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I have a few opinions regarding that remarks made by the sports network broadcaster a well-known announcer after the Serbian champion's win over Taylor Fritz during the New York major last eight. Consider – Fritz is American, the commentator is from the US – and sports often encourage nationalism. Some disappointment was appropriate. Rather, Fowler invoked the ongoing absence of US male players at grand slam tournaments: none of them has won a trophy since Andy Roddick in 2003, and Fritz had been the last one standing in the competition.

Everyone enjoy a storyline, me too. But come on. Even if the American defeated the legend for the first time, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was looming in the following match, whom Fritz has yet to beat in an official match. And if he’d someway gotten past that, it would have been defending champion Jannik Sinner, versus him Fritz had dropped 10 of the previous eleven sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also split the last seven major titles (plus Alcaraz went on to defeat a fatigued Djokovic in the subsequent match). He said in post-match interviews after the loss that he in fact liked his path, because it offered the opportunity to beat the three best players in the sport back-to-back. Fritz is well justified to aspire to the achievement; an competitor is supposed to have faith in themselves. But going into that Djokovic quarter-final what other person sensibly had the drought of American champions in mind?

Coco Gauff’s second serve the sole barrier between her and sustained success

Fritz, 28, is placed number four in the global rankings entering this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has won his previous six encounters over third-ranked the German with increasing ease. Presumably he could claim that position for himself in the future. But evidently that right now, that’s as high as he can rise: The Italian and Spaniard lie a chasm of performance metrics away. His elite delivery and powerful strength on each front side and backhand are more than adequate to defeat the majority of opponents on the ATP tour. When facing the select few once-in-a-lifetime players, though, Fritz is frequently overmatched. The last several years has witnessed the curious rise of tall, gangly athletes who can nonetheless move around with the alarming quickness and fluidity of smaller men. Fritz is 6ft 5ins and appears that way. His movement is rigid, as if he’s still getting used to his legs. So he’ll rarely win a rally that the other player was controlling, and hitting a soft shot against him is typically a reliable tactic. That acts as a quite harsh restriction on his upside.

Fritz has made a several significant, improbable improvements throughout his career. Early on of the ten-year period, he was hovering around the bottom of the world's best thirty. Two years after, he was approaching the elite ten. The previous season, he unexpectedly exploded up to No 4 – and held the spot. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and defeating legendary figures like Alcaraz, the Italian, and even a declining Djokovic, is the highest 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 commenting on the ongoing drought of US male players winning major titles when Fritz had exited the US Open in the quarter-finals? The thirst is just too much and the appreciation for the magnitude of the challenge too little.

The American star achieved a personal best advancement to the Wimbledon last four in July.

The American's performance in that very quarter-final should have been enough of an sign. The Serbian triumphed in four rounds, a win that only seemed uncertain for moments towards the very end, when the American had survived a couple match points and had a chance to maintain serve for 5-5. The pair looked evenly matched during the rallies, with the American creating numerous opportunities to win the opponent's serve. But Djokovic saved break point after break point, extending the run to the brink of agony. When he eventually did convert one of the opportunities at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he promptly played a horrendous game to lose his own serve again; Djokovic had drawn him into a skirmish peripheral to the real battle and forced him to expend excessive energy to prevail. Down match points in the last game, Fritz’s first serve sailed to the sky. He prolonged the contest two times on his second serve, but ultimately 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 fairly compelling evidence that Fritz is not good enough to beat any version of the Serbian, that was defeated by Alcaraz in the following match and did not particularly seem like he believed he could win. This is absolutely fine – Djokovic is the best player ever, and might not be at the peak of his athletic abilities now, but has developed enough knowledge and strategic intelligence to make up for quite a bit of the decline. The problem is those who were anticipating Fritz to prevail, and pressuring him to do so, when he was yet to done anything that indicated he could.

Fritz is an asset to the circuit regardless. He’s a patient, thoughtful voice in press conferences, exceeding almost anyone on the men's tour aside from the Russian star, willing to not only say how he feels or the strategy he felt determined a contest, but clarify it. That he ought to bear the brunt of the blame for America not produce a men's grand slam winner since the last American titlist seems unfair. (Since the fellow American is rubbing shoulders with him in the standings, maybe they can share that load.)

ATP Finals: Player Divisions

American legend 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
• The Canadian talent

“I’d probably think about it indefinitely if I fail to accomplish it,” Fritz told a journalist in the summer of claiming a major. It is hoped he realizes that he’s not unsuccessful if he doesn’t fulfill that goal, that overcoming the Spanish and Italian's young, terrifying reign is actually extremely improbable for all other players. {