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I possess a few opinions regarding that remarks made by the sports network commentator Chris Fowler after the Serbian champion's win over Taylor Fritz in the US Open last eight. Consider – the athlete represents the United States, Fowler is from the US – and sports often encourage nationalism. Some letdown would have been appropriate. Rather, he invoked the continued drought of US male players at grand slam tournaments: not one of them has won a title since Andy Roddick in 2003, and Fritz had been the final representative in the tournament.

Everyone love a storyline, myself included. But come on. Even if Fritz defeated the legend for the first time, force of nature the Spanish star was waiting in the next round, who Fritz has never defeated in an competitive encounter. And if he’d somehow gotten past that, it would have been title holder the Italian, against whom Fritz had lost 10 of the previous eleven sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also divided the previous seven grand slams (plus Alcaraz went on to thrash a fatigued Djokovic in the next round). Fritz said in press following his defeat that he in fact liked his path, because it presented the chance to beat the three best competitors in the world in succession. Fritz is more than within his right to aspire to the achievement; an athlete is meant to believe in themselves. But entering that Serbian quarter-final what other person in their right mind had the drought of US winners in mind?

Coco Gauff’s second serve the only thing standing in her way and consistent victories

Fritz, 28, is ranked fourth in the world starting the upcoming ATP World Tour Finals and has secured his last six matches over No 3 the German with growing comfort. It's likely he could claim that position for himself in the coming years. But evidently that right now, that’s as far as he can climb: The Italian and Spaniard sit a vast gap of ranking points away. Fritz’s elite delivery and powerful strength on both forehand and backhand are more than adequate to defeat the majority of rivals on the ATP tour. Against the handful of once-in-a-lifetime players, though, he is frequently helpless. The last several years has seen the interesting emergence of lanky, towering players who can nonetheless cover the court with the alarming quickness and fluidity of smaller players. He is 6ft 5ins and appears that way. His movement is stiff, as if he’s still getting used to his legs. So he’ll rarely steal a point that the opponent was controlling, and playing a drop shot versus him is usually a safe bet. That serves as a pretty severe limitation on his potential.

Fritz has achieved a several dramatic, improbable advancements 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. The previous season, he suddenly surged to fourth place – and held the spot. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and defeating all-time-greats like the young Spaniard, Sinner, and including a aging Serbian, is the toughest of all. What could Fowler 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 ongoing slump of American men lifting major titles when Fritz had departed the US Open in the quarter-finals? The desperation is just excessive and the appreciation for the difficulty of the challenge insufficient.

The American star made a career-best advancement to the All England Club semi-finals in July.

Fritz’s performance in that very quarter-final ought to have been enough of an indication. Djokovic won in four sets, a win that only seemed tenuous for moments towards the very end, when Fritz had saved a couple match points and had a chance to maintain serve for 5-5. The duo appeared well-balanced during the rallies, with the American earning plenty of opportunities to break. But Djokovic saved service break opportunity after service break opportunity, extending the run to the point of frustration. When Fritz eventually did claim one of the opportunities at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he promptly produced a horrendous game to drop serve once more; Djokovic had drawn him into a skirmish secondary to the real battle and compelled him to expend excessive energy to win it. Facing match points in the last game, his primary delivery floated to heaven. He extended the contest twice on his backup delivery, but finally double-faulted. It was not a choke, I didn’t think, only a consequence of having to hit an excessive number of second serves.

The contest was quite ironclad proof that the American is not good enough to defeat any form of Djokovic, who lost to Alcaraz in the following match and did not particularly seem like he believed he could win. This is absolutely fine – Djokovic is the greatest of all time, and might not be at the peak of his athletic abilities now, but has acquired enough knowledge and strategic intelligence to make up for quite a bit of the drop-off. The issue is those who were expecting Fritz to prevail, and putting pressure on him to do so, when he was had not accomplished anything that suggested he would.

Fritz is an asset to the tour regardless. He’s a calm, thoughtful presence in press conferences, exceeding virtually everyone on the men's tour aside from Daniil Medvedev, willing to not just say his emotions or the tactic he believed decided a match, but explain it. That he should bear the brunt of the responsibility for America not spawn a male major champion since the last American titlist feels unjust. (Now that Ben Shelton is competing alongside him in the standings, perhaps they can divide that load.)

Year-End Championships: Player Divisions

Jimmy Connors Group

• The Spanish phenom
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Bjorn Borg Division

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• The German powerhouse
• The rising American
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I’d probably think about it indefinitely if I don’t accomplish it,” Fritz told an interviewer in the summer of claiming a grand slam. I hope he understands that he’s not unsuccessful if he does not achieve that objective, that breaking through Alcaraz and Sinner’s dominant, formidable reign is actually highly unlikely for all other players. {