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I possess a few opinions about that remarks delivered by the sports network commentator Chris Fowler after Novak Djokovic's victory over Taylor Fritz in the US Open last eight. Look – Fritz is the United States, Fowler is American – and sports often encourage patriotic sentiment. Some letdown was understandable. Rather, he brought up the continued drought of American men at the majors: none of them has won a title since Andy Roddick in 2003, and he had been the last one standing in the competition.

Everyone love a storyline, myself included. But come on. Even if Fritz defeated the legend for the first time, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was waiting in the following match, whom 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. The two young stars had also split the previous seven major titles (plus the Spaniard went on to defeat a fatigued Djokovic in the subsequent match). Fritz stated in press following his defeat that he in fact preferred his path, because it presented the opportunity to defeat the top three competitors in the sport back-to-back. Fritz is more than within his right to aim for the accomplishment; an competitor is supposed to believe in themselves. But going into that Serbian quarter-final who else sensibly had the lack of American champions in mind?

Coco Gauff’s second serve the only thing standing in her way and consistent victories

Fritz, 28, is ranked number four in the global rankings starting this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has won his previous six matches over No 3 Alexander Zverev with growing comfort. Presumably he could claim that position for himself in the future. But it’s clear that at present, that is as high as he can climb: The Italian and Spaniard sit a chasm of performance metrics away. His elite serve and powerful power on each front side and reverse side are more than adequate to defeat the majority of rivals on the ATP tour. When facing the select few once-in-a-lifetime players, however, he is often overmatched. The last several years has witnessed the curious rise of tall, gangly players who can nevertheless move around with the alarming quickness and fluidity of smaller men. Fritz is six-foot-five and appears that way. His footwork is stiff, as if he’s still getting used to his legs. So he’ll rarely win a rally that the other player was controlling, and playing a soft shot versus him is usually a reliable tactic. That acts as a pretty severe restriction on his potential.

The American has achieved a number of dramatic, improbable improvements over the years. Early on of the ten-year period, he was circling the lower end of the world's best thirty. 24 months later, he was approaching the top 10. The previous season, he suddenly exploded to No 4 – and held the position. But the subsequent step, competing against and beating all-time-greats like the young Spaniard, the Italian, and including a declining Djokovic, is the highest of all. What could Fowler thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate commenting on the continuing slump of American men winning major titles when Fritz had exited the US Open in the quarter-finals? The thirst is simply excessive and the respect for the magnitude of the task insufficient.

Taylor Fritz made a career-best advancement to the Wimbledon last four in the summer.

Fritz’s performance in that exact last eight match should have been sufficient of an indication. The Serbian won in four sets, a victory that only seemed uncertain for moments towards the conclusion, when Fritz had saved a few match points and had a opportunity to hold for 5-5. The pair looked evenly matched during the exchanges, with the American earning numerous opportunities to break. But Djokovic rescued service break opportunity after service break opportunity, extending the streak to the brink of frustration. When he eventually did claim a single of the chances at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he immediately played a terrible service game to drop serve again; the Serbian had drawn him into a skirmish peripheral to the main contest and forced him to expend excessive energy to win it. Down set points in the last game, Fritz’s first serve sailed to heaven. He extended the match two times on his backup delivery, but finally committed two errors. It wasn’t a choke, I didn’t think, just a result of having to hit an excessive number of second serves.

The contest was quite ironclad proof that the American is insufficiently skilled to defeat any version of Djokovic, that lost to the Spaniard in the following match and never especially seem like he believed he could triumph. This is perfectly fine – Djokovic is the greatest of all time, and might not be at the peak of his athletic abilities anymore, but has acquired enough knowledge and tactical know-how to compensate for a significant portion of the drop-off. The issue is the individuals who were anticipating Fritz to prevail, and pressuring him to do so, when he was had not accomplished anything that suggested he could.

The American is an valuable contributor to the tour nonetheless. He’s a calm, reflective presence in media sessions, exceeding virtually anyone on the ATP aside from Daniil Medvedev, willing to not just express his emotions or the tactic he felt determined a match, but clarify it. That he should shoulder the majority of the responsibility for America not produce a men's grand slam winner since the last American titlist feels unjust. (Now that the fellow American is rubbing shoulders with him in the rankings, maybe they can divide that burden.)

ATP Finals: Singles Groups

Jimmy Connors Division

• Carlos Alcaraz (Sp)
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• The Australian speedster
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Bjorn Borg Group

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• The German powerhouse
• The rising American
• The Canadian talent

“I’d probably think about it indefinitely if I fail to accomplish it,” the American told an interviewer in June of claiming a major. I hope he realizes that he’s not unsuccessful if he does not achieve that objective, that breaking through the Spanish and Italian's dominant, formidable empire is actually highly improbable for everybody else. {