🔗 Share this article

I have some thoughts about that remarks made by the sports network commentator Chris Fowler following the Serbian champion's win over Taylor Fritz in the New York major quarter-finals. Consider – the athlete represents the United States, the commentator is from the US – and athletic competitions frequently lend themselves to nationalism. A little bit of letdown would have been understandable. Rather, Fowler brought up the continued absence of American men at the majors: none of them had lifted a title since the last American champion in 2003, and he had been the last one standing in the competition.

We all enjoy a storyline, me too. But really. Even if the American had beaten the legend for the first time, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was waiting in the next round, who he has yet to beat in an competitive encounter. And if he’d someway survived that, it would have been title holder Jannik Sinner, versus him Fritz had dropped 10 of the previous eleven sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also split the last seven grand slams (plus the Spaniard went on to thrash a fatigued Serbian in the subsequent match). Fritz said in press after the loss that he actually preferred his path, because it presented the opportunity to beat the top three competitors in the world in succession. He is more than within his right to aspire to the achievement; an competitor is supposed to have faith in themselves. But entering that Djokovic quarter-final what other person in their right mind had the lack of US winners in mind?

Coco Gauff’s second serve the sole barrier between her and consistent victories

Fritz, twenty-eight, is placed number four in the global rankings starting this week’s year-end championships and has secured his last six matches over third-ranked the German with growing comfort. It's likely he might take that spot for himself in the future. But evidently that at present, that’s as high as he can climb: Sinner and Alcaraz sit a chasm of performance metrics away. Fritz’s top-class delivery and concussive strength on both front side and reverse side are more than adequate to defeat the majority of opponents on the ATP tour. When facing the select few once-in-a-lifetime players, though, Fritz is often overmatched. The past few seasons has witnessed the interesting emergence of lanky, towering athletes who can nonetheless cover the court with the alarming speed and grace of smaller men. He is six-foot-five and looks it. His movement is stiff, as if he’s still getting used to his limbs. So he seldom steal a point that the other player was controlling, and hitting a drop shot versus him is usually a reliable tactic. That serves as a pretty severe limitation on his potential.

The American has made a number of significant, improbable advancements over the years. At the beginning of the ten-year period, he was circling the lower end of the world's best thirty. Two years after, he was sniffing the elite ten. The previous season, he suddenly exploded to fourth place – and held the position. But the subsequent step, competing against and beating legendary figures like the young Spaniard, the Italian, and including a declining Serbian, is the toughest of all. What was Fowler have been thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was worth mentioning the ongoing slump of American men lifting major titles when he had exited the US Open in the quarter-finals? The desperation is just too much and the respect for the difficulty of the task insufficient.

Taylor Fritz achieved a personal best advancement to the Wimbledon semi-finals in the summer.

The American's performance in that very quarter-final ought to have been sufficient of an sign. The Serbian triumphed in four sets, a victory that only felt uncertain for moments towards the very end, when the American had saved a few championship opportunities and had a opportunity to maintain serve for 5-5. The pair looked evenly matched during the rallies, with Fritz earning numerous opportunities to break. But Djokovic rescued break point after service break opportunity, prolonging the streak to the brink of frustration. When Fritz finally did claim a single of the chances at 5-5 in the second set, he immediately played a terrible service game to lose his own serve once more; the Serbian had drawn him into a skirmish secondary to the real battle and compelled him to expend far too much effort to win it. Down match points in the final game, his primary delivery sailed to heaven. He extended the match two times on his second serve, but ultimately committed two errors. It wasn’t a choke, I didn’t think, only a consequence of having to hit an excessive number of weaker deliveries.

The contest was fairly compelling evidence that Fritz is not good enough to defeat any version of Djokovic, that was defeated by the Spaniard in the following match and never especially seem like he believed he could win. This is perfectly fine – Djokovic is the best player ever, and may not be at the height of his physical powers now, but has acquired enough knowledge and strategic intelligence to compensate for a significant portion of the drop-off. The problem is those who were expecting Fritz to win, and pressuring him to achieve that, when he was had not accomplished anything that suggested he could.

Fritz is an valuable contributor to the tour regardless. He’s a patient, reflective voice in media sessions, exceeding almost anyone on the men's tour except for Daniil Medvedev, prepared to not just express his emotions or the tactic he believed decided a match, but explain it. That he should bear the brunt of the responsibility for the United States failing to produce a male major champion since the last American titlist seems unjust. (Now that the fellow American is competing alongside him in the standings, perhaps they can share that load.)

ATP Finals: Singles Groups

Jimmy Connors Division

• The Spanish phenom
• The American contender
• The Australian speedster
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Swedish icon Division

• The Italian champion
• The German powerhouse
• Ben Shelton (US)
• The Canadian talent

“I’d probably think about it indefinitely if I fail to accomplish it,” Fritz told an interviewer in the summer of claiming a grand slam. It is hoped he understands that he’s not a failure if he does not achieve that goal, that breaking through the Spanish and Italian's young, terrifying reign is in fact extremely improbable for everybody else. {