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I possess some thoughts regarding that comments made by ESPN commentator Chris Fowler after the Serbian champion's victory over Taylor Fritz during the US Open quarter-finals. Look – Fritz is the United States, Fowler is American – and sports frequently lend themselves to patriotic sentiment. Some letdown was appropriate. Instead, he brought up the continued drought of US male players at grand slam tournaments: not one of them had lifted a trophy since Andy Roddick in 2003, and Fritz had been the last one standing in the tournament.

We all enjoy a narrative, myself included. But come on. Even if Fritz defeated the legend for the initial occasion, force of nature the Spanish star was waiting in the next round, who he has yet to beat in an official match. And had he someway survived that, it would have been defending champion the Italian, against whom Fritz had dropped 10 of the last 11 sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also divided the last seven major titles (plus Alcaraz went on to thrash a tired Serbian in the next round). Fritz said in press after the loss that he in fact liked his path, because it presented the opportunity to beat the three best competitors in the world back-to-back. He is more than justified to aspire to the accomplishment; an competitor is supposed to have faith in themselves. But entering that Djokovic quarter-final who else sensibly had the lack of American champions on the brain?

The American star's weaker delivery the sole barrier standing in her way and sustained success

Fritz, twenty-eight, is placed number four in the world entering this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has won his previous six matches over third-ranked Alexander Zverev with growing comfort. It's likely he could claim that position for himself in the future. But evidently that right now, that is as far as he can climb: The Italian and Spaniard sit a vast gap of performance metrics away. His top-class serve and powerful strength on both forehand and reverse side are sufficiently adequate to dispose of most rivals on the professional circuit. When facing the handful of generational talents, though, he is frequently helpless. The last several seasons has witnessed the curious rise of tall, gangly athletes who can nevertheless cover the court with the alarming speed and fluidity of smaller men. He is 6ft 5ins and looks it. His footwork is rigid, as if he’s still getting used to his limbs. So he seldom win a rally that the other player was dictating, and playing a soft shot against him is typically a reliable tactic. That serves as a quite harsh limitation on his upside.

The American has achieved a several dramatic, unexpected improvements throughout his career. At the beginning of the ten-year period, he was hovering around the lower end of the top 30. 24 months after, he was approaching the elite ten. The previous season, he unexpectedly surged to fourth place – and maintained the position. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and defeating legendary figures like the young Spaniard, the Italian, and including a aging Djokovic, 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 US male players lifting grand slams when Fritz had departed the US Open in the quarter-finals? The thirst is simply too much and the respect for the difficulty of the challenge insufficient.

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

The American's play in that very last eight match should have been sufficient of an indication. The Serbian triumphed in four rounds, a win that only felt uncertain for brief periods towards the very end, 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 exchanges, with Fritz creating plenty of opportunities to break. But Djokovic rescued service break opportunity after service break opportunity, prolonging the run to the point of frustration. When he finally did claim one of the opportunities at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he immediately played a horrendous game to lose his own serve once more; the Serbian had lulled him into a battle secondary to the main contest and forced him to use excessive energy to win it. Down set points in the final game, his primary delivery floated to the sky. He extended the match twice on his second serve, but finally committed two errors. It wasn’t a collapse, I didn’t think, just a consequence of needing to hit an excessive number of weaker deliveries.

The match was fairly ironclad evidence that Fritz is insufficiently skilled to beat any form of Djokovic, who lost to Alcaraz in the following match and never particularly seem like he thought he could win. This is absolutely acceptable – the Serbian is the greatest of all time, and might not be at the peak of his physical powers anymore, but has developed enough knowledge and strategic intelligence to make up for quite a bit of the decline. The issue is the individuals who were expecting the American to prevail, and putting pressure on him to achieve that, when he was had not accomplished anything that indicated he would.

The American is an asset to the circuit regardless. He’s a calm, reflective voice in media sessions, exceeding virtually anyone on the men's tour except for 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 male major champion since Andy Roddick feels unfair. (Since Ben Shelton is rubbing shoulders with him in the standings, perhaps they can divide that load.)

Year-End Championships: Player Divisions

American legend Division

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

Swedish icon Group

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• The German powerhouse
• Ben Shelton (US)
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I’d probably think about it forever if I fail to do it,” Fritz told an interviewer in the summer of winning a major. It is hoped he realizes that he’s not unsuccessful if he doesn’t achieve that objective, that breaking through the Spanish and Italian's young, terrifying empire is in fact extremely unlikely for everybody else. {