🔗 Share this article

I possess some thoughts about that comments delivered by the sports network broadcaster a well-known announcer after Novak Djokovic's win over Taylor Fritz in the US Open quarter-finals. Consider – the athlete represents the United States, the commentator is from the US – and athletic competitions often lend themselves to patriotic sentiment. Some letdown would have been appropriate. Rather, Fowler invoked the ongoing absence of US male players at the majors: not one of them had lifted a title since the last American champion in 2003, and Fritz had been the last one standing in the competition.

Everyone love a narrative, myself included. But come on. Suppose Fritz defeated Djokovic for the initial occasion, phenomenal talent the Spanish star was looming in the next round, who Fritz has yet to beat in an official match. And if he’d someway survived that, it would have been defending champion the Italian, against whom the American had lost 10 of the previous eleven sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also split the previous seven major titles (and Alcaraz went on to thrash a tired Serbian in the next round). Fritz said in press following his defeat that he actually preferred his path, because it presented the chance to beat the top three competitors in the sport in succession. He is well justified to aspire to the achievement; an competitor is meant to believe in themselves. But going into that Djokovic quarter-final who else sensibly had the lack of US winners on the brain?

The American star's second serve the sole barrier standing in her way and sustained success

The American, twenty-eight, is ranked number four in the world starting the upcoming year-end championships and has secured his last six matches over third-ranked the German with increasing ease. Presumably he might take that spot for himself in the future. But evidently that right now, that is as far as he can rise: Sinner and Alcaraz sit a vast gap of performance metrics away. Fritz’s elite serve and concussive strength on both front side and reverse side are sufficiently adequate to dispose of most opponents 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 rise of tall, gangly athletes who can nonetheless move around with the surprising speed and fluidity of much shorter men. Fritz is 6ft 5ins and appears that way. His movement is stiff, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his legs. So he seldom steal a point that the other player was controlling, and playing a drop shot against him is usually a safe bet. That acts as a pretty severe limitation on his upside.

The American has achieved a number of significant, unexpected advancements over the years. At the beginning of the ten-year period, he was hovering around the lower end of the top 30. Two years later, he was sniffing the top 10. The previous season, he suddenly exploded up to No 4 – and maintained the position. But the subsequent step, competing against and beating all-time-greats like Alcaraz, the Italian, and even a declining Serbian, is the highest of all. What could Fowler have been thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to beat them all back-to-back? That it was worth mentioning the ongoing drought of US male players lifting grand slams when Fritz had exited the US Open in the quarter-finals? The desperation is simply excessive and the appreciation for the difficulty of the task too little.

The American star made a career-best advancement to the Wimbledon semi-finals in the summer.

Fritz’s performance in that very quarter-final ought to have been enough of an sign. Djokovic won in four rounds, a win that only seemed tenuous for moments towards the very end, when the American had saved a couple match points and had a opportunity to maintain serve for 5-5. The pair appeared well-balanced during the rallies, with Fritz creating plenty of chances to break. But the champion rescued break point after break point, prolonging the run to the point of agony. When Fritz eventually did claim one of the opportunities at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he immediately produced a terrible service game to lose his own serve again; the Serbian had lulled him into a skirmish secondary to the real battle and compelled him to use excessive effort to prevail. Facing set points in the final game, Fritz’s primary delivery floated to the sky. He prolonged the contest two times on his backup delivery, but ultimately double-faulted. It wasn’t a collapse, I didn’t think, only a consequence of needing to hit too many second serves.

The match was quite ironclad evidence that the American is insufficiently skilled to defeat any form of the Serbian, that was defeated by Alcaraz in the next round and never particularly seem like he believed he could triumph. This is absolutely acceptable – the Serbian is the greatest of all time, and may not be at the height of his athletic abilities now, but has developed enough experience and strategic intelligence to compensate for a significant portion of the drop-off. The issue is the individuals who were anticipating the American to win, and pressuring him to achieve that, when he was yet to done anything that indicated he could.

Fritz is an valuable contributor to the circuit nonetheless. He’s a calm, thoughtful presence in press conferences, more so than almost anyone on the ATP aside from the Russian star, willing to not only say how he feels or the tactic he believed determined a match, but clarify it. That he ought to shoulder the majority of the blame for the United States not produce a men's grand slam winner since the last American titlist seems unfair. (Since Ben Shelton is rubbing shoulders with him in the rankings, maybe they can divide that burden.)

ATP Finals: Player Divisions

American legend Division

• Carlos Alcaraz (Sp)
• The American contender
• The Australian speedster
• The Italian stylist

Swedish icon Group

• The Italian champion
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• The rising American
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I’d probably think about it forever if I fail to do it,” Fritz informed an interviewer in June of winning a major. It is hoped he realizes that he’s not a failure if he doesn’t achieve that objective, that breaking through Alcaraz and Sinner’s dominant, formidable empire is in fact extremely improbable for all other players. {