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I possess a few thoughts about that remarks made by ESPN commentator Chris Fowler following the Serbian champion's win over Taylor Fritz during the US Open quarter-finals. Consider – Fritz is American, Fowler is American – and sports often encourage patriotic sentiment. Some disappointment would have been appropriate. Instead, Fowler brought up the ongoing drought of US male players at grand slam tournaments: none of them has won a title since Andy Roddick in 2003, and Fritz had been the final representative in the tournament.

Everyone love a storyline, me too. But really. Even if the American had beaten Djokovic for the initial occasion, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was looming in the following match, who Fritz has never defeated in an official match. And if he’d somehow survived that, it would have been defending champion the Italian, versus him the American had dropped 10 of the last 11 sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also divided the last seven grand slams (and Alcaraz went on to thrash a fatigued Djokovic in the next round). Fritz said in press after the loss that he actually preferred his draw, because it presented the chance to beat the top three players in the sport back-to-back. He is well within his right to aim for the accomplishment; an athlete is supposed to have faith in themselves. But going into that Djokovic quarter-final who else sensibly had the lack of American champions in mind?

Coco Gauff’s weaker delivery the only thing standing in her way and sustained success

Fritz, 28, is placed number four in the global rankings entering the upcoming ATP World Tour Finals and has won his previous six matches over No 3 Alexander Zverev with growing comfort. Presumably he could claim that position for himself in the future. But it’s clear that right now, that is as far as he can rise: Sinner and Alcaraz sit a vast gap of ranking points away. His top-class serve and powerful strength on both front side and backhand are more than adequate to dispose of the majority of opponents on the ATP tour. When facing the select few once-in-a-lifetime players, however, Fritz is frequently overmatched. The last several years has seen the curious emergence of tall, gangly players who can nevertheless move around with the surprising speed and grace of much shorter men. He is 6ft 5ins and appears that way. His footwork is rigid, as if he’s still getting used to his legs. So he’ll rarely steal a point that the other player was controlling, and hitting a soft shot against him is usually a safe bet. That acts as a quite harsh limitation on his upside.

Fritz has achieved a number of dramatic, unexpected improvements throughout his career. At the beginning of the ten-year period, he was hovering around the bottom of the world's best thirty. 24 months later, he was approaching the top 10. Last year, he unexpectedly exploded up to fourth place – and held the position. But the next leap, mixing it up with and beating all-time-greats like Alcaraz, Sinner, and even a aging Djokovic, is the toughest of all. What was the commentator thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a serious threat to beat them all back-to-back? That it was worth mentioning the ongoing drought of US male players winning grand slams when Fritz had departed the US Open in the quarter-finals? The desperation is just excessive and the appreciation for the magnitude of the challenge too little.

The American star achieved a career-best advancement to the All England Club semi-finals in July.

Fritz’s performance in that very quarter-final should have been sufficient of an sign. The Serbian triumphed in four rounds, a win that only felt uncertain for brief periods towards the conclusion, when the American had survived a few match points and had a opportunity to hold for 5-5. The duo appeared well-balanced during the exchanges, with the American creating numerous chances to win the opponent's serve. But the champion rescued service break opportunity after break point, extending the run to the point of agony. When he finally did convert a single of the chances at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he promptly produced a terrible game to lose his own serve again; Djokovic had drawn him into a skirmish secondary to the real battle and compelled him to use far too much effort to prevail. Down set points in the final game, Fritz’s first serve floated to heaven. He prolonged the match twice on his backup delivery, but ultimately committed two errors. It was not a choke, I didn’t think, only a consequence of needing to hit too many second serves.

The match was quite ironclad proof that Fritz is insufficiently skilled to beat any version of Djokovic, who lost to Alcaraz in the following match and did not especially appeared like he believed he could triumph. This is perfectly acceptable – Djokovic is the greatest of all time, and might not be at the height of his physical powers now, but has developed sufficient experience and strategic intelligence to compensate for a significant portion of the drop-off. The issue is the individuals who were expecting the American to win, and putting pressure on him to achieve that, when he was had not accomplished anything that indicated he could.

Fritz is an asset to the tour regardless. He’s a patient, reflective voice in press conferences, exceeding virtually everyone on the ATP aside from Daniil Medvedev, prepared to not just express how he feels or the tactic he believed decided a contest, but clarify it. That he should bear the brunt of the blame for the United States failing to produce a men's grand slam winner since Andy Roddick feels unfair. (Since the fellow American is competing alongside him in the standings, perhaps they can divide that burden.)

Year-End Championships: Player Divisions

Jimmy Connors Group

• The Spanish phenom
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• The Australian speedster
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Bjorn Borg Division

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• Ben Shelton (US)
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I’d probably dwell on it indefinitely if I fail to accomplish it,” Fritz told a journalist in June of claiming a grand slam. I hope he realizes that he’s not unsuccessful if he doesn’t achieve that objective, that overcoming the Spanish and Italian's dominant, formidable reign is in fact extremely improbable for everybody else. {