While Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner wrote another chapter in their great rivalry at the French Open 2025, the plight of the American men’s tennis continued to be the same, with Tommy Paul being the best-performing male player at Roland Garros, losing in the quarterfinals to Alcaraz.
However, things are looking up for the female American tennis players. While the male players of the US continue to be dominated by their European counterparts, the US women have managed to win the first two Grand Slams of the year.
Coco Gauff won her first French Open title
Gauff beat the world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in three sets in the French Open final to win her second Grand Slam title. In January, Madison Keys, the 30-year-old American, won her maiden Grand Slam title at the Australian Open.
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In fact, the recent American dominance in women's tennis started at the WTA Finals last year, when Gauff lifted her maiden title. Thus, American women have won the titles at each of the last three biggest tournaments.
However, the scene is not entirely dominated by them. Sabalenka is comfortably the top-ranked female player in the world, leading second-placed Gauff by around 4000 ranking points. Iga Swiatek's form has seen a major slump, but she is still around and could very well regain her touch.
Still, it cannot be denied that American women are going through a purple patch at the moment, with the 21-year-old Gauff at the forefront. This is a throwback to the first 15 years of this century and the last two decades of the previous one, when names like Chris Evert, Lindsay Davenport, Venus and Serena Williams, and Jennifer Capriati dominated women's tennis.
The last decade or so has not been great for American women in tennis
Sloane Stephens won an odd US Open title in 2017, but otherwise, the European women dominated the scene primarily. Serena Williams' last Grand Slam win came at the Australian Open in 2017, which means that prior to Keys' triumph in Melbourne this year, the American women managed to win only four of the 32 Grand Slam titles from 2017 to 2024.
That was a pretty ordinary eight-year spell for the American female tennis players, but they seem to have turned a corner now. Keys is on the wrong side of 30 now, but Gauff is still pretty young and might go on to win more Grand Slam titles in the future. Hence, American women's tennis seems to be in good hands at the moment.
