American tennis is surging; a long-awaited Indian Wells title could be next

INDIAN WELLS -- After the US Open, the BNP Paribas Open is probably the most sought-after American tennis title for Americans.

You might think a homegrown woman would have found a way to win here in the desert sometime over the past couple of decades. If so, you’d think wrong. It’s been 24 years since Serena Williams wrested the title from Kim Clijsters in a three-set final.

Before this year’s tournament, Madison Keys seemed to sense a change in the wind.

“I think it’s probably been a little while since there has been so many American women doing as well as they are,” Keys said. “I think not only are there the names that everyone obviously knows and are a little bit more established, but there’s also a ton of up-and-comers that are doing really, really well.

“I would not be surprised if you saw some really great results from the U.S. women.”

Keys, of course, won the season’s first Grand Slam singles title in Melbourne -- and, at the age of nearly 30, the first of her career. That moved Keys into the Top 5 in the PIF WTA Rankings, joining compatriots Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula in that rare air. It’s the first time three Americans have been ranked among the Top 5 since 2003, when Serena Williams, Lindsay Davenport and Jennifer Capriati were dominating.

“I think it’s just a really great group of women that I’ve grown up with that have continued to encourage and push and support each other,” Keys said. “When we see each other do well, we’re not only extremely excited for them, but with the support and kind of we’re all being cheerleaders with each other. I think it just helps push all of us to continue to have some really good success.”

It goes well beyond the very top, too. Amanda Anisimova won her first WTA Tour 1000 title in Dubai, vaulting into the Top 20 and just last week Pegula was the winner in Austin and Emma Navarro was crowned in Merida, Mexico. Including the United Cup -- where Gauff went 5-0 and led US to the team victory -- U.S. players have won seven of 14 titles contested so far.

Gauff’s eyes widened visibly when she heard that last statistic. She believes it’s been a collective, collaborative effort -- that extends to the men’s side, too. Taylor Fritz, Tommy Paul and Ben Shelton are all inside the Top 15, and there are eight American men among the Top 50.

“We’re all pushing each other to do better,” Gauff told reporters. “Now the men have strong depth, and I think that it just inspires us to do more. You see one win a tournament and you also want to do that.”

Fritz, the No. 4-ranked player on the ATP Tour, went even further.

“I think it’s great that we are kind of building the tennis, we can help build the tennis culture in the U.S.,” he said. “I think that’s something that I wanted to contribute to help my whole career. I think the women have been doing an incredible job of that for a long, long time, and I think the guys kind of need to step it up a little bit.”

Sparking the belief

These days, Pam Shriver is an astute broadcaster for ESPN’s Grand Slam coverage, a mother of three and, here at Indian Wells, the coach of No. 20-ranked Donna Vekic. She’s also one of most decorated U.S. players in history, winning 133 singles and doubles titles combined on the WTA Tour.

“I think it’s unusual that we’ve had a numbers gap on the women’s side,” Shriver said, standing by the players’ soccer pitch. “We always had great names at the top -- Venus and Serena. But this feels more conjoined, more momentum grabbing.”

Shriver pointed to three events that, in her mind, led to this American resurgence that, in her words, “sparked the belief.” The first came at the 2017 US Open, when a 16-year-old Anisimova was a 6-0, 6-2 winner in the junior final over 13-year-old Gauff, the youngest girls’ singles finalist in tournament history.

“Whenever you have two juniors reach the finals of a Grand Slam,” Shriver said, “that’s a big deal.”

Six years later, Gauff was the 2023 US Open champion, defeating Aryna Sabalenka in a three-set final. That was a signal, Shriver said, to her fellow Americans -- even those younger than her -- of what was possible.

“I don’t consider myself a mentor or anything,” the 20-year-old Gauff said. “I’m just me. I’m just out here vibing, trying to do my best. But it is cool.”

The third was Pegula’s run to the final of last year’s US Open. She had turned 30 in February and her Grand Slam resume showed six quarterfinals reached since 2021 -- but never further. This time, she surprised Iga Swiatek in the quarters and Karolina Muchova in the semifinals before losing in the final to Sabalenka.

“Everyone can relate to getting stuck -- in the rankings, at a certain level of big tournaments,” Shriver said. “That was a really good thing for the Americans to see Pegula break through at her home Slam. Another example of the power of perseverance.

“It shows in the diversity of this group.”

Not out of their depth

Indeed, beyond the quality of play among the American women, there is an undeniable quantity as well. Six are ranked among the Top 20 and 17 in the Top 100, four more than the next-best nation.

While Gauff, Pegula and Keys are the marquee names, there are a lot of different moving, grooving parts not far behind. 

No. 8-ranked Navarro hurtled into the Top 10 only three years after winning the NCAA Division 1 singles title as a freshman at the University of Virginia. No. 14 Danielle Collins had the season of her career in 2024 -- at the age of 30. No. 41 Ashlyn Krueger is only 20 but has been playing professionally for nearly five years.

Taylor Townsend is a Top 100 singles player -- and a mother -- but the 28-year-old, along with Katerina Siniakova, is also part of the World No. 1 doubles team. They won Wimbledon last year and have already taken titles at the Australian Open and in Dubai.

Another testament to America’s depth is the fact that No. 228 Whitney Osuigwe won both her qualifying matches. It’s her first WTA main draw in nearly four years -- she nearly made the Top 100 as a teenager but she’s still only 22.

So … why now?

“That’s a great question,” Pegula said on Wednesday. “I don’t really know exactly why now, but I just think that our depth is pretty incredible. I think we’re just seeing more Americans maybe in the Top 10, obviously Top 20, for sure. 

“Having Coco and Maddie win Slams over the last couple of years as Americans is huge for women’s tennis or for women’s tennis in America. I don’t know if maybe that’s kind of inspiring to maybe some of the lower-ranked Americans to do really well or the younger generation.”

Gauff, for one, is ready to end America’s 0-for streak at Indian Wells.

“I don’t remember the last time an American woman has won this tournament,” Gauff said in her press conference.

Serena Williams in 2001, she was told.

“OK, so before I was born,” Gauff acknowledged. “Every year they love to remind us of that stat when we compete. We’re all like, ‘Who’s it going to be?’ I was in the semis last year, so I was hoping it would be me. Hopefully this year we can, and if it’s not me I hopefully it's an American.”

A win by an American here at the BNP Paribas Open, Pegula believes, could help grow the game in a nation whose population exceeds 325 million.

“To get an American to win it I think would only grow that exposure of tennis in the U.S. which would be really, really cool,” Pegula said. “Even for me, if I didn’t watch that much, I’d want to go watch someone that's from the same country, and that's an American.

“I think that goes a long way, especially in a country where we have so many other dominant sports. The fact that we have that depth I think is going to help tennis fans in the U.S. a lot to kind of get behind the sport and find their American to root for, because there is definitely a lot of us.”