🔗 Share this article

I possess some thoughts regarding that comments made by ESPN commentator Chris Fowler following the Serbian champion's victory over Taylor Fritz during the US Open last eight. Consider – the athlete represents American, the commentator is from the US – and athletic competitions often encourage nationalism. A little bit of letdown was appropriate. Instead, Fowler brought up the continued drought of US male players at grand slam tournaments: none of them has won a trophy since the last American champion in 2003, and Fritz had been the final representative in the tournament.

We all love a narrative, me too. But really. Even if Fritz had beaten the legend for the initial occasion, phenomenal talent the Spanish star was waiting in the following match, whom he has never defeated in an competitive encounter. And if he’d someway gotten past that, it would have been title holder Jannik Sinner, against whom the American had dropped 10 of the last 11 sets. The two young stars had also divided the previous seven grand slams (plus the Spaniard proceeded to thrash a tired Djokovic in the next round). He said in post-match interviews following his defeat that he actually liked his draw, because it offered the chance to beat the top three competitors in the world in succession. He is well within his right to aspire to the achievement; an competitor is supposed to have faith in themselves. But going into that Djokovic last eight match who else sensibly had the drought of US winners on the brain?

The American star's weaker delivery the sole barrier between her and sustained success

Fritz, twenty-eight, is ranked number four in the world starting this week’s year-end championships and has secured his previous six matches over No 3 Alexander Zverev with growing comfort. Presumably he might take that spot for himself in the coming years. But evidently that right now, that’s as high as he can rise: Sinner and Alcaraz sit a vast gap of performance metrics away. His elite delivery and concussive power on each front side and backhand are more than enough to dispose of most rivals on the professional circuit. When facing the handful of once-in-a-lifetime players, though, he is frequently helpless. The last several seasons has seen the curious emergence of lanky, towering players who can nevertheless move around with the alarming quickness and fluidity of smaller players. He is 6ft 5ins and looks it. His footwork is rigid, as if he’s still getting used to his limbs. So he’ll rarely win a rally that the other player was dictating, and hitting a drop shot versus him is typically a reliable tactic. That serves as a quite severe restriction on his potential.

Fritz has made a number of significant, improbable improvements over the years. Early on of the decade, he was hovering around the lower end of the top 30. 24 months after, he was sniffing the top 10. The previous season, he suddenly exploded up to fourth place – and maintained the spot. But the next leap, mixing it up with and defeating legendary figures like the young Spaniard, the Italian, and including a declining Serbian, is the toughest of all. What could the commentator thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a serious threat to beat them all back-to-back? That it was worth commenting on the continuing slump of US male players lifting grand slams when Fritz had exited the New York major in the quarter-finals? The thirst is simply excessive and the respect for the magnitude of the challenge too little.

The American star achieved a career-best advancement to the Wimbledon last four in the summer.

Fritz’s performance in that very last eight match ought to have been enough of an indication. Djokovic won in four sets, a win that only felt uncertain for brief periods towards the very end, when Fritz had saved a few championship opportunities and had a opportunity to maintain serve for 5-5. The pair appeared evenly matched during the exchanges, with the American creating plenty of opportunities to win the opponent's serve. But Djokovic saved service break opportunity after service break opportunity, prolonging the streak to the brink of frustration. When he eventually did claim one of the opportunities at 5-5 in the second set, he immediately played a horrendous service game to drop serve once more; the Serbian had lulled him into a skirmish secondary to the real battle and compelled him to expend far too much energy to prevail. Down set points in the last game, Fritz’s first serve sailed to the sky. He prolonged the contest twice on his second serve, but ultimately double-faulted. It wasn’t a choke, in my opinion, only a consequence of needing to hit an excessive number of weaker deliveries.

The contest was fairly ironclad evidence that the American is not good enough to defeat any version of the Serbian, that lost to the Spaniard in the next round and did not especially seem like he thought he could win. This is absolutely acceptable – the Serbian is the greatest of all time, and may not be at the height of his physical powers anymore, but has developed enough knowledge and strategic intelligence to make up for quite a bit of the drop-off. The issue is those who were anticipating Fritz to win, and pressuring him to do so, when he was had not done anything that indicated he would.

The American is an valuable contributor to the circuit nonetheless. He’s a patient, thoughtful voice in press conferences, more so than almost anyone on the ATP aside from the Russian star, willing to not just express how he feels or the tactic he felt determined a match, but clarify it. That he should bear the brunt of the responsibility for the United States not produce a men's grand slam winner since the last American titlist feels unjust. (Now that the fellow American is competing alongside him in the standings, perhaps they can divide that load.)

ATP Finals: Singles Groups

American legend Group

• Carlos Alcaraz (Sp)
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• The Australian speedster
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Swedish icon 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 do it,” the American told an interviewer in June of claiming a major. I hope he understands that he’s not a failure if he does not achieve that objective, that overcoming Alcaraz and Sinner’s young, terrifying empire is actually highly unlikely for everybody else. {