US Open: Too much Zverev, when will an American male finally win?

Surely there is a kid out there, maybe in Texas, or New York, or even Maine, an American who will win the U.S. Open Tennis Championship. Another Andy Roddick who took the title in 2003.  Or even Ben Shelton, who gave everyone a thrill but couldn't give America that long-awaited title.

It's a funny sport, tennis, and for young American men, a frustrating one. People from Spain, Serbia, and even little Switzerland—Roger Federer, of course—have done it recently. Shelton, 23, was the latest hope, and it's difficult to fault his result. But Sunday, he came up against seasoned, confident, and, it turns out, brilliant under pressure, Alexander “Sascha” Zverev of Germany. Too much, it turns out. 

Seemingly half of New York City (hyperbole) was at Arthur Ashe Stadium Sunday, hoping Shelton could break the streak, as a few months earlier the hometown Knicks did, ending their 53 years of desperation.

But Zverev, 29, was too polished and too good, winning in four sets, 6-3, 7-6, 5-7, 6-2.  

In fact, the way he's performed this year, winning his first Grand Slam event at the French Open, or Roland Garros, then following it up 85 days later with this US Open, he is arguably the best male player in the world.

True, Jannik Sinner, No.1 in the rankings, missed this US Open because of an injury. But let's give credit to Sascha.

Two majors in a calendar year is hardly unimpressive.

Zverev half-apologized for being the wrong man at the right time. "I'm sorry it's the wrong winner this year," said Zverev. “I did my job, but thank you very much. The crowd, I know that today 99.9 per cent of people wanted Ben to win, so I'm very sorry, first of all."

Shelton had made a giant step forward in the quarterfinals, stunning multi-slam winner Carlos Alcaraz, and then outlasted fellow American, Frances Tiafoe, Friday in the semi-finals.

Hey, maybe this could be the breakthrough. However, Shelton, whose gigantic serves are the strength of his game, did not have the groundstrokes needed.  

"As the match went on, I would not ask myself anything more on the backhand side," Shelton explained. "But I did not hit my forehand well today. I was not accurate with it, when I attacked with it. I made too many errors when I had the ball there on my strings."

Up in the ESPN broadcast booth, outspoken John McEnroe, a former Open champion, his brother Patrick McEnroe, and briefly, Roddick all but pleaded for a Shelton victory—understandably.

But their preference did not affect their insightful explanation of why the match turned out the way it did. So to borrow that old baseball slogan, it's time again to wait for next year or the years after that.