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I possess some thoughts regarding the comments made by ESPN commentator Chris Fowler after Novak Djokovic's win over Taylor Fritz during the US Open quarter-finals. Consider – the athlete represents American, the commentator is American – and athletic competitions frequently lend themselves to patriotic sentiment. Some disappointment was understandable. Rather, he invoked the ongoing absence of US male players at grand slam tournaments: not one of them had lifted a trophy since the last American champion in 2003, and Fritz had been the last one standing in the tournament.

Everyone love a storyline, myself included. But really. Even if the American defeated the legend for the first time, force of nature the Spanish star was looming in the following match, whom he has yet to beat in an competitive encounter. And if he’d someway gotten past that, it would have been title holder the Italian, versus him the American had lost 10 of the previous eleven sets. The two young stars had also split the previous seven grand slams (and Alcaraz went on to defeat a tired Djokovic in the next round). He said in post-match interviews following his defeat that he in fact preferred his path, because it offered the chance to defeat the top three players in the world in succession. Fritz is well within his right to aspire to the achievement; an competitor is supposed to have faith in themselves. But entering that Djokovic last eight match what other person sensibly had the lack of American champions on the brain?

Coco Gauff’s weaker delivery the sole barrier between her and sustained success

Fritz, 28, is placed number four in the global rankings starting this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has won his previous six matches 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 is as high as he can rise: Sinner and Alcaraz sit a chasm of performance metrics away. His top-class delivery and powerful power on each front side and backhand are more than enough to dispose of most rivals on the professional circuit. When facing the handful of once-in-a-lifetime players, however, he is often helpless. The last several years has seen the curious emergence of lanky, towering players who can nonetheless move around with the alarming quickness and grace of smaller men. He is six-foot-five and appears that way. His movement is rigid, as if he’s still getting used to his legs. So he seldom win a rally that the other player was controlling, and hitting a soft shot versus him is usually a safe bet. That acts as a quite severe limitation on his upside.

The American has made a several dramatic, improbable improvements throughout his career. At the beginning of the decade, he was hovering around the bottom of the world's best thirty. Two years later, he was approaching the top 10. The previous season, he unexpectedly surged up to No 4 – and maintained the position. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and beating all-time-greats like Alcaraz, Sinner, and even a declining Djokovic, is the highest of all. What was Fowler thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was worth commenting on the continuing drought of American men lifting major titles when Fritz had exited the New York major in the quarter-finals? The desperation is just too much and the respect for the magnitude of the task too little.

The American star made a career-best run to the Wimbledon last four in July.

Fritz’s performance in that very last eight match ought to have been enough of an sign. Djokovic won in four sets, a win that only felt tenuous for brief periods towards the very end, when Fritz had saved a few championship opportunities and had a opportunity to hold for 5-5. The duo appeared well-balanced during the rallies, with Fritz creating numerous chances to win the opponent's serve. But the champion saved service break opportunity after service break opportunity, extending the streak to the brink of agony. When Fritz finally did convert one of the opportunities at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he promptly played a horrendous game to lose his own serve again; Djokovic had lulled him into a battle peripheral to the real battle and compelled him to use far too much energy to prevail. Facing set points in the last game, Fritz’s first serve sailed to heaven. He extended the contest twice on his backup delivery, but finally double-faulted. It was not a choke, in my opinion, just a result of needing to hit an excessive number of second serves.

The match was fairly ironclad proof that Fritz is insufficiently skilled to beat any version of Djokovic, that lost to Alcaraz in the next round and did not especially seem like he believed he could triumph. This is perfectly fine – Djokovic is the best player ever, and may not be at the peak of his athletic abilities anymore, but has developed enough knowledge and strategic intelligence to compensate for a significant portion of the decline. The problem is the individuals who were anticipating Fritz to win, and pressuring him to achieve that, when he was yet to accomplished anything that indicated he could.

The American is an asset to the tour regardless. He’s a calm, reflective voice in press conferences, exceeding virtually anyone on the ATP aside from the Russian star, willing to not only express his emotions or the strategy he believed determined a match, but explain it. That he should bear the brunt of the responsibility for America not spawn a male major champion since the last American titlist seems unfair. (Since Ben Shelton is rubbing shoulders with him in the rankings, maybe they can divide that load.)

ATP Finals: Singles Groups

American legend Group

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

Bjorn Borg Division

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• The rising American
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I’d probably think about it indefinitely if I don’t do it,” the American informed a journalist in the summer of claiming a grand slam. It is hoped he realizes that he’s not unsuccessful if he doesn’t fulfill that goal, that overcoming the Spanish and Italian's young, terrifying empire is in fact highly improbable for everybody else. {