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I have some opinions about that comments delivered by the sports network commentator a well-known announcer following Novak Djokovic's victory over the American player during the New York major quarter-finals. Consider – the athlete represents the United States, Fowler is American – and sports often encourage patriotic sentiment. A little bit of disappointment would have been appropriate. Rather, he brought up the ongoing absence of American men at grand slam tournaments: 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 competition.

We all enjoy a storyline, me too. But come on. Even if Fritz had beaten Djokovic for the first time, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was looming in the following match, whom Fritz has never defeated in an competitive encounter. And if he’d someway gotten past that, it would have been defending champion Jannik Sinner, against whom Fritz had lost 10 of the previous eleven sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also split the previous seven major titles (and Alcaraz proceeded to thrash a tired Djokovic in the subsequent match). Fritz stated in press after the loss that he actually preferred his path, because it offered the opportunity to defeat the three best players in the world back-to-back. Fritz is more than justified to aim for 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 in mind?

Coco Gauff’s second serve the sole barrier between her and sustained success

Fritz, 28, is placed number four in the world starting the upcoming year-end championships and has secured his last six matches over third-ranked Alexander Zverev 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 rise: Sinner and Alcaraz lie a chasm of ranking points away. His top-class delivery and concussive power on each front side and reverse side are more than adequate to dispose of most opponents on the ATP tour. Against the select few once-in-a-lifetime players, though, he is often overmatched. The last several seasons has seen the curious emergence of tall, gangly players who can nonetheless move around with the surprising quickness and fluidity of smaller players. Fritz is six-foot-five and appears that way. His movement is stiff, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his legs. So he’ll rarely steal a point that the opponent was dictating, and playing a soft shot versus him is typically a reliable tactic. That acts as a pretty harsh limitation on his upside.

The American has achieved a number of significant, improbable improvements throughout his career. At the beginning of the decade, he was circling the bottom of the world's best thirty. Two years later, he was sniffing the elite ten. Last year, he suddenly exploded to fourth place – and maintained the position. But the subsequent step, competing against and defeating all-time-greats like the young Spaniard, the Italian, and even a aging Djokovic, is the toughest of all. What could the commentator thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was worth mentioning the ongoing drought of American men winning grand slams when Fritz had exited the New York major in the quarter-finals? The desperation is simply too much and the respect for the magnitude of the challenge insufficient.

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

Fritz’s performance in that very quarter-final should have been enough of an indication. Djokovic won in four sets, a win that only felt tenuous for moments towards the conclusion, when Fritz had saved a few championship opportunities and had a chance to hold for 5-5. The duo looked well-balanced during the exchanges, with Fritz creating plenty of opportunities to break. But Djokovic rescued break point after service break opportunity, prolonging the streak to the point of agony. When Fritz eventually did convert one of the chances at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he immediately produced a horrendous service game to drop serve again; the Serbian had drawn him into a skirmish secondary to the main contest and forced him to expend excessive effort to prevail. Facing set points in the final game, Fritz’s first serve sailed to heaven. He extended the match twice on his second serve, but ultimately double-faulted. It wasn’t a choke, in my opinion, just a result of needing to hit too many second serves.

The contest was fairly compelling proof that the American is insufficiently skilled to beat any version of Djokovic, who was defeated by Alcaraz in the next round and did not especially seem like he thought he could triumph. This is absolutely fine – Djokovic is the best player ever, and might not be at the height of his physical powers anymore, but has acquired enough knowledge and strategic intelligence to make up for a significant portion of the drop-off. The issue is those who were anticipating the American to prevail, 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 calm, thoughtful voice in press conferences, more so than virtually everyone on the men's tour aside from Daniil Medvedev, prepared to not only say his emotions or the strategy he believed determined a contest, but explain it. That he ought to shoulder the majority of the blame for the United States not produce a male major champion since Andy Roddick feels unjust. (Since the fellow American is rubbing shoulders with him in the standings, perhaps they can share that burden.)

Year-End Championships: Singles Groups

American legend Group

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

Swedish icon Group

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• The German powerhouse
• Ben Shelton (US)
• The Canadian talent

“I would likely think about it indefinitely if I fail to accomplish it,” the American told a journalist in the summer of claiming a major. I hope he realizes that he’s not a failure if he does not fulfill that objective, that overcoming Alcaraz and Sinner’s young, terrifying empire is in fact highly improbable for all other players. {