By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Wednesday June 7, 2023
Coco Gauff’s 6-4, 6-2 loss to Iga Swiatek on Wednesday in Paris sets a new record for American tennis. The American men and women have gone 12 consecutive majors without bringing home a Grand Slam singles titles, which marks the longest streak in history.
The stat reflects the complete embarrassment of riches that US tennis has enjoyed since, basically, forever.
According to NBC Sports, the previous longest drought record of 11 Grand Slams in a row without a men’s or women’s singles title started after Chuck McKinley’s win at 1963 and ended at Wimbledon in 1966 with the first of Billie Jean King‘s 12 major singles titles.
The 12-major drought for U.S. women alone is the longest since Monica Seles won the 1996 Australian Open. Seles did play many years under the American flag, in case you were wondering.
The main reason the streak had not been broken until now is due to the fact that Serena and Venus Williams kept American tennis in the money for the better part of two decades. Serena’s last Slam came at the Australian Open in 2017.
The last American man to win was Andy Roddick at the 2003 U.S. Open.