What were you doing in the summer of 2009? Appraising Bradley Cooper’s comedic chops in The Hangover? Wondering if Obama could really get it together to pass a health-care bill? Collecting unemployment thanks to that pesky global recession? Look, the point is it was a long time ago. And that summer was also the last time a male American tennis player made it to a major championship final, when Andy Roddick lost in excruciating fashion to Roger Federer at Wimbledon. Since then, American women have made it to 29 finals and won 15 of them, 12 courtesy of Serena Williams. American men have largely been impotent at the big tournaments during that span. It’s been a far cry from the Pete Sampras– and Andre Agassi–dominated ’90s — or really from the rest of tennis history, which is replete with star-spangled men’s greats from Bill Tilden to Jimmy Connors.

This once-unimaginable losing streak will finally end on Sunday, when either Taylor Fritz or Frances Tiafoe enter Arthur Ashe Stadium with an opportunity to win one of the more topsy-turvy major tournaments in recent memory; the two go toe to toe in the semifinals on Friday for a spot in the final. On Tuesday, Fritz, who has been playing the tennis of his life, dispatched Germany’s morally dubious Alexander Zverev in a steely four-set quarterfinals performance. Later, Frances Tiafoe, who has rebounded in earnest at the Open after rough spring and summer, took out Grigor Dimitrov in a........

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