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I possess a few opinions about that comments delivered by the sports network commentator Chris Fowler following the Serbian champion's victory over Taylor Fritz in the US Open last eight. Look – the athlete represents American, the commentator is from the US – and sports often encourage nationalism. A little bit of disappointment was appropriate. Rather, Fowler brought up the continued drought of US male players at grand slam tournaments: none of them had lifted a title since Andy Roddick in 2003, and Fritz had been the final representative in the tournament.

We all enjoy a storyline, me too. But come on. Suppose Fritz defeated Djokovic for the first time, phenomenal talent Carlos Alcaraz was waiting in the next round, whom Fritz has yet to beat in an official match. And if he’d somehow gotten past that, it would have been defending champion Jannik Sinner, versus him Fritz had lost 10 of the previous eleven sets. The two young stars had also split the last seven grand slams (and the Spaniard went on to defeat a fatigued Serbian in the subsequent match). He stated in press following his defeat that he in fact liked his draw, because it presented the opportunity to beat the top three players in the world back-to-back. Fritz is well within his right to aspire to the achievement; an competitor is supposed to believe in themselves. But going into that Serbian quarter-final who else in their right mind had the drought of American champions on the brain?

The American star's weaker delivery the only thing between her and consistent victories

Fritz, twenty-eight, is ranked number four in the global rankings entering the upcoming ATP World Tour Finals and has secured his last six encounters over No 3 Alexander Zverev with growing comfort. It's likely he might claim that position for himself in the coming years. But evidently that at present, that’s as far as he can rise: The Italian and Spaniard sit a chasm of ranking points away. His top-class serve and powerful power on both forehand and reverse side are more than adequate to defeat the majority of opponents on the ATP tour. Against the handful of generational talents, however, Fritz is frequently helpless. The last several seasons has seen the curious emergence of tall, gangly players who can nonetheless move around with the surprising speed and grace of much shorter players. He is six-foot-five and appears that way. His footwork is stiff, as if he’s still getting used to his limbs. So he seldom steal a point that the opponent was controlling, and playing a drop shot versus him is usually a reliable tactic. That acts as a quite harsh restriction on his potential.

Fritz has made a number of dramatic, unexpected improvements over the years. At the beginning of the ten-year period, he was hovering around the bottom of the top 30. Two years after, he was approaching the elite ten. Last year, he suddenly surged to No 4 – and maintained the spot. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and defeating all-time-greats like Alcaraz, the Italian, and even a declining Serbian, is the toughest of all. What was the commentator thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a serious threat to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate mentioning the ongoing drought of American men lifting grand slams when he had departed the US Open in the quarter-finals? The desperation is just excessive and the respect for the difficulty of the challenge too little.

Taylor Fritz made a career-best advancement to the All England Club semi-finals in the summer.

The American's play in that exact last eight match ought to have been sufficient of an indication. The Serbian triumphed in four sets, a victory that only felt uncertain for brief periods towards the conclusion, when Fritz had saved a couple championship opportunities and had a chance to maintain serve for 5-5. The pair appeared well-balanced during the rallies, with the American earning plenty of opportunities to break. But Djokovic saved service break opportunity after service break opportunity, prolonging the run to the point of agony. When he finally did convert one of the opportunities at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he promptly produced a horrendous game to drop serve again; Djokovic had drawn him into a skirmish secondary to the real battle and compelled him to expend far too much energy to win it. Facing match points in the last game, his primary delivery floated to the sky. He extended the match two times on his backup delivery, but finally double-faulted. It wasn’t a collapse, I didn’t think, only a consequence of having to hit too many weaker deliveries.

The match was quite compelling proof that Fritz is insufficiently skilled to beat any form of the Serbian, who lost to Alcaraz in the next round and did not especially appeared like he believed he could win. This is absolutely acceptable – the Serbian is the greatest of all time, and might not be at the height of his physical powers anymore, but has developed enough knowledge and tactical know-how to make up for quite a bit of the decline. The problem is the individuals who were anticipating the American to prevail, and pressuring him to achieve that, when he was had not done anything that suggested he would.

Fritz is an asset to the tour nonetheless. He’s a calm, thoughtful voice in press conferences, more so than virtually everyone on the ATP aside from Daniil Medvedev, willing to not only say his emotions or the strategy he believed decided a match, but clarify it. That he ought to bear the brunt of the responsibility for America failing to produce a men's grand slam winner since the last American titlist feels unfair. (Now that the fellow American is competing alongside him in the rankings, perhaps they can divide that load.)

Year-End Championships: Singles Groups

American legend Division

• Carlos Alcaraz (Sp)
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Bjorn Borg Division

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• The rising American
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I would likely dwell on it forever if I don’t do it,” Fritz informed a journalist in the summer of claiming a major. I hope he understands that he’s not unsuccessful if he doesn’t achieve that goal, that overcoming Alcaraz and Sinner’s dominant, formidable reign is in fact extremely unlikely for everybody else. {