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I have some thoughts regarding the remarks made by the sports network broadcaster a well-known announcer following Novak Djokovic's win over the American player during the New York major last eight. Look – Fritz is American, Fowler is American – and sports often encourage patriotic sentiment. A little bit of disappointment would have been understandable. Rather, he brought up the continued drought of US male players at grand slam tournaments: not one of them has won a trophy since the last American champion in 2003, and Fritz had been the last one standing in the tournament.

We all love a storyline, myself included. But come on. Even if Fritz had beaten the legend for the initial occasion, force of nature the Spanish star was looming in the next round, who he has yet to beat in an competitive encounter. And had he somehow survived that, it would have been title holder the Italian, against whom Fritz had dropped 10 of the last 11 sets. The two young stars had also split the last seven major titles (plus Alcaraz proceeded to defeat a fatigued Serbian in the next round). He said in post-match interviews after the loss that he in fact preferred his path, because it presented the chance to beat the top three competitors in the world in succession. Fritz is well justified to aim for the accomplishment; an athlete is meant to have faith in themselves. But entering that Djokovic quarter-final what other person in their right mind had the drought of American champions in mind?

The American star's weaker delivery the only thing between her and sustained success

Fritz, twenty-eight, is ranked number four in the global rankings starting this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has won his last six matches over No 3 Alexander Zverev with increasing ease. It's likely he might claim that position for himself in the coming years. But it’s clear that right now, that is as high as he can rise: The Italian and Spaniard lie a vast gap of performance metrics away. His top-class serve and powerful power on each front side and reverse side are more than enough to defeat most rivals on the ATP tour. When facing the select few generational talents, however, he is often helpless. The last several seasons has seen the curious rise of tall, gangly athletes who can nevertheless move around with the alarming quickness and fluidity of much shorter players. He is six-foot-five 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 opponent was controlling, and hitting a soft shot versus him is usually a reliable tactic. That serves as a pretty severe limitation on his potential.

The American has achieved a number of significant, unexpected advancements throughout his career. At the beginning of the ten-year period, he was hovering around the bottom of the world's best thirty. Two years after, he was sniffing the top 10. Last year, he unexpectedly surged up to fourth place – and held the spot. But the subsequent step, competing against and beating legendary figures like the young Spaniard, the Italian, and including a declining Serbian, is the highest of all. What was Fowler have been thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was worth mentioning the continuing drought of American men lifting major titles 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 personal best advancement to the All England Club semi-finals in the summer.

Fritz’s performance in that very quarter-final should have been enough of an sign. The Serbian triumphed in four rounds, a victory that only felt uncertain for moments towards the conclusion, when Fritz had survived a few championship opportunities and had a chance to maintain serve for 5-5. The pair appeared evenly matched during the exchanges, with the American earning plenty of opportunities to break. But the champion saved service break opportunity after break point, prolonging the streak to the brink of frustration. When he finally did claim a single of the chances at 5-5 in the second set, he immediately played a horrendous service game to drop serve once more; Djokovic had lulled him into a skirmish peripheral to the main contest and compelled him to expend far too much effort to prevail. Facing match points in the final game, his primary delivery floated to the sky. He extended the match two times on his backup delivery, but ultimately committed two errors. It was not a collapse, I didn’t think, only a result of having to hit too many weaker deliveries.

The contest was fairly compelling proof that Fritz is not good enough to beat any form of Djokovic, that lost to the Spaniard in the following match and did not especially appeared like he thought he could triumph. This is perfectly fine – Djokovic is the best player ever, and might not be at the peak of his athletic abilities anymore, but has developed enough experience and strategic intelligence to compensate for quite a bit of the decline. The issue is the individuals who were anticipating Fritz to win, and putting pressure on him to achieve that, when he was had not accomplished anything that suggested he could.

Fritz is an valuable contributor to the tour nonetheless. He’s a patient, thoughtful voice in press conferences, more so than virtually everyone on the ATP except for Daniil Medvedev, willing to not just say how he feels or the strategy he felt decided a match, but explain it. That he should shoulder the majority of the responsibility for America failing to produce a male major champion since the last American titlist feels unjust. (Now that Ben Shelton is competing alongside him in the rankings, perhaps they can divide that burden.)

ATP Finals: Singles Groups

Jimmy Connors Division

• The Spanish phenom
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• 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 fail to do it,” the American informed a journalist in June of claiming a grand slam. It is hoped he understands that he’s not a failure if he does not achieve that objective, that overcoming Alcaraz and Sinner’s dominant, formidable empire is in fact highly unlikely for everybody else. {