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I possess a few thoughts about the comments made by the sports network commentator a well-known announcer after Novak Djokovic's victory over Taylor Fritz during the New York major quarter-finals. Look – Fritz is American, Fowler is American – and sports frequently lend themselves to nationalism. A little bit of disappointment would have been appropriate. Rather, he invoked the continued drought of American men at grand slam tournaments: not one of them had lifted a title since Andy Roddick in 2003, and he had been the last one standing in the tournament.

Everyone love a narrative, me too. But really. Even if the American defeated Djokovic for the initial occasion, phenomenal talent the Spanish star was waiting in the next round, who he has never defeated in an competitive encounter. And if he’d someway survived that, it would have been defending champion the Italian, against whom the American had dropped 10 of the last 11 sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also divided the last seven grand slams (plus Alcaraz proceeded to thrash a tired Djokovic in the next round). He said in press following his defeat that he in fact liked his draw, because it offered the chance to beat the three best competitors in the world back-to-back. He is well justified to aim for the accomplishment; an athlete is supposed to believe in themselves. But going into that Serbian last eight match who else in their right mind had the lack of US winners on the brain?

The American star's second serve the only thing between her and consistent victories

Fritz, 28, is placed number four in the world entering the upcoming ATP World Tour Finals and has won his last six encounters over third-ranked Alexander Zverev with growing comfort. Presumably he could take that spot for himself in the coming years. But evidently that at present, that is as far as he can rise: Sinner and Alcaraz lie a vast gap of performance metrics away. Fritz’s top-class serve and concussive power on each forehand and backhand are more than adequate to defeat the majority of opponents on the ATP tour. Against the handful of generational talents, though, he is frequently overmatched. The last several seasons has witnessed the curious rise of lanky, towering players who can nevertheless cover the court with the alarming quickness and fluidity of much shorter men. Fritz is 6ft 5ins and appears that way. His movement is stiff, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his limbs. So he seldom steal a point that the opponent was controlling, and playing a soft shot against him is typically a reliable tactic. That acts as a quite severe restriction on his potential.

Fritz has achieved a number of significant, improbable improvements over the years. At the beginning of the decade, he was hovering around the bottom of the world's best thirty. Two years later, he was approaching the elite ten. Last year, he unexpectedly exploded to fourth place – and maintained the spot. But the subsequent step, competing against and defeating legendary figures like Alcaraz, the Italian, and even a declining Djokovic, is the toughest of all. What could Fowler have been thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was worth mentioning the continuing slump of American men lifting grand slams when he had exited the New York major in the quarter-finals? The desperation is simply excessive and the respect for the difficulty of the challenge insufficient.

The American star achieved a career-best run to the Wimbledon last four in July.

The American's play in that exact quarter-final ought to have been sufficient of an sign. The Serbian won in four rounds, a win that only seemed tenuous for brief periods towards the very end, when Fritz had saved a few championship opportunities and had a opportunity to maintain serve for 5-5. The duo looked evenly matched during the exchanges, with the American earning plenty of opportunities to win the opponent's serve. But Djokovic rescued service break opportunity after service break opportunity, extending the streak to the point of frustration. When Fritz eventually did claim a single of the opportunities at 5-5 in the second set, he promptly produced a horrendous game to lose his own serve once more; Djokovic had drawn him into a battle peripheral to the real battle and compelled him to use far too much energy to win it. Facing set points in the final game, his primary delivery sailed to the sky. He extended the contest two times on his backup delivery, but finally committed two errors. It wasn’t a collapse, I didn’t think, just a result of having to hit too many second serves.

The match was fairly ironclad evidence that Fritz is insufficiently skilled to defeat any form of the Serbian, who lost to Alcaraz in the following match and never especially appeared like he believed he could triumph. This is absolutely fine – Djokovic is the greatest of all time, and might not be at the peak of his physical powers now, but has acquired sufficient experience and strategic intelligence to compensate for quite a bit of the decline. The problem is those who were expecting Fritz to prevail, and pressuring him to achieve that, when he was yet to done anything that suggested he could.

The American is an asset to the tour nonetheless. He’s a calm, thoughtful voice in press conferences, exceeding almost everyone on the men's tour aside from Daniil Medvedev, prepared to not only say his emotions or the tactic he felt decided a contest, but explain it. That he should bear the brunt of the responsibility for the United States not spawn a men's grand slam winner since Andy Roddick seems unjust. (Now that the fellow American is rubbing shoulders with him in the rankings, perhaps they can divide that burden.)

ATP Finals: Player Divisions

American legend Division

• The Spanish phenom
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• The Australian speedster
• The Italian stylist

Bjorn Borg Division

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• Ben Shelton (US)
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I would likely dwell on it indefinitely if I fail to do it,” Fritz informed a journalist in the summer of winning a major. It is hoped he realizes that he’s not unsuccessful if he doesn’t achieve that objective, that breaking through the Spanish and Italian's young, terrifying reign is actually extremely improbable for all other players. {