🔗 Share this article

I possess a few opinions about that comments made by the sports network broadcaster Chris Fowler after Novak Djokovic's victory over Taylor Fritz in the New York major last eight. Consider – the athlete represents American, the commentator is from the US – and sports often encourage patriotic sentiment. Some letdown was understandable. Instead, Fowler invoked the continued drought of US male players at grand slam tournaments: none of them has won a title since the last American champion in 2003, and he had been the final representative in the competition.

We all enjoy a storyline, myself included. But come on. Even if Fritz had beaten the legend for the first time, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was looming in the following match, who he has yet to beat in an official match. And if he’d somehow gotten past that, it would have been defending champion Jannik Sinner, against whom the American had dropped 10 of the last 11 sets. The two young stars had also split the last seven major titles (and Alcaraz went on to defeat a tired Serbian in the subsequent match). He said in post-match interviews after the loss that he actually liked his draw, because it offered the chance to defeat the top three players in the sport back-to-back. Fritz is well within his right to aim for the achievement; an athlete is meant to have faith in themselves. But entering that Djokovic quarter-final who else sensibly had the lack of American champions on the brain?

Coco Gauff’s weaker delivery the only thing between her and sustained success

Fritz, 28, is ranked fourth in the global rankings entering the upcoming year-end championships and has secured his previous six encounters over No 3 the German with growing comfort. It's likely he could take that spot for himself in the future. But it’s clear that at present, that’s as far as he can rise: Sinner and Alcaraz sit a vast gap of performance metrics away. Fritz’s top-class serve and concussive power on each forehand and reverse side are sufficiently enough to defeat the majority of rivals on the professional circuit. When facing the handful of once-in-a-lifetime players, however, Fritz is frequently overmatched. The last several years has seen the curious rise of lanky, towering athletes who can nevertheless cover the court with the alarming speed and fluidity of much shorter men. Fritz is 6ft 5ins and looks it. His movement is stiff, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his limbs. So he seldom steal a point that the opponent was dictating, and playing a soft shot versus him is usually a safe bet. That serves as a pretty severe restriction on his upside.

The American has made a number of dramatic, improbable improvements over the years. Early on of the ten-year period, he was circling the bottom of the world's best thirty. Two years later, he was approaching the elite ten. Last year, he suddenly exploded to fourth place – and maintained the spot. But the next leap, mixing it up with and defeating all-time-greats like Alcaraz, Sinner, and including a aging Serbian, is the highest of all. What was the commentator have been thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a serious threat to beat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate commenting on the continuing drought of American men winning major titles when he had exited the New York major in the quarter-finals? The desperation is simply excessive and the respect for the magnitude of the task insufficient.

The American star made a career-best advancement to the Wimbledon semi-finals in the summer.

Fritz’s play in that very last eight match should have been enough of an indication. Djokovic won in four rounds, a victory that only felt uncertain for moments towards the very end, when Fritz had saved a couple match points and had a chance to hold for 5-5. The duo looked evenly matched during the exchanges, with Fritz creating plenty of opportunities to win the opponent's serve. But the champion rescued service break opportunity after service break opportunity, prolonging the streak to the brink of frustration. When he finally did convert one of the opportunities at 5-5 in the second set, he immediately produced a terrible game to drop serve once more; the Serbian had lulled him into a skirmish secondary to the real battle and compelled him to expend far too much energy to prevail. Down set points in the last game, his primary delivery floated to the sky. He extended the match twice on his backup delivery, but finally double-faulted. It was not a collapse, in my opinion, only a consequence of having to hit too many second serves.

The match was fairly ironclad proof that Fritz is not good enough to beat any form of the Serbian, that lost to the Spaniard in the next round and never especially seem like he believed he could win. This is absolutely fine – the Serbian is the greatest of all time, and might not be at the peak of his athletic abilities anymore, but has acquired sufficient knowledge and strategic intelligence to compensate for quite a bit of the decline. The problem is the individuals who were expecting the American to prevail, and putting pressure on him to do so, when he was had not accomplished anything that suggested he would.

Fritz is an valuable contributor to the circuit regardless. He’s a calm, thoughtful presence in media sessions, more so than almost everyone on the men's tour except for the Russian star, prepared to not just express his emotions or the tactic he felt determined a contest, but explain it. That he should shoulder the majority of the blame for the United States not spawn a men's grand slam winner since Andy Roddick seems unfair. (Since Ben Shelton is competing alongside him in the standings, maybe they can divide that load.)

ATP Finals: Player Divisions

American legend Division

• The Spanish phenom
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Swedish icon Division

• The Italian champion
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• The rising American
• The Canadian talent

“I would likely think about it indefinitely if I fail to accomplish it,” the American told an interviewer in June of winning a grand slam. It is hoped he understands that he’s not unsuccessful if he doesn’t fulfill that objective, that overcoming Alcaraz and Sinner’s dominant, formidable reign is in fact extremely improbable for everybody else. {