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I have a few thoughts about that comments made by the sports network commentator Chris Fowler after the Serbian champion's win over Taylor Fritz during the New York major quarter-finals. Consider – the athlete represents American, the commentator is American – and athletic competitions frequently encourage nationalism. Some disappointment was appropriate. Instead, he invoked the ongoing drought of American men at the majors: none of them has won a trophy since Andy Roddick in 2003, and he had been the final representative in the competition.

We all love a narrative, myself included. But come on. Even if the American defeated Djokovic for the initial occasion, phenomenal talent Carlos Alcaraz was waiting in the following match, who Fritz has yet to beat in an official match. And had he somehow gotten past that, it would have been defending champion the Italian, against whom Fritz had lost 10 of the previous eleven sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also divided the last seven grand slams (and the Spaniard went on to defeat a fatigued Djokovic in the next round). Fritz stated in post-match interviews following his defeat that he in fact liked his path, because it presented the opportunity to defeat the top three players in the sport in succession. He is more than within his right to aspire to the achievement; an competitor is meant to believe in themselves. But going into that Djokovic last eight match who else sensibly had the lack of US winners in mind?

The American star's weaker delivery the only thing between her and sustained success

Fritz, twenty-eight, is placed fourth in the world starting this week’s year-end championships and has secured his last six encounters over third-ranked Alexander Zverev with growing comfort. Presumably he might claim that position for himself in the coming years. But evidently that at present, that is as high as he can climb: Sinner and Alcaraz sit a vast gap of performance metrics away. Fritz’s elite serve and powerful strength on each front side and backhand are more than adequate to dispose of the majority of opponents on the ATP tour. Against the select few once-in-a-lifetime players, though, he is frequently overmatched. The past few seasons has seen the interesting emergence of lanky, towering players who can nonetheless cover the court with the alarming quickness and fluidity of much shorter players. He is 6ft 5ins and looks it. His footwork is rigid, as if he’s still getting used to his legs. So he’ll rarely steal a point that the opponent was dictating, and hitting a soft shot versus him is usually a reliable tactic. That serves as a pretty severe restriction on his upside.

The American has achieved a several dramatic, improbable advancements throughout his career. At the beginning of the decade, he was hovering around the bottom of the top 30. Two years after, he was sniffing the elite ten. The previous season, he unexpectedly surged up to fourth place – and maintained the position. But the subsequent step, competing against and beating all-time-greats like the young Spaniard, the Italian, and even a aging Serbian, is the highest of all. What could the commentator have been thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to beat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate mentioning the ongoing drought of American men winning grand slams when he had departed the US Open in the quarter-finals? The desperation is simply excessive and the appreciation for the difficulty of the task insufficient.

Taylor Fritz made a career-best run to the Wimbledon semi-finals in the summer.

Fritz’s performance in that very quarter-final should have been sufficient of an indication. The Serbian won in four rounds, a victory that only felt tenuous for moments towards the conclusion, when the American 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 earning plenty of chances to break. But Djokovic saved service break opportunity after break point, prolonging the run to the brink of agony. When he eventually did claim one of the opportunities at 5-5 in the second set, he immediately produced a horrendous service game to drop serve once more; the Serbian had lulled him into a battle secondary to the main contest and compelled him to use far too much effort to prevail. Down match points in the final game, Fritz’s first serve sailed to the sky. He extended the match two times on his backup delivery, but finally committed two errors. It wasn’t a choke, I didn’t think, only a consequence of needing to hit an excessive number of weaker deliveries.

The contest was fairly ironclad proof that Fritz is not good enough to defeat any form of the Serbian, that lost to the Spaniard in the next round and never particularly appeared like he thought he could win. This is perfectly acceptable – Djokovic is the greatest of all time, and might not be at the height of his athletic abilities now, but has acquired sufficient experience and tactical know-how to make up for a significant portion of the decline. The problem is those who were anticipating Fritz to prevail, and pressuring him to achieve that, when he was had not accomplished anything that indicated he could.

The American is an valuable contributor to the tour regardless. He’s a calm, reflective presence in press conferences, exceeding almost anyone on the men's tour aside from Daniil Medvedev, willing to not only express his emotions or the tactic he felt determined a contest, but clarify it. That he ought to bear the brunt of the responsibility for the United States failing to spawn a male major champion since Andy Roddick feels unfair. (Now that Ben Shelton is rubbing shoulders with him in the rankings, maybe they can divide that burden.)

ATP Finals: Singles Groups

American legend Division

• The Spanish phenom
• The American contender
• The Australian speedster
• The Italian stylist

Bjorn Borg Division

• The Italian champion
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• The rising American
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I’d probably dwell on it forever if I fail to accomplish it,” Fritz told a journalist in June of claiming a major. I hope he understands that he’s not a failure if he doesn’t achieve that goal, that breaking through the Spanish and Italian's dominant, formidable reign is actually extremely improbable for everybody else. {