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I have some thoughts regarding the comments made by the sports network broadcaster Chris Fowler following the Serbian champion's win over the American player during the New York major last eight. Consider – Fritz is American, the commentator is from the US – and athletic competitions often lend themselves to nationalism. Some letdown would have been appropriate. Rather, he invoked the continued absence of US male players at grand slam tournaments: none of them has won a trophy since the last American champion in 2003, and Fritz had been the last one standing in the tournament.

We all enjoy a storyline, me too. But come on. Even if Fritz had beaten Djokovic for the initial occasion, force of nature the Spanish star was waiting in the following match, who Fritz has never defeated in an official match. And if he’d someway gotten past that, it would have been title holder Jannik Sinner, versus him Fritz had lost 10 of the previous eleven sets. The two young stars had also divided the previous seven major titles (plus Alcaraz proceeded to thrash a tired Serbian in the subsequent match). He stated in post-match interviews after the loss that he in fact liked his path, because it presented the opportunity to beat the three best players in the world in succession. He is well within his right to aim for the achievement; an athlete is supposed to believe in themselves. But entering that Djokovic quarter-final who else in their right mind had the lack of American champions in mind?

The American star's second serve the only thing between her and sustained success

The American, twenty-eight, is placed number four in the world starting the upcoming ATP World Tour Finals and has secured his previous six matches over No 3 the German with increasing ease. It's likely he could take that spot for himself in the coming years. But it’s clear that right now, that is as far as he can rise: The Italian and Spaniard sit a chasm of ranking points away. Fritz’s elite serve and powerful power on both forehand and backhand are more than adequate to dispose of most rivals on the ATP tour. Against the select few once-in-a-lifetime players, however, Fritz is often overmatched. The past few years has seen the interesting emergence of tall, gangly athletes who can nonetheless move around with the surprising quickness and grace of much shorter men. Fritz is six-foot-five and appears that way. His footwork is rigid, as if he’s still getting used to his limbs. So he’ll rarely steal a point that the other player was controlling, and hitting a drop shot against him is typically a safe bet. That acts as a quite severe restriction on his potential.

Fritz has made a several dramatic, unexpected advancements 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. The previous season, he suddenly surged up to fourth place – and maintained the position. But the subsequent step, competing against and beating legendary figures like the young Spaniard, Sinner, and even a aging Djokovic, is the toughest of all. What could Fowler have been thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate commenting on the continuing slump 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 magnitude of the challenge too little.

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

Fritz’s play in that exact last eight match ought to have been sufficient of an sign. Djokovic triumphed in four sets, a win that only felt uncertain for moments towards the conclusion, when the American had survived a few championship opportunities and had a chance to hold for 5-5. The duo looked well-balanced during the exchanges, with the American earning plenty of chances to break. But Djokovic rescued service break opportunity after break point, extending the streak to the point of agony. When he finally did claim one of the opportunities at 5-5 in the second set, he promptly produced a horrendous game to lose his own serve again; Djokovic had lulled him into a battle peripheral to the real battle and compelled him to expend excessive energy to prevail. Down match points in the last game, his primary delivery sailed to heaven. He prolonged the contest two times on his backup delivery, but ultimately committed two errors. It wasn’t a collapse, I didn’t think, only a result of needing to hit an excessive number of weaker deliveries.

The contest was quite ironclad evidence that the American is insufficiently skilled to beat any form of Djokovic, that was defeated by the Spaniard in the next round and did not particularly seem like he believed he could triumph. This is perfectly fine – the Serbian is the greatest of all time, and may not be at the peak of his athletic abilities anymore, but has acquired sufficient knowledge and strategic intelligence to make up for quite a bit of the decline. The problem is those who were anticipating the American to prevail, and pressuring him to achieve that, when he was had not done anything that indicated he would.

Fritz is an valuable contributor to the circuit nonetheless. He’s a calm, thoughtful voice in press conferences, more so than almost everyone on the ATP aside from Daniil Medvedev, prepared to not just say how he feels or the tactic he felt decided a contest, but explain it. That he should shoulder the majority of the blame for America failing to spawn a men's grand slam winner since the last American titlist seems unjust. (Since Ben Shelton is rubbing shoulders with him in the rankings, maybe they can share that load.)

ATP Finals: Singles Groups

Jimmy Connors Division

• The Spanish phenom
• The American contender
• The Australian speedster
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Swedish icon Division

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• The German powerhouse
• The rising American
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I’d probably dwell on it indefinitely if I don’t accomplish it,” the American informed an interviewer in the summer of claiming a major. I hope he understands that he’s not a failure if he doesn’t fulfill that goal, that breaking through Alcaraz and Sinner’s dominant, formidable reign is in fact highly improbable for all other players. {