the year is long, we have to keep going. The main priority is to stay in shape.
We made our pre-season preparations well. We worked on a few things. We worked on many tactical issues. It was important for me in 2025 to analyze what I did well and try to find where and how I could improve; We noticed a few tactical points. We worked with statistics to understand where I could improve my serving, receiving and overall game. It’s really opened my eyes to some things and I’m trying to work on them. I think it’s working so far but it’s been a long year so I need to keep going. I think the priority is still to stay fit.
– In your match against Mirra today, you won 15 of 20 points on her second serve – 75%. Was this planned? How much did that help you win in straight sets?
“It was important for me to apply pressure. Because if I let him get ahead in the rally, he can hit the ball very well to score points. He knows how to win matches, how to win tournaments. So for me it was important to try to take the initiative first and find a way to win because he is a very cunning tennis player. He changes the tempo, the length of the strokes. So you have to adapt very quickly and make split-second decisions to go to the ball or direct the ball to the right place.”
– Today Alexandra Oleynikova again commented on the situation with the war and stated that she was not happy that Arina Sabalenka had large advertising contracts. Do you have any thoughts about Russian and Belarusian players, their sponsorship deals and participation in Tours?
“I really have nothing to say about this.” I don’t know exactly what you said, so I don’t know.
Source: Sport UA
I am a sports journalist who has worked in print and online. I have authored articles for a sports website and have covered sports news for over 6 years.
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