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I possess a few opinions regarding the comments made by ESPN broadcaster Chris Fowler following the Serbian champion's victory over the American player during the New York major quarter-finals. Consider – the athlete represents the United States, Fowler is American – and athletic competitions often lend themselves to patriotic sentiment. A little bit of letdown would have been appropriate. Instead, he brought up the ongoing drought of American men at grand slam tournaments: not one of them has won a title since the last American champion in 2003, and Fritz had been the last one standing in the competition.

We all love a narrative, me too. But come on. Suppose the American had beaten Djokovic for the initial occasion, phenomenal talent the Spanish star was looming in the next round, who Fritz has yet to beat in an competitive encounter. And if he’d someway gotten past that, it would have been defending champion Jannik Sinner, against whom the American had lost 10 of the last 11 sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also divided the last seven grand slams (plus the Spaniard went on to defeat a tired Serbian in the subsequent match). He stated in press following his defeat that he in fact liked his path, because it offered the chance to beat the three best players in the sport back-to-back. He is well within his right to aspire to the achievement; an competitor is supposed to believe in themselves. But entering that Serbian last eight match who else in their right mind had the lack of American champions in mind?

The American star's second serve the sole barrier standing in her way and sustained success

Fritz, 28, is ranked number four in the world entering the upcoming ATP World Tour Finals and has secured his previous six matches over third-ranked the German with increasing ease. It's likely he might claim that position for himself in the future. But evidently that at present, that’s as far as he can climb: Sinner and Alcaraz sit a chasm of ranking points away. His elite delivery and powerful strength on both front side and reverse side are more than enough to dispose of the majority of opponents on the professional circuit. When facing the select few generational talents, though, he is frequently helpless. The past few seasons has seen the interesting emergence of tall, gangly athletes who can nevertheless move around with the alarming speed and grace of much shorter players. He is 6ft 5ins and appears that way. His movement is stiff, as if he’s still getting used to his limbs. So he seldom steal a point that the other player was controlling, and hitting a soft shot versus him is typically a reliable tactic. That acts as a pretty harsh limitation on his upside.

The American has made a number of significant, improbable improvements over the years. Early on of the ten-year period, he was circling the lower end of the world's best thirty. Two years after, he was approaching the elite ten. The previous season, he suddenly exploded to fourth place – and maintained the position. But the next leap, mixing it up with and defeating all-time-greats like Alcaraz, Sinner, and even a aging Serbian, is the highest of all. What could the commentator have been thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a serious threat to beat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate mentioning the continuing slump of US male players winning major titles when Fritz had departed the US Open in the quarter-finals? The thirst is just excessive and the respect for the difficulty of the task insufficient.

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

Fritz’s performance in that very quarter-final should have been sufficient of an indication. Djokovic triumphed in four sets, a victory that only felt tenuous for brief periods towards the very end, when Fritz had survived a few match points and had a opportunity to maintain serve for 5-5. The duo looked well-balanced during the exchanges, with the American earning numerous chances to break. But the champion saved service break opportunity after break point, prolonging the streak to the point of frustration. When he eventually did claim one of the chances at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he promptly played a terrible service game to lose his own serve once more; Djokovic had lulled him into a battle peripheral to the real battle and forced him to expend far too much effort to win it. Down match points in the last game, Fritz’s first serve sailed to heaven. He extended the contest twice on his second serve, but finally double-faulted. It wasn’t a choke, I didn’t think, only a consequence of having to hit too many second serves.

The match was quite ironclad evidence that Fritz is not good enough to beat any form of the Serbian, that lost to the Spaniard in the next round and did not particularly seem like he thought he could triumph. This is perfectly fine – the Serbian is the best player ever, 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 those who were anticipating the American to prevail, and putting pressure on him to do so, when he was had not done anything that indicated he could.

Fritz is an valuable contributor to the circuit nonetheless. He’s a calm, thoughtful presence in press conferences, more so than virtually anyone on the men's tour aside from the Russian star, willing to not only say how he feels or the strategy he believed determined a contest, but clarify it. That he should bear the brunt of the blame for the United States not produce a male major champion since the last American titlist seems unjust. (Now that Ben Shelton is rubbing shoulders with him in the rankings, maybe they can divide that load.)

ATP Finals: Player Divisions

Jimmy Connors Division

• The Spanish phenom
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• The Australian speedster
• The Italian stylist

Swedish icon Division

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

“I would likely think about it indefinitely if I don’t accomplish it,” Fritz told an interviewer in June of claiming a major. I hope he realizes that he’s not a failure if he does not fulfill that goal, that overcoming Alcaraz and Sinner’s young, terrifying reign is in fact highly unlikely for everybody else. {