Ivan Lendl speaks on the lack of Grand Slam titles in American men's tennis - "Everyone got spoiled by Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi"

Retired American tennis star Ivan Lendl has jokingly blamed Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi for spoiling American tennis fans with a combined tally of 22 Grand Slam titles during the 1990's and the early 2000's.

After John McEnroe won the 1984 US Open, none of the American players lifted a Grand Slam trophy until 17-year-old Michael Chang's 1989 French Open triumph. This was followed by the dominance of players like Sampras, Agassi, and Jim Courier, who pocketed a total of 26 titles, the last one coming at the 2003 Australian Open.

Speaking on the Craig Shapiro Tennis Podcast recently, eight-time Grand Slam champion Lendl opined that even without Majors, American male players have done very well over the last two decades. He stated that winning Grand Slam titles was extremely difficult, particularly on the men's circuit.

"Well, I think the guys are doing pretty good, actually," admitted Lendl. "I think the USTA has done an okay job. It's difficult to criticize because winning Majors, especially in men's tennis, is a lot harder than people think.

"Everybody got spoiled by Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi, and so on. They think it's coming, I mean you look at John McEnroe with seven, Jimmy Connors with eight, Andre with eight, Pete with 14, and then all of a sudden, you have nothing for ten years. Well, don't think the other guys can't play, they're a lot better than you think."

Former World No.1 Andy Roddick won the 2003 US Open and it looked like he had taken over from the legends of his country. However, he could not add another trophy to his cabinet. It has been 19 years since an American man tasted success at one of the Grand Slams.