There was a time when a U.S. Open quarterfinal between two big-hitting American men could just be referred to as “tennis” rather than a historic night for the sport in this country.
This is the way the home Grand Slam would always be for the country that has won the Davis Cup, the sport’s national competition, more than any other. But it wasn’t that way, not for 18 years, Tuesday night, and then Tuesday night when two young Black men, Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton made it so again.
They came to it from different places — Tiafoe, the son of a maintenance man at a tennis center in suburban Maryland, Shelton the son of a former tour pro once ranked 55th in the world who became a highly regarded college coach.