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I have a few thoughts regarding that comments made by the sports network broadcaster a well-known announcer after Novak Djokovic's win over Taylor Fritz during the US Open last eight. Look – the athlete represents the United States, the commentator is American – and sports frequently lend themselves to patriotic sentiment. A little bit of disappointment was appropriate. Rather, Fowler brought up the continued absence of US male players at grand slam tournaments: not one of them had lifted a trophy since the last American champion in 2003, and he had been the last one standing in the tournament.

Everyone enjoy a storyline, myself included. But come on. Suppose the American defeated the legend for the initial occasion, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was looming in the next round, whom Fritz has yet to beat in an official match. And had he someway survived that, it would have been title holder Jannik Sinner, versus him the American had lost 10 of the previous eleven sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also split the previous seven major titles (plus the Spaniard went on to thrash a tired Serbian in the subsequent match). Fritz stated in press following his defeat that he in fact liked his path, because it presented the opportunity to defeat the three best players in the world back-to-back. Fritz is more than within his right to aspire to the accomplishment; an athlete is meant to believe in themselves. But going into that Serbian quarter-final who else sensibly had the drought of US winners in mind?

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

The American, 28, is ranked number four in the world entering the upcoming year-end championships and has secured his previous six encounters over third-ranked Alexander Zverev with growing comfort. It's likely he could claim that position for himself in the coming years. But it’s clear that at present, that’s as high as he can rise: Sinner and Alcaraz sit a chasm of performance metrics away. Fritz’s elite serve and powerful strength on each forehand and backhand are sufficiently enough to dispose of the majority of rivals on the professional circuit. When facing the select few once-in-a-lifetime players, however, he is frequently helpless. The past few years has witnessed the curious emergence of lanky, towering athletes who can nevertheless move around with the alarming speed and grace of much shorter players. He is six-foot-five and appears that way. His footwork is rigid, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his limbs. So he’ll rarely steal a point that the opponent was controlling, and hitting a drop shot against him is usually a safe bet. That acts as a pretty harsh limitation on his upside.

Fritz has achieved a several significant, unexpected advancements throughout his career. Early on of the decade, he was circling the bottom of the top 30. 24 months after, he was sniffing the top 10. The previous season, he suddenly surged up to No 4 – and held the position. But the next leap, competing against and defeating legendary figures like the young Spaniard, the Italian, and even a declining Serbian, is the toughest of all. What could Fowler thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a serious threat to beat them all back-to-back? That it was worth mentioning the ongoing slump of US male players winning grand slams when he had exited the US Open in the quarter-finals? The thirst is simply too much and the appreciation for the difficulty of the challenge insufficient.

The American star achieved a personal best advancement to the All England Club semi-finals in July.

Fritz’s play in that exact quarter-final should have been sufficient of an indication. The Serbian triumphed in four sets, a victory that only felt tenuous for brief periods towards the conclusion, when Fritz had saved a couple match points and had a opportunity to hold for 5-5. The duo appeared evenly matched during the exchanges, with Fritz creating plenty of opportunities to break. But Djokovic rescued break point after break point, prolonging the streak to the brink of agony. When he eventually did convert a single of the chances at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he promptly played a terrible service game to drop serve again; Djokovic had lulled him into a skirmish peripheral to the main contest and forced him to expend excessive effort to prevail. Down set points in the last game, his primary delivery sailed to the sky. He prolonged the contest two times on his backup delivery, but finally double-faulted. It was not a choke, in my opinion, just a consequence of having to hit too many weaker deliveries.

The match was quite ironclad proof that Fritz is insufficiently skilled to beat any version of Djokovic, that was defeated by the Spaniard in the next round 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 physical powers anymore, but has developed enough knowledge and tactical know-how to compensate for a significant portion of the drop-off. The issue is those who were expecting Fritz to win, and putting pressure on him to do so, when he was had not done anything that indicated he would.

The American is an valuable contributor to the tour nonetheless. He’s a patient, thoughtful voice in media sessions, more so than almost anyone on the men's tour aside from Daniil Medvedev, willing to not just express his emotions or the tactic he felt decided a contest, but clarify it. That he should shoulder the majority of the blame for America not spawn a male major champion since Andy Roddick seems unfair. (Now that Ben Shelton is competing alongside him in the standings, maybe they can share that burden.)

Year-End Championships: Player Divisions

American legend Group

• Carlos Alcaraz (Sp)
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Swedish icon Division

• The Italian champion
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• Ben Shelton (US)
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I’d probably think about it indefinitely if I fail to accomplish it,” Fritz told an interviewer in June of winning a grand slam. It is hoped he understands that he’s not unsuccessful if he doesn’t achieve that objective, that breaking through the Spanish and Italian's dominant, formidable empire is in fact extremely unlikely for everybody else. {