Welcome to our Channel US Open tifo Fritz pegula and Nao reached the semi-finals and make us tennis matter again it's been 21 years since an American man won a grand slam title but the country is guaranteed a male finalist at the US Open this weekend Francis Tao of the United States reacts after defeating Alexi poin of Australia during the fourth round of the US Open tennis tournament Sunday September 1 2024 in New York apoto Adam hunger New York AAP to hear Francis tyo tellit Taylor Fritz predicted this sort of moment for the two of them it was during an early morning plane ride together a few years ago that the conversation turned to the Future and possibilities Tifa recounted after setting up a US Open semi-final on Friday against Fritz another 26-year-old American that guarantees the United States will have a man in a grand slam title match for the first time since Andy rodic lost to Roger Federer at Wimbledon in 2009 he's a pretty to himself kind of dude and he's like bro I think me and you're going to be the one to two Americans in leading the way I was like dang dude it's 6: a.m. I'm pretty tired but let's do it why not he's kind of had that mindset and he's pushed me a lot you know what I mean Tif who is from Maryland said about the chat with longtime pal Fritz a Californian times I'm playing really bad or whatever the case may be and he's doing it or vice versa I think we have kind of always pushed each other said tyo who's known Fritz since they were participating in 14 and under tournaments more than a decade ago now I think think it's great that we get to compete against each other in such a big match and I'm happy for him I know he's happy for me this sort of thing has seemed to be on the horizon for a bit for American men thanks to a generation that includes the 20th seated tefo and 12 seated Fritz along with Tommy Paul and two younger players also in their 20s Ben Shelton and Sebastian Corda all five are ranked in the ATP top 20 they're also are five us women in the dodu top 20 including Jessica pegula who upset no one IIs we Tech 6 to2 6 to4 on Wednesday night to get to the semi-finals at Flushing Meadows and Emma AO who reached the final four with a win on Tuesday to follow up her upset of 2023 Champion Coco goof both pegula who plays unseated kolina machova of the shech Republic and Nao who faces no two Arena sabalenka of bellaris will be appearing in a major semi-final for the first time not since 1996 has the United States had five women and five men ranked this highly all at once and not since the 2003 US Open have there been two American women and two American men in the semi-finals at the same major it's great for American tennis said Nao a 23-year-old who was born in New York grew up in South Carolina and won an NC double a title for Virginia as a freshman in 2021 of course I want to see myself and my fellow Americans go as far as we can go in the tournament this is a country that produced the Williams sisters and their combined 30 grand slam singles titles other stars such as Chris ever and Billy Jin king plus more recent major Champions and Runners up such as Goff SLO Ste sovia Kennan Madison Keys and Danielle Collins the country's men went from the grand tradition of the likes of Don budge and Bill Tilden way back in the day to multiple slam Champs like Pete sras Andre gassi Jim cier John mackenro Jimmy Connors and Arthur Ash but the last major men's winner famously was rodic at the 2003 US Open making the current drought for the group by far the long longest in history the standard is always going to be a grand slim Champion said Martin Blackman the head of the US tennis association's player development program since 2015 that will always be the standard for American tennis but it had been a while since the men even were coming close when Tao reached the final four in New York 2 years ago beating 22 times slam Champion Rafal natal along the way it was the first time since rodic in 2006 that a male semi-finalist at the US Open was from the host country rodic got to the final that year before losing to Guess Who Federer at the next major after tfo's breakthrough the 2023 Australian Open Paul made it to the semi-finals before losing to Novak jokovic and at last year's US Open Shelton was a semi-finalist eliminating Tao in the quarterfinals before losing to jovic I was always genuinely just really happy for my friends to see them have the success said Fritz who was zero to four in Slam quarters before getting past two-time major runnerup Alexander zarev in four sets Tuesday and if anything it always gave me the confidence that I can do it too two of his quarter final exits were against doovic and one was against natal with Federer 43 or