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I possess some opinions about the remarks delivered by the sports network broadcaster Chris Fowler after the Serbian champion's victory over Taylor Fritz during the New York major last eight. Consider – the athlete represents American, Fowler is American – and sports frequently lend themselves to nationalism. Some disappointment would have been appropriate. Rather, he invoked the continued absence of US male players at grand slam tournaments: not one of them has won a trophy since Andy Roddick in 2003, and he had been the final representative in the competition.

We all enjoy a narrative, me too. But really. Even if the American defeated the legend for the first time, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was looming in the following match, whom he has never defeated in an competitive encounter. And if he’d somehow gotten past that, it would have been defending champion the Italian, against whom Fritz had lost 10 of the previous eleven sets. The two young stars had also split the previous seven grand slams (plus the Spaniard went on to thrash a tired Djokovic in the next round). Fritz stated in press following his defeat that he in fact liked his draw, because it offered the chance to beat the top three competitors in the world back-to-back. Fritz is well justified to aim for the achievement; an athlete is supposed to have faith in themselves. But entering that Serbian quarter-final what other person in their right mind had the lack of American champions in mind?

Coco Gauff’s weaker delivery the only thing standing in her way and sustained success

Fritz, twenty-eight, is placed number four in the world starting this week’s year-end championships and has secured his last six encounters over third-ranked the German with growing comfort. Presumably he might take that spot for himself in the future. But evidently that at present, that is as far as he can climb: Sinner and Alcaraz lie a chasm of performance metrics away. His top-class serve and powerful power on both front side and reverse side are more than enough to dispose of most rivals on the ATP tour. Against the select few generational talents, however, Fritz is frequently overmatched. The past few seasons has witnessed the interesting rise of tall, gangly athletes who can nonetheless cover the court with the alarming speed and fluidity of much shorter players. Fritz is six-foot-five and looks it. His footwork is rigid, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his legs. So he seldom steal a point that the opponent was controlling, and playing a soft shot against him is typically a reliable tactic. That serves as a quite harsh restriction on his upside.

Fritz has achieved a several dramatic, unexpected improvements throughout his career. At the beginning of the ten-year period, he was circling the lower end of the top 30. Two years later, he was approaching the elite ten. The previous season, he suddenly exploded up to fourth place – and held the position. But the next leap, competing against and defeating legendary figures like Alcaraz, Sinner, and including a declining Serbian, is the highest of all. What was the commentator thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate mentioning the continuing drought of US male players lifting grand slams when he had exited the US Open in the quarter-finals? The thirst is simply too much and the respect for the magnitude of the challenge insufficient.

The American star made a career-best advancement to the Wimbledon last four in the summer.

Fritz’s play in that exact quarter-final should have been enough of an sign. The Serbian triumphed in four sets, a victory that only seemed tenuous for brief periods towards the conclusion, when Fritz had survived a few match points and had a chance to hold for 5-5. The duo appeared well-balanced during the rallies, with the American earning plenty of chances to win the opponent's serve. But the champion rescued break point after break point, extending the run to the point of agony. When Fritz finally did convert a single of the chances at 5-5 in the second set, he immediately produced a horrendous service game to drop serve again; Djokovic had lulled him into a skirmish peripheral to the real battle and forced him to expend excessive effort to prevail. Down set points in the final game, his first serve floated to the sky. He prolonged the match two times on his backup delivery, but finally double-faulted. It was not a collapse, in my opinion, just a result of needing to hit an excessive number of weaker deliveries.

The contest was quite compelling proof that Fritz is not good enough to defeat any version of Djokovic, that lost to the Spaniard in the following match and never especially seem like he thought he could win. This is perfectly acceptable – Djokovic is the best player ever, and might not be at the height of his physical powers anymore, but has acquired sufficient experience and tactical know-how to make up for quite a bit of the drop-off. The issue is those who were anticipating the American to win, and pressuring him to achieve that, when he was yet to done anything that indicated he would.

Fritz is an valuable contributor to the circuit nonetheless. He’s a calm, reflective presence in press conferences, exceeding virtually everyone on the men's tour aside from Daniil Medvedev, willing to not only express how he feels or the strategy he believed decided a match, but explain it. That he should shoulder the majority of the blame for America failing to produce a men's grand slam winner since the last American titlist feels unfair. (Now that Ben Shelton is competing alongside him in the rankings, perhaps they can divide that burden.)

ATP Finals: Player Divisions

Jimmy Connors Group

• Carlos Alcaraz (Sp)
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• The Italian stylist

Bjorn Borg Division

• The Italian champion
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• The rising American
• The Canadian talent

“I would likely think about it indefinitely if I fail to accomplish it,” Fritz informed an interviewer in June of claiming a grand slam. It is hoped he realizes that he’s not a failure if he doesn’t achieve that goal, that breaking through Alcaraz and Sinner’s dominant, formidable reign is in fact extremely improbable for everybody else. {