🔗 Share this article

I have a few opinions about the comments delivered by ESPN broadcaster Chris Fowler after the Serbian champion's victory over Taylor Fritz during the US Open quarter-finals. Consider – the athlete represents the United States, Fowler is from the US – and sports frequently encourage nationalism. Some disappointment would have been appropriate. Rather, Fowler brought up the ongoing absence of American men at the majors: not one of them has won a title since the last American champion in 2003, and he had been the last one standing in the tournament.

Everyone love a storyline, me too. But really. Even if Fritz had beaten Djokovic for the first time, phenomenal talent the Spanish star was waiting in the next round, who he has yet to beat in an competitive encounter. And had he someway survived that, it would have been defending champion Jannik Sinner, versus him Fritz 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 Djokovic in the subsequent match). He said in post-match interviews following his defeat that he actually liked his draw, because it offered the chance to beat the three best competitors in the world back-to-back. He is more than within his right to aim for the achievement; an athlete is supposed to have faith in themselves. But entering that Serbian quarter-final who else sensibly had the drought of American champions in mind?

The American star's weaker delivery the sole barrier standing in her way and consistent victories

Fritz, 28, is placed fourth in the global rankings entering this week’s year-end championships and has secured his previous six matches over No 3 Alexander Zverev with growing comfort. Presumably he might claim that position for himself in the coming years. But evidently that right now, that is as high as he can rise: Sinner and Alcaraz sit a chasm of ranking points away. Fritz’s elite serve and powerful strength on both forehand and backhand are sufficiently enough to dispose of the majority of opponents on the professional circuit. Against the select few once-in-a-lifetime players, however, Fritz is frequently overmatched. The last several years has witnessed the interesting emergence of lanky, towering players who can nonetheless cover the court with the alarming quickness and fluidity of much shorter players. He is 6ft 5ins 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 dictating, and playing a drop shot versus him is typically a safe bet. That serves as a pretty harsh restriction on his upside.

Fritz has achieved a several dramatic, unexpected improvements over the years. At the beginning of the ten-year period, he was circling the bottom of the world's best thirty. 24 months later, he was sniffing the top 10. The previous season, he suddenly exploded to fourth place – and held the spot. But the next leap, mixing it up with and beating legendary figures like Alcaraz, Sinner, and including a declining Djokovic, is the highest of all. What could the commentator thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to beat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate commenting on the continuing slump of American men winning grand slams when he had exited the US Open in the quarter-finals? The desperation is simply excessive and the appreciation for the difficulty of the challenge insufficient.

Taylor Fritz made a personal best run to the Wimbledon semi-finals in the summer.

Fritz’s play in that very last eight match should have been enough of an sign. Djokovic won in four rounds, a victory that only seemed tenuous for brief periods towards the very end, when Fritz had survived a couple match points and had a opportunity to hold for 5-5. The pair appeared well-balanced during the exchanges, with Fritz earning numerous opportunities to win the opponent's serve. But the champion rescued break point after break point, extending the streak to the brink of frustration. When he finally did claim one of the chances at 5-5 in the second set, he immediately produced a horrendous game to drop serve again; the Serbian had drawn him into a skirmish peripheral to the real battle and forced him to expend far too much effort to win it. Down set points in the last game, his primary delivery sailed to heaven. He prolonged the match twice on his second serve, but ultimately committed two errors. It was not a collapse, I didn’t think, only a consequence of needing to hit an excessive number of weaker deliveries.

The contest was quite ironclad evidence that the American is insufficiently skilled to beat any form of Djokovic, who lost to the Spaniard in the following match and never especially seem like he thought he could win. This is perfectly acceptable – the Serbian is the greatest of all time, and may not be at the peak of his physical powers now, but has acquired sufficient experience and strategic intelligence to make up for quite a bit of the drop-off. The issue is the individuals who were anticipating Fritz to prevail, and pressuring him to do so, when he was yet to accomplished anything that indicated he could.

Fritz is an asset to the circuit regardless. He’s a patient, thoughtful presence in press conferences, exceeding virtually anyone on the ATP aside from Daniil Medvedev, willing to not only say how he feels or the strategy he believed determined a match, but explain it. That he should bear the brunt of the blame for the United States failing to produce a male major champion since the last American titlist feels unfair. (Since Ben Shelton is competing alongside him in the standings, maybe they can divide that load.)

ATP Finals: Singles Groups

Jimmy Connors Group

• Carlos Alcaraz (Sp)
• The American contender
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Swedish icon Group

• The Italian champion
• The German powerhouse
• The rising American
• The Canadian talent

“I would likely think about it forever if I don’t accomplish it,” Fritz informed a journalist in June of winning 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 empire is in fact highly unlikely for everybody else. {