John McEnroe...Jimmy Connors...Peter Sampras...Andre Agassi...they are names that roll off the tongue. 

All four are among the greatest men's tennis players of all time, all are American and each one took home the winner's trophy at their home Grand Slam on more than one occasion.

Yet, this year's US Open saw no American advance beyond the third round stage for the second year in succession at a tournament where US players won 19 of the first 36 editions in the Open Era. That 36th winner was Andy Roddick whose sole Grand Slam triumph came in 2003. 

It was also the last time, a US player won a Men's Grand Slam and it does not seem as if that situation will change any time soon.

While the Big Four of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray have seen Europe taking control of the elite echelons of the sport, the next level of players does not feature any promising talent from the US. 

According to the most recent ATP World Rankings, John Isner is the only American in the world's Top 20 at No 16. The 29-year-old was the only American seeded in the pre-US Open draw, which is down from two in 2013 where he was joined by Sam Querrey among the 32 players seeded. Compare that to the five Americans seeded in 2001 or back to 1996 when six of the 17 seeds were from the US.

At 29 Isner is not seen as a great hope and has only gone as far as a Grand Slam quarter final on one occasion, and if one looks at the players most likely to break up the Top 4, they all hail from outside the States

Croatian Marin Cilic, who won the US Open last night, runner up Kei Nishikori OF Japan as well as Swiss Stanilsas Wawrinka, Argentian's Juan Martin Del Potro and Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov are all better placed than any US challenger. 

Looking further in time, if one looks at the Boy's Grand Slam winners from the last 16 tournaments, only two have been won by an American (Bjorn Fratangelo at the 2011 French Open and Noah Rubin at Wimbledon 2014) - although it must be acknowledged that the list of Junior champions is hardly a foolproof sign of senior success.