Frances Tiafoe can smell an opportunity at Wimbledon and is ready to pounce.

Through to the fourth round for the first time, Tiafoe was one of eight American men to have made it to the third round – the most at Wimbledon since 1995.

The 24-year-old is inspired by his compatriots, as well as others from the younger generation, as he looks to compete for the sport's biggest titles.

The last non-Big Four player to win the men’s singles at Wimbledon was Lleyton Hewitt in 2002; Tiafoe has a feeling that a two-decade trend could end at these Championships.

“There's opportunities to be had. The game is shifting. Even with those guys (Djokovic and Nadal) playing, guys are playing well. Guys are beating them,” the No.23 seed said ahead of his fourth round clash with David Goffin.

“You see what Carlos Alcaraz did or Taylor Fritz at Indian Wells. So, you know, I mean, they are old – they are unbelievable; they are old.

“But there is a great young crop coming. With them in the draw or not, they can lose. Very tough obviously but they can lose. Especially here this week there's a huge opportunity.”

There are four American men ranked in the top 30, and eight in the top 50. The 25-and-under crew have made great strides in recent years, yet are constantly fielding questions about a lack of success at the highest level.

When Tiafoe was asked about the state of American tennis, and the fact that eight men advanced to the third round, he grinned: “We are damn good. It is what it is.

“Playing great tennis; guys are just good. Most of us were seeded here, most seeded in Paris too. We're playing great tennis.

“I think we always feed off each other. We all believe it, all believe we can be even doing better than what we are doing currently. One guy does well, next guy wants to step up. It's all good. I think we just got to keep going.”

World No.14 Taylor Fritz is the top-ranked American and a good friend and contemporary of Tiafoe’s.

He is having a great 2022 campaign and will be looking to join his Davis Cup teammate in the fourth round when he takes on Slovakia's Alex Molcan on Saturday.

Fritz ended Nadal’s 20-0 unbeaten start to the season in the Indian Wells final three months ago.

The 24-year-old Californian picked up a title on grass in Eastbourne on the eve of Wimbledon and hopes to make the second week in SW19 for the first time.

“We (US tennis) don't have what everyone's kind of looking for in terms of like the world No.1 or the Grand Slam champion, but we have so much depth - so much more depth than I think we have ever had,” said Fritz.

“We have so many guys seeded in the top 32, so many guys making second, third round. Probably soon we are going to have a lot of guys contending second-week Slams, quarter-finals, stuff like that. The good news is the majority of the field is younger. We are only going to keep improving, getting better.”

No.30 seed Tommy Paul, who is making his Wimbledon debut at these Championships, advanced to the fourth round on Friday with a straight-sets victory over Jiri Vesely.

Jenson Brooksby, Brandon Nakashima, Jack Sock and Fritz are all in third round action on Saturday, with opportunities to catch up with Tiafoe and Paul.

Britain’s Heather Watson moved to the United States when she was 12 to live and train in Florida. She believes US tennis is unfairly judged because the sport as a whole is not one of the most popular across the country.

“America is doing so good at tennis at the moment. There's such little noise made about it I find because in America you have all these massive team sports like the NFL, baseball,” she said.

“I feel like the players from America don't get enough credit. So many of the top seeds, especially on the women's side here, are all American. They have a lot of strength and depth.”

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