They are America’s Fab Four and tennis is better for it.
If you even mentioned there will be four American’s in the Semifinals at the US Open back in January, heck back during Wimbledon, you would have been laughed at.
But here they are, the Fab Four: Madison Keys, Sloane Stephens, CoCo Vandeweghe and Venus Williams. One of these four women will be name US Open Champion on Saturday and frankly, you can’t go wrong with any of them.
“It’s really amazing, not only for myself but just for, you know, American tennis,” said Keys, who took the fourth slot tonight by beating Kaia Kanepi, 6-3 6-3. “Yeah, I’m really excited and, you know, proud of all of us for getting this far and having it going to be, you know, USA all the way.”
It is amazing because outside of Williams, none of these women were on the radar at the beginning of the season.
But Stephens got healthy and Keys learned how to hit back. Vandeweghe was able to contain her fiery personality and Williams found the fountain of youth.
No matter who you like, you can’t go wrong all four are very likable girls. Venus always displays class no matter where she goes. Stephens and Keys are very sweet and Vandeweghe is a New Yorker through and through.
“The younger ones were looking at Lindsay, Jennifer, and Serena and Venus,” Vandeweghe said. “I think that still holds of, you know, we wanted to be those same players in a later generation or be those. You know, now that we’re older, we can put that into words, but we all wanted to be there.
“For myself, I mean, it’s really nice to have an all-American semi on one side, because for sure there is going to be an American in the final.
“But I think it would be even more exciting for you guys to write about if there are two all-American semis.”
The last time this happened in a slam was 1985 at Wimbledon and 1981 here in Flushing Meadows.
Back then it was more commonplace, as it wasn’t a tournament if there wasn’t an American in the Finals. But the last decade things changed. Serena Williams held the mantle and if it wasn’t for her, you wouldn’t even have known about American tennis.
But now all of that has changed.
This may be Williams swan song, but the future is bright for the other three. You have to expect them to compete at a high level for years to come.
But before we look to 2018, there’s still some tennis left to play. One thing is for certain, tough, the 2017 US Open Women’s Champion will be from the good old United States.
And the Fab Four will be leading us for the foreseeable future.
Tennis is back and that’s a really good thing.
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