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I have some thoughts about that remarks made by ESPN commentator a well-known announcer following the Serbian champion's victory over Taylor Fritz in the New York major last eight. Look – Fritz is the United States, the commentator is from the US – and sports frequently encourage nationalism. Some letdown would have been appropriate. Instead, Fowler brought up the ongoing absence of American men at the majors: none of them had lifted a title since Andy Roddick in 2003, and Fritz had been the last one standing in the competition.

We all love a narrative, myself included. But come on. Even if Fritz had beaten the legend for the first time, phenomenal talent Carlos Alcaraz was waiting in the next round, whom he has yet to beat in an competitive encounter. And if he’d somehow survived that, it would have been defending champion the Italian, against whom the American had dropped 10 of the last 11 sets. The two young stars had also divided the previous seven major titles (plus the Spaniard went on to defeat a tired Serbian in the next round). Fritz said in press after the loss that he in fact preferred his draw, because it offered the opportunity to beat the three best competitors in the world back-to-back. He is more than within his right to aspire to the achievement; an competitor is meant to have faith in themselves. But going into that Djokovic quarter-final who else sensibly had the drought of US winners on the brain?

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

Fritz, twenty-eight, is placed number four in the world entering this week’s year-end championships and has secured his last six encounters over third-ranked Alexander Zverev with growing comfort. It's likely he might take that spot for himself in the future. But evidently that right now, that is as high as he can rise: Sinner and Alcaraz sit a chasm of ranking points away. His top-class delivery and powerful strength on both forehand and reverse side are more than adequate to defeat most rivals on the ATP tour. Against the select few generational talents, however, he is often overmatched. The past few seasons has seen the curious emergence of lanky, towering athletes who can nevertheless move around with the surprising quickness and fluidity of smaller men. He is 6ft 5ins and looks it. His movement is rigid, 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 drop shot versus him is usually a safe bet. That serves as a quite severe limitation on his potential.

Fritz has made a number of dramatic, improbable advancements over the years. At the beginning of the ten-year period, he was hovering around the bottom of the top 30. 24 months later, he was approaching the top 10. Last year, he unexpectedly surged to No 4 – and maintained the position. But the next leap, competing against and defeating legendary figures like the young Spaniard, Sinner, and even a aging Serbian, is the highest of all. What was the commentator thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to beat them all back-to-back? That it was worth commenting on the continuing slump of American men lifting grand slams 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 achieved a personal best advancement to the Wimbledon last four in the summer.

The American's play in that very last eight match ought to have been sufficient of an indication. Djokovic won in four rounds, a victory that only seemed uncertain for moments 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 evenly matched during the rallies, with the American creating numerous opportunities to win the opponent's serve. But the champion rescued service break opportunity after break point, prolonging the streak to the point of frustration. When he finally did claim a single of the chances at 5-5 in the second set, he immediately played a terrible service game to lose his own serve once more; Djokovic had drawn him into a skirmish peripheral to the main contest and compelled him to use excessive effort to win it. Facing match points in the last game, Fritz’s primary delivery floated to heaven. He extended the contest two times on his backup delivery, but finally committed two errors. It was not a choke, I didn’t think, just a result of having to hit an excessive number of weaker deliveries.

The match was fairly ironclad evidence that Fritz is not good enough to defeat any version of Djokovic, that was defeated by Alcaraz in the following match and never particularly appeared like he believed he could win. This is absolutely fine – Djokovic is the greatest of all time, and may not be at the height of his physical powers now, but has acquired enough knowledge and tactical know-how to compensate for quite a bit of the drop-off. The issue is those who were expecting Fritz to win, and pressuring him to do so, when he was had not done anything that indicated he would.

The American is an asset to the circuit nonetheless. He’s a calm, reflective voice in media sessions, exceeding almost anyone on the men's tour aside from the Russian star, willing to not only say how he feels or the tactic he felt decided a contest, but explain it. That he ought to shoulder the majority of the blame for the United States failing to produce a men's grand slam winner since Andy Roddick feels unfair. (Since Ben Shelton is competing alongside him in the standings, perhaps they can divide that burden.)

ATP Finals: Player Divisions

Jimmy Connors Division

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

Swedish icon Group

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• The rising American
• The Canadian talent

“I’d probably think about it forever if I fail to do it,” the American informed a journalist in the summer of winning a grand slam. It is hoped he understands that he’s not unsuccessful if he doesn’t fulfill that goal, that breaking through Alcaraz and Sinner’s dominant, formidable empire is actually extremely unlikely for everybody else. {