Who looks promising in the next generation of American tennis players

As we're approaching the end of this decade, one question is becoming more imminent. Who is going to take over for James Blake and Andy Roddick when they retire? James Blake, is now five months away from his 30th birthday and Andy Roddick is about a month away from his 27th. Obviously, these guys aren't going to be around forever but there are a few promising young players that might be able to fill in their shoes. I'm talking about John Isner, Sam Querrey, Jessie Levine, Ryan Sweeting, and Donald Young.

I'll start with Isner, the tallest of these guys who has a tremendously strong serve and groundstrokes. Isner, made it to the fourth round of the US Open in 2007, where he took Federer to four sets. Since then he's had a few wins against guys as good as Monfils and Marat Safin but he's mostly been ranked outside of the top 100. Recently he had to take some time off because of the mononucleosis, which he contracted back in May. His game is very similar to Karlovic's and with the huge serve he should be able to get his ranking back into the top 100 or even top 50 once he makes a healthy return to the tour. But with that being said, I don't expect him to be the next Roddick or Blake, because he doesn't really have the consitency and talent needed to land in the top 20. Next on my list is Jessie Levine. While not one of the taller guys on tour (he's 5'9) he has some great attributes like speed and aggressive ground strokes, not to mention excellent hand eye cordination. Like, Isner he's beaten some credible opponents. At this years Wimbledon he defeated Marat Safin and went all the way to the third round before falling to Wawrinka in four sets. At 21, I think we could see some exciting things from this guy, he's an up and comer with potential.

Sam Querrey, is next on the list and perhaps has the best prospects of all these guys. He has a big serve and powerful, aggressive ground strokes. He's been to the fourth round of the US Open, has beaten Blake and taken sets off Nadal. He's had the best results of the guys that I've mentioned. I think right now, Sam Querrey is the front runner for this group of up and coming Americans. Last there is Donald Young. He's the youngest of these players at 19 but probably has the bleakest looking career. He's done fairly well on the challenger tour but has been totally overwhelmed on the ATP. While he'll continue to get better over the next few years, I don't think that he has the abilities needed to hang with the top guys. My guess is eventually, he'll find some balance between the challengers and the occansional ATP level tournament.

Now that I think about it, there's one more guy I probably should mention, that's Ryan Harrison. He's 17 years old right now which means he will be on the tour and in his prime after the Federer era is over. That in itself should make winning a major much easier. Harrison has already won an ATP level match and he made the semi-final round at the boys Australian Open. He's definitely got potential and with his speed and powerful ground strokes he's got a game perfectly suited to hard courts.

Time will tell with all of these guys but to me, Querrey, Levine and possibly Harrison look to be the future of American tennis.