LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Wimbledon is upon us, and American tennis is having a moment. Earlier this month, Coco Gauff became the first American in a decade - man or woman - to win the French Open. And there are half a dozen American players in the men's and women's top 10. NPR sports correspondent Becky Sullivan joins me now. Good morning.
BECKY SULLIVAN, BYLINE: Good morning.
FADEL: OK, so let's start with Coco Gauff. How does her big win at the French Open bode for her chances at Wimbledon?
SULLIVAN: Well, hard to say because the surfaces on the two courts are different. So at the French Open, Roland Garros - that's a clay surface, while the court at Wimbledon is grass.
FADEL: OK.
SULLIVAN: They play differently. You'll hear players say that clay plays slower, grass plays faster. So it's not uncommon for them - for players to have different sort of skill levels on the surfaces. And unfortunately, for Coco, grass has been a weakness. She, you know, has - as you say, she's won the French Open. She's also won the U.S. Open. She's reached the semifinals at the Australian Open. But at Wimbledon, she has never advanced past the fourth round, so that's her goal this year.
FADEL: I guess that's a surprise because Wimbledon is the place where she first came into the spotlight, right?
SULLIVAN: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. That was back in 2019. She was just 15 years old when she debuted there - her first-ever Grand Slam appearance. And that was a really big deal because she beat Venus Williams in the first round, and it was a huge story, seemingly the start of this new era for this great young star. But it ended up taking her a few years, really, to kind of grow into her talent. And over the weekend, she was reflecting on that moment and sort of comparing herself then to herself now. Let's listen to that.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
COCO GAUFF: That still feels crazy. It still feels like a dream, and that was, like, the start. I had so much belief. And I feel like now I kind of regained that belief in myself. I feel like I lost it somewhere along the way between, like, 15 and 19. I feel like now I still have that child-like confidence and also just having so much fun. Like, I'm really happy to be here.
SULLIVAN: And so, you know, a key part for her for having that fun she's talking about is to sort of lower the pressure on herself, keep that goal modest, just focus on reaching the quarterfinal.
FADEL: All right. How about the men? What are you looking for in the men's bracket?
SULLIVAN: I think everybody is going to be watching Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz. These are the top two players in the world. And I think that status, you know, it's firmly established. A few weeks ago, these two guys had an absolutely epic - and I don't use that word lightly - French Open final. Lasted 5 1/2 hours, and I think it was instantly in the conversation for one of the greatest finals ever in the history of the French Open. So now these two have come to London. Alcaraz won Wimbledon last year and the year before. Only a handful of guys have ever won three years in a row. So that would be an amazing accomplishment for Carlos Alcaraz, who's only 22. He's the favorite here.
FADEL: OK, and what about the American players?
SULLIVAN: Yeah, there are currently four guys in the top 13, which is - it's a remarkable thing for the American men in tennis, especially because they've been going through just a major decadeslong drought. An American man hasn't won a Grand Slam in more than 20 years. The last one was Andy Roddick back in 2003. So of this current bunch, the best is Taylor Fritz. He's currently ranked No. 5. He made the U.S. Open final last year. Then you also have this 22-year-old named Ben Shelton, who's on the rise right now. But I think, unfortunately, for them, the gap between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, and then everyone else, is really huge right now.
For any of the Americans to win this, I think they'd probably need the match of their lives against one of those guys. But the other thing I should say, Leila, to watch out for just for Wimbledon, the first time in the storied history of this event, that there won't be line judges, those hundreds of, like, impeccably dressed men and women who are standing on the sidelines to see if the ball goes in or out of bounds. They - Wimbledon is now using the same electronic technology we see at the U.S. Open, Australian Open - big change for the most traditional event in tennis.
FADEL: That's NPR's Becky Sullivan. Thank you, Becky.
SULLIVAN: You're welcome.
(SOUNDBITE OF TRENT REZNOR AND ATTICUS ROSS' "I KNOW") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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