Taylor Fritz responds after being asked when he thinks an American man is going to win a Grand Slam tournament

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Taylor Fritz has been enjoying his time at the Miami Open so far, with his efforts taking him to the last 16.

Fritz’s maturity was praised by Stevie Johnson prior to Indian Wells, where the American fell in the round of 16 to eventual champion Jack Draper.

The former has since moved on to the Miami Open, where he has beaten Matteo Gigante and 27th seed Denis Shapovalov.

Fritz, the Miami Open third seed, beat the former 7-6(7-2), 6-3 in round two and the latter 7-5, 6-3 in round three.

And those wins have set up a round of 16 meeting with Adam Walton, who is a lucky loser at the ATP Masters 1000 event after losing in qualifying.

Taylor Fritz predicts American men’s Grand Slam winner

Fritz is one of three home players remaining at this stage of the competition, joined by Brandon Nakashima and Sebastian Korda.

And the state of American men’s tennis was raised in his latest press conference, having been asked when he thinks they can finally break the nation’s Grand Slam drought.

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“We have a really deep group,” said Fritz. “A really good group of guys and we have all been making each other better for a very long time.

“The result of that is what we have now. The depth is unreal and I think with all the guys that are capable that we have at some point it is going to happen, the Slam.

“I got close. Especially me being that close and almost doing it, that obviously shows the other guys as well that it is right there.”

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American women, of course, do not have the same problem as their male counterparts, with Madison Keys having just won the Australian Open.

But remarkably, Andy Roddick remains the last American man to achieve that feat with his 2003 US Open success.

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It remains to be seen if that drought can be ended this year, with the men already blowing one chance after Jannik Sinner’s Australian Open win.

As he mentioned, Fritz did, of course, come very close to ending all those years of pain, but just fell short in last year’s US Open final with Sinner.

He remains the highest-ranked American player in the ATP rankings, with his compatriots needing to up their games given he is the only one in the top 10 at this moment in time.

Tommy Paul is certainly showing signs of future major success after recently breaking the top 10, although given his age, it is perhaps 22-year-old Ben Shelton who holds the most promise.