🔗 Share this article

I possess a few thoughts regarding that comments delivered by ESPN commentator Chris Fowler after the Serbian champion's win over Taylor Fritz during the New York major last eight. Look – Fritz is the United States, Fowler is from the US – and athletic competitions frequently encourage patriotic sentiment. Some letdown was appropriate. Rather, Fowler invoked the ongoing drought of American men at grand slam tournaments: none of them has won a title since the last American champion in 2003, and he had been the final representative in the tournament.

Everyone love a narrative, me too. But really. Even if the American had beaten Djokovic for the first time, phenomenal talent the Spanish star was looming in the following match, whom Fritz has never defeated in an official match. And had he someway gotten past that, it would have been title holder the Italian, versus him the American had dropped 10 of the previous eleven sets. The two young stars had also divided the previous seven major titles (and the Spaniard proceeded to thrash a fatigued Serbian in the next round). He stated in post-match interviews after the loss that he in fact liked his path, because it presented the chance to beat the top three competitors in the sport in succession. He is well justified to aspire to the achievement; an athlete is supposed to have faith in themselves. But entering that Djokovic last eight match who else sensibly had the drought of American champions on the brain?

Coco Gauff’s second serve the only thing between her and consistent victories

The American, 28, is placed number four in the world entering this week’s year-end championships and has secured his previous six matches over third-ranked the German with increasing ease. Presumably he might claim that position for himself in the coming years. But it’s clear that at present, that is as far as he can rise: Sinner and Alcaraz lie a chasm of performance metrics away. Fritz’s top-class delivery and concussive strength on both forehand and reverse side are more than adequate to defeat most rivals on the ATP tour. When facing the select few generational talents, though, he is frequently helpless. The past few seasons has witnessed the curious emergence of lanky, towering players who can nevertheless move around with the alarming speed and grace of much shorter players. Fritz is 6ft 5ins and appears that way. His footwork is rigid, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his legs. So he’ll rarely steal a point that the other player was controlling, and playing a soft shot versus him is usually a reliable tactic. That serves as a quite severe limitation on his potential.

The American has achieved 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. Two years after, he was approaching the top 10. The previous season, he suddenly surged to No 4 – and held the spot. But the subsequent step, competing against and defeating legendary figures like Alcaraz, the Italian, and including a aging Serbian, is the highest of all. What could the commentator thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate commenting on the ongoing drought of US male players winning grand slams when he had departed the US Open in the quarter-finals? The thirst is simply too much and the appreciation for the difficulty of the task too little.

The American star made a career-best advancement to the Wimbledon semi-finals in the summer.

The American's play in that very quarter-final should have been sufficient of an indication. The Serbian won in four rounds, a win that only seemed uncertain for moments towards the very end, when Fritz had saved 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 creating plenty of chances to break. But Djokovic saved break point after service break opportunity, prolonging the streak to the point of agony. When he eventually did convert a single of the chances at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he promptly produced a terrible service game to drop serve again; the Serbian had lulled him into a battle peripheral to the main contest and compelled him to expend far too much energy to win it. Down match points in the final game, his primary delivery floated to the sky. He prolonged the match two times on his backup delivery, but ultimately committed two errors. It was not a choke, I didn’t think, just a result of needing to hit an excessive number of weaker deliveries.

The match was fairly ironclad evidence that Fritz is insufficiently skilled to defeat any form of the Serbian, that lost to Alcaraz in the next round and did not especially seem like he thought he could win. This is perfectly acceptable – the Serbian is the best player ever, and might not be at the peak of his athletic abilities anymore, but has acquired enough experience and strategic intelligence to compensate for a significant portion of the drop-off. The issue is the individuals who were anticipating the American to prevail, and pressuring him to do so, when he was yet to accomplished anything that suggested he would.

Fritz is an valuable contributor to the tour regardless. He’s a calm, thoughtful voice in media sessions, more so than virtually everyone on the ATP aside from the Russian star, willing to not only express how he feels or the strategy he believed determined a match, 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 feels unjust. (Since Ben Shelton is competing alongside him in the standings, maybe they can share that load.)

Year-End Championships: Player Divisions

American legend Division

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

Swedish icon Group

• The Italian champion
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• The rising American
• The Canadian talent

“I would likely dwell on it forever if I fail to accomplish it,” Fritz informed an interviewer in the summer of claiming a grand slam. It is hoped he understands that he’s not a failure if he doesn’t fulfill that objective, that breaking through Alcaraz and Sinner’s dominant, formidable reign is in fact highly improbable for all other players. {