In 2009, Juan Martin del Potro beat Roger Federer to win the US Open for Argentina; 17 years later, he stays the final non-European Grand Slam winner | Tennis Information

Juan Martin del Potro is the final non-European to win the Grand Slam title (Picture: X and Company)

There was a time when males’s Grand Slam tennis had champions from throughout the globe. Australia, the USA, Argentina and South Africa all produced main winners, including totally different types and tales to the game’s greatest tournaments. However the panorama has modified dramatically.Juan Martin del Potro’s historic 2009 US Open triumph stays the final time a non-European man gained a Grand Slam singles title. The Argentine defeated five-time defending champion Roger Federer in a five-set closing at Flushing Meadows, producing one of many greatest upsets of his profession. Greater than 17 years later, that victory nonetheless stands as the latest males’s singles Grand Slam title gained by a participant from exterior Europe.Since then, the lads’s Grand Slam scene has been dominated virtually completely by European stars. Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic drove the primary a part of that period, earlier than the following technology led by Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and Alexander Zverev continued the pattern.The numbers make the change significantly putting. From 2010 by way of 2026, each accomplished males’s singles Grand Slam has been gained by a European participant. The one exception by way of a event not having a champion was Wimbledon in 2020, which was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

From the Large Three to Alcaraz, Sinner and Zverev

Federer, Nadal and Djokovic had been answerable for a lot of Europe’s extraordinary dominance in the course of the 2010s. Nadal repeatedly dominated Roland-Garros, Djokovic collected titles on the Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open, whereas Federer continued so as to add main trophies.Andy Murray of Nice Britain additionally broke by way of throughout this era, profitable Wimbledon twice and the 2012 US Open. Switzerland’s Stan Wawrinka, Croatia’s Marin Cilic and Austria’s Dominic Thiem had been among the many different Europeans to raise Grand Slam trophies.The transition to the following technology has not modified the geographical sample.Spain’s Alcaraz gained the 2026 Australian Open, finishing a profession Grand Slam at simply 22 years outdated. He grew to become the youngest man to win all 4 main singles titles.Germany’s Alexander Zverev then captured his maiden Roland-Garros title in 2026 earlier than including the US Open trophy yesterday in New York. His Paris triumph additionally made him the primary German man to win Roland-Garros within the Open Period.Italy’s Jannik Sinner, in the meantime, continued his rise by profitable Wimbledon in 2026.

The game has produced main champions from exterior Europe earlier than, with the likes of Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Jim Courier, Michael Chang, Arthur Ashe, Guillermo Vilas and Del Potro proving that Grand Slam success isn’t restricted to 1 continent.However the fashionable period tells a really totally different story. From Federer and Nadal to Djokovic, Alcaraz, Sinner and Zverev, European gamers have managed the largest phases for greater than a decade and a half.