🔗 Share this article

I have some opinions regarding that comments delivered by ESPN commentator a well-known announcer following the Serbian champion's victory over Taylor Fritz during the US Open quarter-finals. Consider – Fritz is the United States, Fowler is American – and athletic competitions frequently encourage patriotic sentiment. A little bit of disappointment would have been appropriate. Instead, Fowler brought up the continued drought of American men at grand slam tournaments: not one of them has won a trophy since Andy Roddick in 2003, and he had been the last one standing in the competition.

We all love a narrative, myself included. But really. Even if the American defeated Djokovic for the initial occasion, phenomenal talent Carlos Alcaraz was looming in the following match, who Fritz has never defeated in an official match. And if he’d someway survived that, it would have been defending champion the Italian, versus him the American had dropped 10 of the previous eleven sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also split the previous seven major titles (plus the Spaniard proceeded to thrash a fatigued Djokovic in the next round). Fritz stated in post-match interviews following his defeat that he in fact preferred his draw, because it presented the chance to defeat the top three players in the sport in succession. Fritz is well justified to aim for the achievement; an athlete is supposed to have faith in themselves. But going into that Serbian quarter-final who else in their right mind had the lack of US winners in mind?

Coco Gauff’s weaker delivery the only thing between her and sustained success

The American, 28, is placed fourth in the world starting this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has secured his last six encounters over No 3 Alexander Zverev with increasing ease. It's likely he might take that spot for himself in the coming years. But it’s clear that right now, that’s as far as he can climb: The Italian and Spaniard sit a vast gap of ranking points away. Fritz’s elite serve and powerful power on each forehand and reverse side are more than enough to dispose of the majority of opponents on the ATP tour. When facing the handful of once-in-a-lifetime players, however, he is frequently overmatched. The last several years has seen the interesting rise of lanky, towering athletes who can nevertheless cover the court with the surprising speed and grace of smaller players. Fritz is six-foot-five and looks it. His movement is stiff, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his legs. So he’ll rarely steal a point that the other player was controlling, and hitting a drop shot versus him is usually a safe bet. That serves as a pretty harsh limitation on his potential.

The American has achieved a number of dramatic, improbable improvements over the years. At the beginning of the decade, 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 spot. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and defeating legendary figures like Alcaraz, the Italian, and including a aging Serbian, is the toughest of all. What was Fowler thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to beat them all back-to-back? That it was worth commenting on the continuing slump of US male players lifting major titles when he had exited the US Open in the quarter-finals? The desperation is simply excessive and the respect for the difficulty of the challenge too little.

The American star achieved a personal best advancement to the All England Club semi-finals in July.

Fritz’s play in that very quarter-final ought to have been sufficient of an sign. The Serbian triumphed in four rounds, a win that only seemed uncertain for brief periods towards the conclusion, when the American had survived a few championship opportunities and had a opportunity to maintain serve for 5-5. The pair appeared well-balanced during the exchanges, with the American creating numerous opportunities to break. But Djokovic rescued service break opportunity after break point, extending the streak to the point of agony. When Fritz eventually did convert one of the opportunities at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he immediately produced a terrible service game to lose his own serve once more; the Serbian had drawn him into a skirmish peripheral to the main contest and compelled him to expend far too much energy to prevail. Down match points in the last game, his first serve sailed to heaven. He prolonged the contest twice on his backup delivery, but ultimately committed two errors. It was not a collapse, I didn’t think, only a consequence of needing to hit too many weaker deliveries.

The match was fairly ironclad evidence that the American is not good enough to defeat any version of Djokovic, who was defeated by Alcaraz in the following match and did not particularly seem like he thought he could win. This is absolutely fine – Djokovic is the greatest of all time, and might not be at the peak of his athletic abilities anymore, but has acquired sufficient knowledge and tactical know-how to compensate for quite a bit of the decline. The issue is the individuals who were expecting Fritz to win, and putting pressure on him to do so, when he was yet to done anything that indicated he could.

Fritz is an asset to the tour nonetheless. He’s a patient, reflective presence in media sessions, exceeding virtually anyone on the ATP aside from the Russian star, prepared to not only say his emotions or the strategy he felt decided a match, but clarify it. That he should bear the brunt of the responsibility for America not spawn a men's grand slam winner since the last American titlist seems unjust. (Since the fellow American is rubbing shoulders with him in the rankings, perhaps they can divide that burden.)

ATP Finals: Player Divisions

American legend Division

• Carlos Alcaraz (Sp)
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• The Australian speedster
• The Italian stylist

Bjorn Borg Division

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• The rising American
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I would likely think about it forever if I don’t do it,” Fritz informed a journalist in the summer of claiming a grand slam. It is hoped he understands that he’s not a failure if he does not achieve that goal, that overcoming the Spanish and Italian's dominant, formidable empire is actually highly unlikely for all other players. {