America has waited 23 years for this, could one of these men finally win the US Open?

Twenty-three years after Andy Roddick became the last American man to win a Grand Slam, the US Open arrives with something the country hasn't had in a long time: genuine depth, genuine contenders, and a draw that could allow several of them to make a serious run.

The drought has lasted 23 years. This might finally be the American generation capable of ending it. No American man has won a Grand Slam singles title since Andy Roddick at the 2003 US Open. For years, the drought has felt less like an impending breakthrough and more like a defining feature of American men's tennis. Even reaching a major final became almost impossible: Taylor Fritz's run to the 2024 US Open final was the first by an American man since Roddick's last one.

Now, for perhaps the first time in years, there is a genuine reason to believe the wait could be coming to an end.

Shelton arrives as the highest-ranked American in the draw and, on current form, the best-placed of any of them to make a run. The 23-year-old left-hander has won four titles already in 2026 — Dallas, Munich (becoming the first American man to win an ATP 500-or-higher clay title since Andre Agassi in 2002), Stuttgart, and a successful defence of his Canadian Open crown in Montreal, where he didn't drop a set across six matches.

That result pushed him back to a career-high-adjacent No. 6. His US Open history helps the case: a run to the semifinal in 2023 remains the best Grand Slam result of his career outside the 2025 Australian Open semi.

He opens against Tallon Griekspoor, the man who upset Zverev in Montreal, and a third-round meeting with Cameron Norrie looks plausible from there — tough, but nothing Shelton hasn't already handled this summer.

Fritz remains the safest bet among the Americans, if only because he's already proven he can do this. The 2024 finalist is seeded 9th after a stop-start 2026 in which he hasn't gone beyond the fourth round at any major, but he arrives off an excellent North American hard-court stretch that included a title in Washington.

At 28, he's finishing his fourth straight year in the top 10, and few players in the sport have done more to systematically sand down the weaknesses in their game. His draw looks kind early: he opens against 18-year-old American wildcard Darwin Blanch, with a fourth-round assignment against Flavio Cobolli the more testing task before the tournament's business end begins.

Given his pedigree here specifically — a final, and the composure that comes with having already done it once — more than one bracket preview has quietly installed him as the American with the best chance of going all the way.

Tiafoe's résumé at this tournament outstrips almost anyone left in the men's game not named Medvedev — only the Russian has won more US Open matches than Tiafoe's tally since 2020, built on back-to-back semifinal runs in 2022 and 2023. That history sits awkwardly next to a 2026 season that saw him drop outside the top 20 for the first time since 2021, prompting a coaching change heading into the year.

The draw hasn't done him any favors in round one, either: Tiafoe opens against fellow American Martin Damm, who pushed him to four tight sets in this same tournament a year ago. Win that, and a projected fourth-round meeting with Brandon Nakashima would make for the second all-American clash of his tournament inside two rounds — exactly the kind of magnetic, slightly awkward storyline this suddenly deep American men's field keeps producing.

No American at this tournament has a more interesting 2026 than Tien. The 20-year-old lefty from Irvine, California, reached the Australian Open quarterfinal in January, won the title in Geneva, and then produced the run of his career at the Canadian Open in Montreal — beating Gael Monfils and fellow American Tommy Paul back to back to reach his first Masters 1000 semifinal, eventually falling to Shelton. That run lifted him to a career-high No. 12, closer to a top-10 debut than to the outside-the-top-20 ranking he carried into the season.

The catch is that none of it has happened in New York. Tien has lost in the first round in all four of his previous US Open appearances, a striking gap in an otherwise rapidly rising résumé. At 20, with a game built on flat, early-contact groundstrokes that already troubles the tour's best, this is the major where he has the most to prove — and, on current form, arguably the best chance he's ever had to finally prove it.

Paul is the quietest name on this list, and also one of the most tested — a fixture in the world's top 20-30 for several years now, with a Grand Slam quarterfinal already on his résumé from the 2023 Australian Open. His 2026 has been steadier than spectacular, seeded 20th here after a summer that included that loss to Tien in Montreal.

His projected route puts him in the same section as Alcaraz, with a potential fourth-round meeting against the returning Spaniard looming as the kind of match that could define his tournament either way. Paul has never gone beyond the third round at his home major, and at 29, with the depth of the American men's field only growing around him, this feels like a tournament where he needs a result more than most of the names above him on this list.

Nakashima's 2026 breakthrough has been one of the quieter stories of the American resurgence. The 25-year-old reached his first career Masters 1000 final in Montreal this August, pushing Shelton to a final-set tiebreak before falling 6-3, 7-6(4), and the run carried him to a career-high ranking as world No. 17 — enough to earn him the No. 16 seed here, his highest ever at a major.

He opens against Sebastian Baez, and a fourth-round meeting with Tiafoe is the projected reward for winning that section — a matchup that would say plenty about how far Nakashima's game has come regardless of the result. Steady, clean ball-striking and a serve that's improved noticeably over the past two years have made him a genuine threat rather than a name that simply fills out the seeding list.

Beyond the six names above, several younger and lower-ranked Americans give this field real depth. Alex Michelsen, 21, had a quietly encouraging 2025 — a first fourth-round Grand Slam appearance at the Australian Open and a first Masters 1000 quarterfinal in Canada, plus a win over Lorenzo Musetti — and opens this year's tournament against a qualifier, a winnable draw that could set up a bigger second-week test.

Jenson Brooksby, back on tour after a 13-month suspension tied to missed doping-control tests rather than a positive result, has quietly rebuilt himself into a top-50-level player in his first full season in 2026, with wins over Auger-Aliassime, Tiafoe and Paul, and finals reached on both clay and grass this year.

Martin Damm, 21 and the son of 2006 US Open doubles champion Martin Damm Sr., has already shown he can trouble seeded Americans, taking Tiafoe the distance here last year and drawing him again in round one this time. Michael Zheng, a 22-year-old Columbia University product and back-to-back NCAA singles champion, has broken into the ATP's top 150 this season on the back of a Challenger-level win streak — still a long way off the others on this list, but a reminder of how deep the pipeline behind them has become.

None of it guarantees an end to the drought. But between a proven finalist, a two-time semifinalist, a red-hot Masters champion, and a teenager finally arriving at the one major that's eluded him, American men's tennis hasn't had this many credible paths to a US Open title at once in a very long time.

1. Ben Shelton — Best combination of form, ranking and US Open pedigree.

2. Taylor Fritz — Proven he can reach the final.

3. Learner Tien — Highest upside and perhaps the most intriguing breakout candidate.

4. Brandon Nakashima — Montreal suggests he's ready to take another step.

5. Frances Tiafoe — US Open pedigree keeps him dangerous. 6. Tommy Paul — Reliable, but his New York ceiling remains a concern.

For 23 years, the question surrounding American men's tennis has been when the next Grand Slam champion will arrive. This time, for once, the question doesn't feel quite so impossible to answer.