Five American men and five U.S. women ranked in Top 20 for first time since 1996

This US Open Fan Week, American tennis lovers have yet another reason to cheer. For the first time since October 1996, five American men and five U.S. women are ranked in the singles Top 20.

Frances Tiafoe's surge to Monday's Cincinnati final lifted him seven places to world No. 20 in this week's edition of the ATP rankings, giving the U.S. a perfect 10 inside that elite group across both tours.

Tiafoe is joined by No. 12 Taylor Fritz, No. 13 Ben Shelton, No. 14 Tommy Paul and No. 16 Sebastian Korda in the men's Top 20. On the women's side, reigning US Open champion Coco Gauff leads the way at world No. 3, followed by No. 6 Jessica Pegula, No. 11 Danielle Collins, No. 13 Emma Navarro and No. 14 Madison Keys.

The week of Oct. 7, 1996, the lists were as follows: No. 1 Pete Sampras, No. 2 Michael Chang, No. 9 Andre Agassi, No. 12 MaliVai Washington, No. 13 Todd Martin and No. 15 Jim Courier gave the U.S. six men in the Top 15, while No. 1 Monica Seles, No. 6 Lindsay Davenport, No. 9 Mary Joe Fernandez, No. 13 Chanda Rubin and No. 20 Meredith McGrath were the five to feature in the WTA's Top 20.

This historic achievement comes as the US Open Qualifying Tournament is underway this week. Currently, the U.S. leads all nations with 34 combined players entered in the New York singles main draws, with many more competing in the qualifying event.

"It sucked being outside of Top 20. I've been in Top 20 for a couple years now. So yeah, that's a great sign," Tiafoe said of his achievement. "And now I can just keep going and keep pushing and try to get back to where I need to be in the top of the game. I think I'm one of the better players in the world, but definitely wasn't playing like that for a lot of the year. So happy I am now."

A semifinalist and a quarterfinalist the past two years at the US Open, Tiafoe now feels primed for another deep run in New York.

"The ball kind of starts making sense for me in August. I always play really well during this time," he said. "I love playing in America. I love the US Open. So I always want to be at my best going into that time. And if this is any indication of playing great tennis it looks like the US Open's going to be a good one."

On the WTA Tour, five U.S. women were positioned inside the Top 15 after Wimbledon—the first time five Americans were ranked in the Top 15 since 2004. The leading ladies in '04 were Davenport, Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Jennifer Capriati and Rubin.