But Wimbledon, for whatever reason, has always been a place where Americans thrive. As we've been frequently reminded this year, Serena and Venus have combined to win nine of the last eleven women's titles, and the nineties were all but ruled by Pete Sampras on the men's side. Go back a bit further and you get legendary champions like Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova -- admittedly a Czech by birth, but now quite American in practice. Something about the lawn sport certainly does seem to suit these players' game -- and the early matches this year at the All England Club have certainly proven that.

But the more impressive wins came from players still largely off the radar.
Houston champion Ryan Sweeting broke into the top hundred earlier this year, but since 2006 he's only won two matches at the Majors. After giving up a break lead in his first two sets against Spain's Pablo Andujar on Monday, it looked like he was in for another early exit. But he finally managed to hold onto a lead in the third and forced a decider by winning a fourth set tiebreak. After nearly four hours of play, the twenty-four year old walked away with the win. As a reward, he's earned a rematch against world #1 Rafael Nadal, who beat him handily in Melbourne. Still, pulling off the win bodes well for his future.

Ryan Harrison was also making his Wimbledon debut, though he first started to get everyone's attention at last year's U.S. Open when he downed Ivan Ljubicic and came THISCLOSE to beating Sergiy Stakhovsky in the second round. He's been hanging out on the Challenger's Tour this year, but might be about to break into the big leagues. Against one of my sleeper favorites, Ivan Dodig, he held serve to a first-set tiebreak and steamrolled his opponent in the second. Nearing quitting time in London, the pair exchanged breaks in the third before Harrison consolidated his lead and took the match -- his first straight-set victory yet at a Slam. It gets harder from here, of course, with a second round date with David Ferrer -- but this nineteen-year-old is also playing with confidence that belies his age.

It's not all good news for the Americans, of course. Coco Vandeweghe, another lady carrying high hopes fell in straight sets to Eleni Daniilidou while Alison Riske wasn't able to convert after pushing last year's runner-up Vera Zvonareva to a third set. And my dear James Blake was able to come back from two sets down to Marcos Baghdatis, but surrendered a break lead in the fifth before succumbing.
Still the resilience of the Americans on foreign soil is certainly encouraging -- and as we look to the sport's future in this country, I'm finally excited to say it sure seems bright.
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