US men have always been at the forefront of world tennis, especially since I started following the tour around 20 years ago. I grew up at the end of the John McEnroe era when America had a new breed of top men's players bursting on to the scene at the end of the 1980s and beginning of the 1990s.

One of my first memories of the ATP tour was Michael Chang's superb victory at the French Open at only 17 years of age, defeating the great Swede Stefan Edberg in the final. Everyone thought Chang would go on to dominate the game and, although he had a brilliant career, the diminutive American never quite managed the success he so richly deserved.

You couldn't have found a more dedicated player on the tour. Unfortunately, Chang came along in the same era as the formidable Pete Sampras and crowd favourite Andre Agassi. Both these players are amongst the best tennis players ever to grace the court.

Sampras and his domination of Wimbledon put the USA in the limelight through much of the 90s, while Agassi's brilliant achievement of winning all four Grand Slam titles also made it a golden era for American tennis. Let's not also forget the powerful Jim Courier, former world No.1 and multiple Grand Slam winner.

These players were able to compete against the brilliant Europeans of that era – mainly Edberg, Boris Becker and Thomas Muster among others. They had the confidence and ability to play well under pressure and didn't disappoint. Since the retirement of Sampras and Agassi, success for the American men has been thin on the ground. Only Andy Roddick has managed to win a Grand Slam – the 2003 US Open.

Since then, failure has loomed in the American camp. Only four men from the USA now have a ranking inside the top 50. Roddick and James Blake head the list, followed by veteran Mardy Fish and the promising Sam Querrey. There seems to be very little else in the USA camp for the fans to get excited about.