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I have some opinions regarding that comments made by the sports network broadcaster Chris Fowler following the Serbian champion's win over the American player in the New York major last eight. Look – the athlete represents American, Fowler is American – and athletic competitions often encourage patriotic sentiment. Some disappointment would have been understandable. Instead, Fowler invoked the ongoing drought of US male players at the majors: not one of them has won a title since Andy Roddick in 2003, and Fritz had been the last one standing in the competition.

Everyone enjoy a storyline, me too. But really. Even if Fritz defeated the legend for the first time, force of nature the Spanish star was waiting in the following match, who he has yet to beat in an competitive encounter. And if he’d someway gotten past that, it would have been title holder the Italian, versus him Fritz had dropped 10 of the last 11 sets. The two young stars had also split the last seven grand slams (plus Alcaraz proceeded to thrash a fatigued Serbian in the next round). He stated in post-match interviews following his defeat that he actually liked his draw, because it presented the chance to beat the top three competitors in the sport back-to-back. He is more than within his right to aim for the achievement; an competitor is supposed to have faith in themselves. But going into that Djokovic quarter-final who else sensibly had the lack of US winners on the brain?

Coco Gauff’s weaker delivery the sole barrier between her and sustained success

Fritz, 28, is ranked number four in the global rankings entering this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has won his last six matches over third-ranked the German with growing comfort. It's likely he could claim that position for himself in the future. But evidently that right now, that is as far as he can climb: The Italian and Spaniard sit a chasm of ranking points away. His top-class serve and powerful power on both forehand and reverse side are more than adequate to defeat the majority of rivals on the professional circuit. When facing the select few once-in-a-lifetime players, however, Fritz is frequently overmatched. The last several seasons has witnessed the curious emergence of lanky, towering athletes who can nevertheless move around with the alarming quickness and fluidity of much shorter men. Fritz is six-foot-five and looks it. His movement is rigid, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his limbs. So he’ll rarely steal a point that the other player was controlling, and hitting a drop shot against him is usually a reliable tactic. That acts as a pretty harsh limitation on his upside.

The American has achieved a number of significant, improbable improvements over the years. Early on of the ten-year period, he was circling the lower end of the top 30. Two years after, he was approaching the elite ten. The previous season, he unexpectedly exploded up to fourth place – and maintained the position. But the next leap, competing against and defeating all-time-greats like the young Spaniard, Sinner, and including a declining Djokovic, is the toughest of all. What was the commentator have been thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a serious threat to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was worth commenting on the continuing drought of US male players winning major titles when he had exited the New York major in the quarter-finals? The desperation is just too much and the respect for the difficulty of the challenge insufficient.

Taylor Fritz made a career-best run to the All England Club semi-finals in the summer.

The American's play in that exact last eight match should have been enough of an indication. Djokovic triumphed in four rounds, a win that only felt tenuous for moments towards the conclusion, when the American had survived a couple match points and had a chance to hold for 5-5. The duo appeared well-balanced during the rallies, with Fritz earning numerous opportunities to break. But Djokovic saved service break opportunity after break point, extending the run to the point of agony. When he eventually did claim one of the chances at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he immediately played a terrible service game to lose his own serve once more; the Serbian had lulled him into a skirmish secondary to the real battle and forced him to use excessive energy to prevail. Facing set points in the final game, his first serve floated to the sky. He extended the contest two times on his second serve, but ultimately double-faulted. It was not a collapse, in my opinion, just a result of needing to hit too many weaker deliveries.

The contest was quite ironclad evidence that the American is insufficiently skilled to beat any version of the Serbian, who lost to the Spaniard in the following match and did not particularly seem like he believed he could triumph. This is perfectly acceptable – the Serbian is the greatest of all time, and might not be at the peak of his athletic abilities anymore, but has developed sufficient knowledge and strategic intelligence to compensate for quite a bit of the decline. The problem is those who were anticipating the American to prevail, and pressuring him to do so, when he was yet to done anything that indicated he would.

The American is an asset to the tour nonetheless. He’s a calm, thoughtful voice in media sessions, exceeding virtually anyone on the ATP except for the Russian star, willing to not just say how he feels or the tactic he believed determined a match, but clarify it. That he ought to bear the brunt of the blame for the United States failing to produce a male major champion since the last American titlist seems unjust. (Now that the fellow American is rubbing shoulders with him in the rankings, maybe they can share that burden.)

ATP Finals: Player Divisions

Jimmy Connors Group

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

Bjorn Borg Group

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

“I would likely dwell on it forever if I fail to do it,” the American told a journalist in June of claiming a major. I hope he understands that he’s not a failure if he doesn’t achieve that objective, that overcoming Alcaraz and Sinner’s young, terrifying empire is in fact highly unlikely for everybody else. {