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I possess a few thoughts regarding that comments made by the sports network commentator Chris Fowler after the Serbian champion's win over Taylor Fritz during the New York major quarter-finals. Look – Fritz is the United States, the commentator is American – and sports frequently encourage nationalism. Some disappointment was appropriate. Instead, Fowler invoked the continued absence of US male players at the majors: not one of them has won a trophy since Andy Roddick in 2003, and Fritz had been the final representative in the competition.

Everyone love a storyline, myself included. But really. Even if Fritz had beaten Djokovic for the initial occasion, force of nature the Spanish star was looming in the next round, who he has yet to beat in an competitive encounter. And if he’d somehow gotten past that, it would have been title holder Jannik Sinner, against whom Fritz had lost 10 of the previous eleven sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also divided the last seven major titles (and the Spaniard proceeded to defeat a tired Djokovic in the subsequent match). Fritz stated in press following his defeat that he in fact preferred his draw, because it offered the chance to defeat the top three players in the world back-to-back. He is well within his right to aim for the achievement; an competitor is supposed to believe in themselves. But entering that Serbian last eight match what other person sensibly had the drought of American champions in mind?

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

The American, twenty-eight, is placed number four in the global rankings entering this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has secured his previous six matches over No 3 the German with increasing ease. It's likely he could take that spot for himself in the future. But it’s clear that right now, that is as high as he can climb: The Italian and Spaniard sit a vast gap of performance metrics away. Fritz’s elite serve and concussive strength on each front side and backhand are sufficiently adequate to defeat the majority of rivals on the ATP tour. When facing the handful of generational talents, though, Fritz is often overmatched. The last several years has witnessed the interesting rise of tall, gangly players who can nonetheless cover the court with the alarming speed and fluidity of smaller players. Fritz is six-foot-five 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 opponent was dictating, and hitting a soft shot versus him is usually a reliable tactic. That serves as a quite severe restriction on his potential.

Fritz has made a number of dramatic, improbable improvements over the years. Early on of the ten-year period, he was circling the bottom of the top 30. 24 months after, he was approaching the elite ten. Last year, he unexpectedly exploded to fourth place – and held the position. But the next leap, mixing it up with and defeating legendary figures like the young Spaniard, the Italian, and even a aging Serbian, is the toughest of all. What could the commentator have been thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a serious threat to beat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate commenting on the continuing drought of American men winning major titles when Fritz had exited the US Open in the quarter-finals? The thirst is just too much and the respect for the difficulty of the task insufficient.

The American star made a career-best run to the Wimbledon last four in the summer.

Fritz’s performance in that exact last eight match should have been sufficient of an indication. The Serbian won in four rounds, a win that only felt uncertain for moments towards the very end, when Fritz had saved a few championship opportunities and had a chance to maintain serve for 5-5. The duo appeared evenly matched during the rallies, with the American creating numerous opportunities to win the opponent's serve. But Djokovic rescued service break opportunity after break point, extending the run to the point of frustration. When Fritz finally did convert a single of the chances at 5-5 in the second set, he promptly played a terrible service game to lose his own serve again; the Serbian had drawn him into a battle secondary to the main contest and compelled him to use excessive effort to win it. Down set points in the last game, Fritz’s primary delivery sailed to the sky. He prolonged the match two times on his second serve, but finally committed two errors. It was not a collapse, in my opinion, only a result of needing to hit too many second serves.

The match was quite compelling evidence that the American is insufficiently skilled to beat any form of Djokovic, who lost to Alcaraz in the following match and did not especially appeared like he believed he could win. This is perfectly fine – Djokovic is the best player ever, and might not be at the peak of his physical powers now, but has developed sufficient experience and strategic intelligence to compensate for a significant portion of the drop-off. The problem is the individuals who were expecting the American to win, and pressuring him to achieve that, when he was yet to accomplished anything that suggested he could.

The American is an valuable contributor to the circuit nonetheless. He’s a patient, thoughtful voice in press conferences, exceeding almost everyone on the ATP aside from Daniil Medvedev, prepared to not only express his emotions or the tactic he felt decided a match, but explain it. That he should bear the brunt of the responsibility for America failing to produce a men's grand slam winner since Andy Roddick seems unfair. (Now that the fellow American is rubbing shoulders with him in the rankings, perhaps they can share that burden.)

ATP Finals: Player Divisions

American legend Group

• The Spanish phenom
• The American contender
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Swedish icon Group

• The Italian champion
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• The rising American
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I’d probably think about it indefinitely if I fail to do it,” the American told a journalist in the summer of claiming a major. I hope he understands that he’s not unsuccessful if he doesn’t achieve that goal, that overcoming Alcaraz and Sinner’s young, terrifying reign is actually highly improbable for everybody else. {