FANTASTIC FOUR: SLOANE, VENUS, COCO, AND KEYS MAKE IT A PARTY IN THE U.S.A. AT 2017 U.S. OPEN TENNIS

Written by: Staff on 7th September 2017

FANTASTIC FOUR: SLOANE, VENUS, COCO, AND KEYS MAKE IT A PARTY IN THE U.S.A. AT 2017 U.S. OPEN TENNIS

epa06186739 Venus Williams of the US hits a return to Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic during their US Open Tennis Championships quarterfinals round match at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA, 05 September 2017. The US Open runs through September 10. EPA-EFE/ANDREW GOMBERT |

By Ricky Dimon

Sloane Stephens and Venus Williams started it. Coco Vandeweghe and Madison Keys finished it off. Yes, it was a clean sweep for the American women in the U.S. Open quarterfinals on Tuesday and Wednesday, and the result is an all-American semifinal lineup on Thursday.

It is the first time this has happened for the United States at a Grand Slam since Wimbledon in 1985 and the first time this has happened at the U.S. Open since 1981. Only five times in the Open Era (since 1968) has a major featured four American women’s semifinalists:

– 1985 Wimbledon (Chris Evert, Zina Garrison, Martina Navratilova, Kathy Rinaldi)

– 1983 Australian Open (Zina Garrison, Kathy Jordan, Martina Navratilova, Pam Shriver)

– 1982 Australian Open (Chris Evert, Andrea Jaeger, Martina Navratilova, Pam Shriver)

– 1981 US Open (Tracy Austin, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Barbara Potter)

– 1979 US Open (Tracy Austin, Chris Evert, Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova)

Here is what each of the four 2017 U.S. Open semifinalists had to say about making more history:

Sloane: “It’s great. It’s great for American tennis. It’s great for African-American women. I hope that we keep it going. Yeah, there is not really much to say other than it’s amazing…. Obviously as an American, playing at your home slam, to have the crowd like that behind you, is incredible. I don’t think there is any better feeling or better moment you’ll get out of playing tennis.”

Venus: “It’s been a great two weeks for American tennis–seeing all the American players in the draw and all of them advancing so deep and competing so well. All I have known all my life was great American players. So it’s great to see this resurgence, and I hope it can continue.”

Coco: “Venus last night said it very well, that the younger ones were looking at Lindsay (Davenport), Jennifer (Capriati), and Serena and Venus. I think that still holds. We wanted to be those same players in a later generation. Now that we’re older, we can put that into words. We all wanted to be there. For myself, it’s really nice to have all-American semis, because for sure there [are going to be two Americans] in the final.”

Keys: “It’s really amazing, not only for myself but just for American tennis. Yeah, I’m really excited and proud of all of us for getting this far and having it going to be USA all the way. We have so many Americans to talk about in the last days of the US Open. I can’t tell you how many times I have sat in this chair and had to hear how horrible tennis is in America. So this feels really good, the fact that there is going to be two all-American semifinals; two people in the finals on Saturday.”