American women have been at the forefront of the tennis world for decades, with legends such as Billie Jean King, Serena Williams, and Chris Evert leading the way over the years.
There have been American winners at Grand Slams since the inception of the format, and it has been no different in the last few years, with Coco Gauff‘s triumph at the US Open in 2021 and Madison Keys’ victory at the Australian Open.
Four of the world’s top ten are from the US, including Gauff, Keys, Jessica Pegula and Emma Navarro.
The American major champions of the last two years spoke on the prevalence of players from their country in the women’s game ahead of Roland Garros.
Coco Gauff says having US role models who have played tennis inspires American players
When asked on media day at Roland Garros why American women’s tennis players are so good, Gauff said: “Other than the obvious size of the country and things like that, that plays a big role.
“But I feel like us having a lot of role models to look up to throughout the history of the sport, there have always been multiple American women doing well in the sport, so it inspires other people to do that.
“And obviously, when you have had people who have done that before, and the coaches are still very involved in the sport, it helps develop young players.
“We have a lot of resources in the US, thankfully, when it comes to tennis, so I think that also helps.
And being on tour, seeing your compatriot do well, you have to remember a lot of us grew up playing against each other in juniors, lost to each other and beat each other.
“I think if you see your friend who you beat in juniors and they do super well in a slam, you say okay we were at the same level at this age, so I don’t see why I can’t do the same.
“A lot of tennis and a lot of being successful is literally just that belief factor. It’s not as much the game. I think we have a lot of belief in our country due to the amount of success we have had over the years.”
Madison Keys says her American compatriots help push each other
When asked the same question, Keys responded: “I think the American women, we have had many years of long success with a lot of us being in the top 10 or 20. We have had a large group always.
“I think that has really helped push all of us to continue to do better. I grew up playing with a lot of these girls and now there’s even the younger generation.
“I think it’s just that we have a lot of really good competition and we have been able to keep pushing each other throughout our entire careers and I think it’s shown that not only have we all made it to the pros but we all continue to push each other, even later in our careers and are continuing to do well.
“I really think it’s been the sheer amount of players we have in juniors and from there there has been a lot of us who have just had success.”
Both Gauff and Keys will look to clinch a second Grand Slam title at Roland Garros.
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