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I have a few thoughts regarding the remarks made by ESPN broadcaster Chris Fowler following Novak Djokovic's win over Taylor Fritz in the US Open last eight. Consider – the athlete represents American, the commentator is from the US – and athletic competitions often encourage patriotic sentiment. A little bit of disappointment was appropriate. Instead, Fowler invoked the continued absence of US male players at grand slam tournaments: none of them had lifted a trophy since the last American champion in 2003, and Fritz had been the last one standing in the competition.

Everyone love a storyline, myself included. But really. Suppose the American defeated the legend for the first time, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was looming in the next round, who Fritz has never defeated in an official match. And if he’d somehow gotten past that, it would have been title holder Jannik Sinner, against whom Fritz had dropped 10 of the last 11 sets. The two young stars had also divided the previous seven major titles (plus the Spaniard proceeded to defeat a fatigued Serbian in the subsequent match). He stated in post-match interviews following his defeat that he actually liked his path, because it presented the chance to defeat the top three competitors in the world back-to-back. Fritz is well justified to aim for the accomplishment; an athlete is supposed to have faith in themselves. But going into that Serbian quarter-final who else in their right mind had the drought of American champions in mind?

The American star's second serve the only thing between her and consistent victories

Fritz, 28, is placed number four in the global rankings entering this week’s year-end championships and has won his last six encounters over third-ranked Alexander Zverev with increasing ease. It's likely he might claim that position for himself in the coming years. But it’s clear that right now, that is as far as he can climb: Sinner and Alcaraz lie a vast gap of ranking points away. Fritz’s elite delivery and concussive power on both forehand and reverse side are more than adequate to defeat the majority of rivals on the professional circuit. When facing the handful of generational talents, though, Fritz is often overmatched. The past few seasons has seen the interesting emergence of tall, gangly athletes who can nevertheless cover the court with the surprising speed and grace of smaller players. Fritz is 6ft 5ins and looks it. His footwork is stiff, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his limbs. So he seldom steal a point that the other player was controlling, and hitting a drop shot versus him is usually a safe bet. That serves as a pretty severe limitation on his upside.

Fritz has achieved a several dramatic, improbable advancements throughout his career. Early on of the ten-year period, he was hovering around the bottom of the world's best thirty. Two years after, he was sniffing the elite ten. Last year, he unexpectedly surged up to fourth place – and held the spot. But the next leap, competing against and defeating legendary figures like Alcaraz, Sinner, and even a declining Djokovic, is the highest of all. What was the commentator have been thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a serious threat to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was worth mentioning the continuing slump of US male players lifting major titles when Fritz had exited the US Open in the quarter-finals? The desperation is just too much and the respect for the difficulty of the challenge too little.

The American star made a personal best advancement to the All England Club semi-finals in the summer.

The American's play in that exact quarter-final should have been sufficient of an sign. The Serbian won in four rounds, a victory that only seemed uncertain for brief periods towards the very end, when Fritz had survived a couple match points and had a opportunity to hold for 5-5. The duo appeared evenly matched during the rallies, with Fritz creating numerous chances to win the opponent's serve. But the champion saved service break opportunity after break point, prolonging the streak to the point of frustration. When Fritz eventually did convert a single of the opportunities at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he promptly played a horrendous game to lose his own serve once more; Djokovic had lulled him into a battle secondary to the real battle and compelled him to expend far too much effort to prevail. Down match points in the last game, his primary delivery sailed to the sky. He extended the match two times on his backup delivery, but finally double-faulted. It was not a choke, in my opinion, only a consequence of having to hit too many weaker deliveries.

The contest was quite ironclad proof that the American is not good enough to defeat any version of Djokovic, who lost to Alcaraz in the following match and did not especially appeared like he thought he could win. This is absolutely fine – Djokovic is the best player ever, and may not be at the peak of his physical powers now, but has developed sufficient 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 do so, when he was had not accomplished anything that indicated he could.

Fritz is an asset to the tour nonetheless. He’s a calm, reflective presence in media sessions, exceeding almost anyone on the men's tour except for Daniil Medvedev, willing to not only express his emotions or the tactic he felt decided a match, but explain it. That he should shoulder the majority of the blame for America failing to spawn a men's grand slam winner since Andy Roddick seems unjust. (Now that the fellow American is rubbing shoulders with him in the rankings, perhaps they can share that burden.)

ATP Finals: Singles Groups

American legend Group

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

Bjorn Borg Group

• The Italian champion
• The German powerhouse
• The rising American
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I’d probably dwell on it forever if I don’t do it,” Fritz informed a journalist in the summer of winning a grand slam. I hope he realizes that he’s not unsuccessful if he does not fulfill that objective, that breaking through the Spanish and Italian's young, terrifying empire is in fact highly improbable for all other players. {