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I possess a few opinions about the remarks delivered by the sports network broadcaster Chris Fowler after the Serbian champion's win over Taylor Fritz in the New York major quarter-finals. Consider – the athlete represents the United States, the commentator is American – and sports often lend themselves to patriotic sentiment. A little bit of disappointment would have been appropriate. Instead, Fowler brought up the continued drought of US male players at grand slam tournaments: none of them had lifted a title since Andy Roddick in 2003, and Fritz had been the last one standing in the competition.

We all love a narrative, myself included. But really. Even if Fritz had beaten the legend for the first time, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was waiting in the following match, who Fritz has yet to beat in an official match. And had he somehow gotten past that, it would have been title holder Jannik Sinner, against whom Fritz had dropped 10 of the previous eleven sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also divided the last seven major titles (plus the Spaniard went on to defeat a tired Djokovic in the subsequent match). He stated in press following his defeat that he actually liked his draw, because it offered the chance to beat the top three players in the world in succession. Fritz is more than within his right to aspire to the achievement; an athlete is supposed to believe in themselves. But going into that Serbian last eight match who else sensibly had the lack of American champions on the brain?

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

Fritz, 28, is placed number four in the world entering this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has secured his last six encounters over No 3 Alexander Zverev with growing comfort. Presumably he could claim that position for himself in the future. But evidently that at present, that’s as far as he can climb: The Italian and Spaniard lie a vast gap of performance metrics away. His elite delivery and concussive power on both front side and backhand are more than adequate to dispose of most rivals on the professional circuit. Against the handful of once-in-a-lifetime players, though, he is often overmatched. The past few seasons has seen the curious rise of tall, gangly athletes who can nevertheless move around with the alarming speed and grace of smaller men. He is six-foot-five and appears that way. His footwork is rigid, 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 drop shot versus him is usually a reliable tactic. That acts as a quite harsh limitation on his potential.

Fritz has achieved a number of significant, unexpected advancements throughout his career. Early on of the ten-year period, he was hovering around the lower end of the world's best thirty. 24 months after, he was approaching the elite ten. Last year, he unexpectedly surged up to fourth place – and maintained the position. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and defeating all-time-greats like Alcaraz, the Italian, and even a declining Serbian, is the toughest of all. What could the commentator thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a serious threat to beat them all back-to-back? That it was worth commenting on the ongoing drought of American men lifting major titles when he had departed the US Open in the quarter-finals? The desperation is just excessive and the appreciation for the magnitude of the task insufficient.

Taylor Fritz achieved a career-best advancement to the Wimbledon semi-finals in the summer.

The American's performance in that exact quarter-final should have been sufficient of an sign. Djokovic triumphed in four rounds, a victory that only felt tenuous for moments towards the very end, when the American had survived a few championship opportunities and had a opportunity to hold for 5-5. The duo appeared well-balanced during the rallies, with the American creating plenty of chances to win the opponent's serve. But the champion rescued break point after service break opportunity, extending the streak to the brink of agony. When he eventually did claim one of the opportunities at 5-5 in the second set, he promptly played a horrendous game to lose his own serve once more; the Serbian had lulled him into a skirmish secondary to the main contest and forced him to expend far too much energy to prevail. Down set points in the last game, his first serve floated to the sky. He prolonged the contest twice on his backup delivery, but ultimately double-faulted. It wasn’t a collapse, I didn’t think, only a consequence of having to hit too many second serves.

The match was quite ironclad proof that the American is insufficiently skilled to defeat any version of Djokovic, that was defeated by the Spaniard in the next round and did not especially appeared like he believed he could triumph. This is perfectly acceptable – the Serbian is the best player ever, and may not be at the height of his athletic abilities now, but has acquired enough experience and strategic intelligence to compensate for a significant portion of the decline. The issue is those who were expecting Fritz to prevail, and pressuring him to do so, when he was had not done anything that suggested he could.

Fritz is an asset to the circuit nonetheless. He’s a patient, reflective presence in media sessions, more so than almost everyone on the men's tour aside from the Russian star, willing to not just express his emotions or the strategy he felt decided a match, but explain it. That he ought to shoulder the majority of the blame for America failing to produce a male major champion since the last American titlist feels unjust. (Now that the fellow American is rubbing shoulders with him in the rankings, perhaps they can divide that burden.)

ATP Finals: Singles Groups

Jimmy Connors Division

• The Spanish phenom
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• The Australian speedster
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Swedish icon Group

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• Ben Shelton (US)
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I’d probably think about it forever if I don’t do it,” Fritz informed an interviewer in June of claiming a major. It is hoped he realizes that he’s not unsuccessful if he doesn’t fulfill that objective, that breaking through Alcaraz and Sinner’s dominant, formidable empire is actually extremely unlikely for everybody else. {