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I have some thoughts about the comments made by the sports network broadcaster Chris Fowler after the Serbian champion's win over the American player in the US Open quarter-finals. Look – Fritz is American, Fowler is American – and athletic competitions frequently encourage patriotic sentiment. Some letdown was appropriate. Rather, Fowler brought up the continued absence of US male players at the majors: none of them had lifted a trophy since Andy Roddick in 2003, and Fritz had been the final representative in the competition.

Everyone enjoy a storyline, me too. But come on. Suppose the American had beaten the legend for the first time, force of nature the Spanish star was looming in the following match, whom Fritz has never defeated in an official match. And if he’d somehow gotten past that, it would have been title holder the Italian, versus him Fritz had dropped 10 of the last 11 sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also divided the last seven grand slams (plus Alcaraz proceeded to defeat a fatigued Serbian in the next round). Fritz said in press following his defeat that he in fact liked his draw, because it presented the opportunity to defeat the three best players in the sport in succession. Fritz is more than justified to aspire to the achievement; an competitor is supposed to have faith in themselves. But entering that Serbian last eight match who else sensibly had the lack of American champions on the brain?

Coco Gauff’s second serve the only thing between her and sustained success

The American, twenty-eight, is placed fourth in the global rankings entering this week’s year-end championships and has won his last six matches over third-ranked the German with increasing ease. Presumably he could take that spot for himself in the coming years. But evidently that right now, that’s as far as he can rise: The Italian and Spaniard sit a chasm of ranking points away. His top-class delivery and concussive power on each front side and reverse side are sufficiently adequate to defeat most opponents on the ATP tour. Against the select few generational talents, though, he is frequently helpless. The last several seasons has witnessed the interesting rise of tall, gangly players who can nevertheless move around with the surprising speed and grace of much shorter players. He is 6ft 5ins and looks it. His footwork is rigid, as if he’s still getting used to his legs. So he’ll rarely steal a point that the opponent was dictating, and playing a drop shot versus him is typically a reliable tactic. That serves as a pretty severe limitation on his upside.

Fritz has achieved a several dramatic, unexpected advancements throughout his career. At the beginning of the ten-year period, he was circling the bottom of the top 30. Two years after, he was sniffing the elite ten. The previous season, he suddenly surged up to No 4 – and maintained the position. But the next leap, competing against and beating legendary figures like the young Spaniard, the Italian, and including a declining Serbian, is the toughest of all. What was Fowler 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 lifting major titles when Fritz had departed the US Open in the quarter-finals? The desperation is just too much and the appreciation for the difficulty of the challenge too little.

Taylor Fritz achieved a career-best run to the Wimbledon last four in the summer.

The American's play in that exact last eight match should have been enough of an indication. The Serbian triumphed in four rounds, a win that only felt tenuous for moments towards the conclusion, when the American had survived a few match points and had a opportunity to maintain serve for 5-5. The duo looked evenly matched during the exchanges, with the American earning numerous opportunities to win the opponent's serve. But Djokovic rescued service break opportunity after service break opportunity, prolonging the streak to the brink of agony. When Fritz eventually did claim a single of the chances at 5-5 in the second set, he promptly played a terrible game to lose his own serve again; the Serbian had drawn him into a battle peripheral to the real battle and forced him to expend far too much effort to win it. Facing match points in the final game, Fritz’s primary delivery sailed to the sky. He prolonged the match two times on his backup delivery, but ultimately double-faulted. It was not a choke, in my opinion, only a consequence of having to hit too many second serves.

The contest was quite compelling evidence that Fritz is not good enough to defeat any version of Djokovic, who lost to the Spaniard in the following match and never particularly seem like he believed he could win. This is perfectly acceptable – Djokovic is the best player ever, and may not be at the peak of his athletic abilities anymore, but has developed enough 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 do so, when he was had not accomplished anything that suggested he would.

Fritz is an asset to the circuit nonetheless. He’s a patient, reflective presence in media sessions, more so than virtually everyone on the men's tour except for the Russian star, prepared to not only express how he feels 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 failing to produce a male major champion since the last American titlist feels unfair. (Now that the fellow American is competing alongside him in the rankings, perhaps they can share that burden.)

Year-End Championships: Player Divisions

Jimmy Connors Division

• The Spanish phenom
• The American contender
• The Australian speedster
• The Italian stylist

Bjorn Borg Group

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

“I would likely think about it indefinitely if I don’t do it,” Fritz told an interviewer in the summer of winning a grand slam. I hope he realizes that he’s not unsuccessful if he does not achieve that goal, that breaking through Alcaraz and Sinner’s dominant, formidable empire is actually highly unlikely for everybody else. {