This happens every year, every Grand Slam tournament, until years turn into decades, and a 21-year drought continues with no U.S. men's tennis champion at the biggest tournament of the year. It always starts with one American losing in the men's draw, and it always ends with the rest of the Americans being eliminated.
And on Thursday at Louis Armstrong Stadium, Sebastian Korda, No. 16 in the U.S. Open seeding order but the fourth-highest American, beat unseeded Tomas Maczak 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 in a second-round match, causing the first cracks in the foundation of the country's young tennis players chasing an elusive title.
Korda never fully recovered after losing the final four games of the opening set and became the first seeded American player to be eliminated in men's singles, with Tommy Paul needing to win his afternoon match to reach the third round.
Korda led 4-2 in the first set and had a chance to serve for three games down, but Maczak broke Korda to pull within one game and never lost the set again.
Korda took a medical timeout after the third game of the second set to have his right arm examined by a trainer, who examined it again later in the match.
And yet Korda led 3-0 at the start of the third set. There were fist pumps. His shots were crisp. It was a fleeting flash of the potential that sparked his rise in the first place.
But facing a break point at 4-3 in the third set, Maczak bounced back with a 119 mph serve, then Korda hit a shot into the net to take the set. Maczak won the next two games and celebrated with his hands raised after advancing to book a spot in the third round later this week.
Korda is just 24. He's the son of former Grand Slam champion Petr Korda and sister of top LPGA golfer Nelly Korda, and even after this latest setback, he remains a key part of the future of American tennis.
But Korda has only reached the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament once, lasted only to the third round in two of her Grand Slam appearances this year and failed to reach that point in any Open tournament.
Now, with the current situation and the overall drought, the number of players with a chance to end the drought is once again dwindling.
