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I possess a few thoughts regarding the comments delivered by ESPN broadcaster Chris Fowler after Novak Djokovic's victory over Taylor Fritz during the US Open quarter-finals. Consider – Fritz is the United States, the commentator is American – and sports often encourage 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 title since Andy Roddick in 2003, and he had been the final representative in the tournament.

We all love a storyline, me too. But come on. Suppose Fritz defeated Djokovic for the first time, force of nature the Spanish star was waiting in the next round, whom he has yet to beat in an competitive encounter. And if he’d someway survived that, it would have been title holder Jannik Sinner, versus him Fritz had lost 10 of the previous eleven sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also split the last seven grand slams (and the Spaniard went on to defeat a fatigued Serbian in the subsequent match). He stated in post-match interviews after the loss that he actually preferred his draw, because it offered the chance to defeat the three best players in the sport back-to-back. Fritz is well justified to aspire to the achievement; an competitor is meant to believe in themselves. But going into that Serbian 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 consistent victories

The American, 28, is placed number four in the world starting this week’s year-end championships and has secured his previous six encounters over third-ranked the German with growing comfort. Presumably he could claim that position for himself in the future. But evidently that at present, that’s as high as he can climb: Sinner and Alcaraz sit a vast gap of performance metrics away. Fritz’s top-class serve and concussive strength on each front side and backhand are sufficiently adequate to defeat the majority of rivals on the professional circuit. Against the select few once-in-a-lifetime players, however, he is often overmatched. The past few years has seen the curious emergence of lanky, towering athletes who can nevertheless move around with the alarming quickness and grace of much shorter players. Fritz is six-foot-five and looks it. His footwork is stiff, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his limbs. So he seldom win a rally that the opponent was dictating, and hitting a drop shot versus him is typically a reliable tactic. That serves as a pretty harsh limitation on his upside.

Fritz has achieved a several significant, unexpected improvements over the years. Early on of the decade, he was circling the bottom of the top 30. Two years after, he was approaching the elite ten. Last year, he suddenly exploded to fourth place – and maintained the spot. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and beating all-time-greats like the young Spaniard, the Italian, and including a aging Djokovic, is the highest of all. What could Fowler have been thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a serious threat to beat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate mentioning the continuing drought of American men winning grand slams when Fritz had exited the New York major in the quarter-finals? The thirst is simply too much and the respect for the difficulty of the challenge insufficient.

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

The American's play in that exact last eight match ought to have been sufficient of an indication. Djokovic triumphed in four sets, a victory that only seemed uncertain for brief periods towards the conclusion, when the American had saved a couple match points and had a chance to hold for 5-5. The duo looked well-balanced during the exchanges, with the American earning plenty of opportunities to break. But the champion rescued break point after service break opportunity, prolonging the streak to the brink of agony. When he finally did claim one of the opportunities at 5-5 in the second set, he immediately played a horrendous service game to drop serve again; the Serbian had drawn him into a skirmish peripheral to the main contest and compelled him to expend far too much energy to win it. Facing match points in the last game, Fritz’s primary delivery sailed to heaven. He prolonged the contest twice on his backup delivery, but ultimately double-faulted. It wasn’t a collapse, in my opinion, just a result of needing to hit too many weaker deliveries.

The match was fairly ironclad proof that Fritz is not good enough to beat any version of the Serbian, who lost to Alcaraz in the following match and did not especially seem like he believed he could win. This is perfectly fine – Djokovic is the best player ever, and might not be at the height of his physical powers anymore, but has developed sufficient experience and tactical know-how to make up for a significant portion of the drop-off. The problem is those who were anticipating Fritz to prevail, and pressuring him to achieve that, when he was had not accomplished anything that suggested he could.

Fritz is an valuable contributor to the circuit nonetheless. He’s a patient, thoughtful voice in media sessions, exceeding virtually everyone on the ATP aside from the Russian star, prepared to not only say his emotions or the strategy he believed decided a match, but clarify it. That he should bear the brunt of the blame for the United States failing to produce a male major champion since the last American titlist seems unfair. (Since the fellow American is rubbing shoulders with him in the standings, maybe they can share that load.)

ATP Finals: Player Divisions

Jimmy Connors Group

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

Bjorn Borg Group

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

“I’d probably dwell on it forever if I don’t do it,” the American told an interviewer in the summer of claiming a grand slam. I hope he realizes that he’s not a failure if he doesn’t fulfill that goal, that overcoming Alcaraz and Sinner’s young, terrifying reign is actually highly improbable for everybody else. {