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I have a few opinions about that remarks made by ESPN broadcaster Chris Fowler after Novak Djokovic's win over Taylor Fritz in the US Open last eight. Look – the athlete represents the United States, the commentator is from the US – and sports frequently lend themselves to patriotic sentiment. Some disappointment was understandable. Rather, Fowler invoked the ongoing absence of US male players at grand slam tournaments: not one of them has won a trophy since Andy Roddick in 2003, and Fritz had been the final representative in the competition.

Everyone enjoy a narrative, me too. But come on. Suppose the American had beaten Djokovic for the first time, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was waiting in the next round, who he has never defeated in an official match. And if he’d someway gotten past that, it would have been defending champion Jannik Sinner, against whom the American had dropped 10 of the previous eleven sets. The two young stars had also divided the previous seven major titles (plus Alcaraz proceeded to defeat a tired Djokovic in the next round). Fritz said in post-match interviews after the loss that he actually liked his draw, because it offered the chance to defeat the top three competitors in the world back-to-back. Fritz is well within his right to aim for the accomplishment; an competitor is supposed to believe in themselves. But going into that Djokovic quarter-final who else in their right mind had the drought of American champions in mind?

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

Fritz, twenty-eight, is ranked number four in the global rankings entering this week’s year-end championships and has secured his previous six encounters over third-ranked Alexander Zverev with increasing ease. It's likely he could take that spot 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 elite serve and concussive power on both forehand and reverse side are sufficiently adequate to dispose of the majority of rivals on the ATP tour. Against the handful of generational talents, though, Fritz is frequently overmatched. The past few years has seen the interesting rise of tall, gangly athletes who can nonetheless move around with the alarming speed and fluidity of smaller men. Fritz is six-foot-five and appears that way. His footwork is rigid, as if he’s still getting used to his limbs. So he’ll rarely win a rally that the other player was controlling, and playing a drop shot versus him is usually a safe bet. That acts as a pretty harsh limitation on his potential.

Fritz has made a several dramatic, unexpected advancements over the years. Early on of the ten-year period, he was hovering around the bottom of the top 30. Two years after, he was approaching the top 10. Last year, he unexpectedly exploded to No 4 – and held the spot. But the next leap, competing against and defeating legendary figures like the young Spaniard, the Italian, and including a aging Djokovic, is the toughest of all. What could the commentator have been thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate commenting on the ongoing slump of US male players lifting grand slams when he had departed the New York major in the quarter-finals? The desperation is just excessive and the appreciation for the difficulty of the challenge too little.

Taylor Fritz made a personal best advancement to the All England Club last four in the summer.

Fritz’s performance in that very quarter-final should have been sufficient of an indication. Djokovic won in four rounds, a victory that only seemed tenuous for brief periods towards the conclusion, when the American had saved a couple match points and had a opportunity to hold for 5-5. The duo looked evenly matched during the exchanges, with Fritz earning plenty of opportunities to win the opponent's serve. But the champion rescued break point after break point, prolonging the streak to the point of frustration. When Fritz finally did claim a single of the chances at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he promptly played a terrible service game to drop serve once more; the Serbian had drawn him into a skirmish secondary to the real battle and compelled him to expend far too much energy to prevail. Down match points in the final game, Fritz’s primary delivery sailed to heaven. He extended the contest twice on his backup delivery, but finally committed two errors. It wasn’t a choke, in my opinion, only a result of having to hit too many second serves.

The contest was quite compelling proof that Fritz is insufficiently skilled to beat any version of Djokovic, that was defeated by Alcaraz in the next round and never especially appeared like he thought he could win. This is absolutely acceptable – the Serbian is the best player ever, and may not be at the peak of his physical powers now, but has developed sufficient experience and strategic intelligence to make up for a significant portion of the decline. The issue is the individuals who were expecting Fritz to win, and putting pressure on him to do so, when he was had not done anything that indicated he would.

Fritz is an valuable contributor to the tour regardless. He’s a calm, thoughtful presence in press conferences, more so than almost anyone on the men's tour except for Daniil Medvedev, willing to not only express his emotions or the tactic he believed decided a contest, but clarify it. That he ought to bear the brunt of the blame for the United States not spawn a men's grand slam winner since the last American titlist feels unfair. (Now that the fellow American is competing alongside him in the rankings, perhaps they can share that load.)

ATP Finals: Singles Groups

Jimmy Connors Group

• Carlos Alcaraz (Sp)
• The American contender
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• The Italian stylist

Swedish icon Group

• The Italian champion
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• Ben Shelton (US)
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I’d probably think about it indefinitely if I don’t accomplish it,” Fritz informed an interviewer in June of winning a major. I hope he understands that he’s not unsuccessful if he doesn’t fulfill that goal, that breaking through Alcaraz and Sinner’s dominant, formidable reign is in fact highly improbable for all other players. {