For the first time since 2003, four American men make it to the round of 16 at the U.S. Open when Andy Roddick, John Isner and Donald Young win their matches on Sunday, joining Mardy Fish in the fourth round.
"I think there's a healthy jealousy going on right now, which is good," said Roddick. "If Donald Young sees Ryan Harrison play well in the summer, he's going to not want to fall behind. I think that's what you saw with that golden generation [Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Jim Courier and Michael Chang] is that they were able to push each other. It's a great thing to see. You just feel there's a little bit of momentum. There is a bit of a snowball effect at times if it goes the right way. Seems like there's some of that right now."
No other country has four men in the round of 16, to which Isner replied, "It's pretty impressive."
Fish will face former Australian Open finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Monday, while on Tuesday 2003 U.S. Open champ Roddick will play No. 5 David Ferrer (whom he just lost to in Davis Cup), the unseeded Young will confront Andy Murray [whom he upset in March at Indian Wells] and 28th seed Isner will go up against No. 12 Gilles Simon of France.
"I think the players, we've heard [about the decline of U.S. tennis] quite a bit," said Young who reached the fourth round of a major for the first time. "Not necessarily me all the time, but I'm sure Andy, Mardy, John, James [Blake] and Sam [Querrey] have heard it quite a bit. It's great. I think that's the way it should be here, especially at the U.S. Open. The crowd support really pull you through a lot of matches."