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I possess some thoughts regarding the comments delivered by ESPN broadcaster Chris Fowler following the Serbian champion's win over the American player during the New York major last eight. Consider – the athlete represents American, the commentator is American – and sports often encourage nationalism. A little bit of letdown would have been understandable. Instead, Fowler brought up the continued absence of US male players at grand slam tournaments: none of them has won a title since Andy Roddick in 2003, and he had been the last one standing in the competition.

Everyone enjoy a storyline, myself included. But come on. Even if Fritz defeated Djokovic for the initial occasion, force of nature the Spanish star was waiting in the next round, whom Fritz has yet to beat in an competitive encounter. And had he someway survived that, it would have been defending champion the Italian, versus him the American had lost 10 of the previous eleven sets. The two young stars had also divided the previous seven grand slams (and Alcaraz went on to thrash a tired Djokovic in the subsequent match). Fritz said in press after the loss that he actually preferred his draw, because it presented the chance to beat the three best competitors in the sport in succession. He is more than justified to aspire to the accomplishment; an competitor is meant to believe in themselves. But entering that Serbian last eight match who else sensibly had the lack of American champions on the brain?

Coco Gauff’s second serve the only thing standing in her way and sustained success

The American, twenty-eight, is ranked number four in the world entering this week’s year-end championships and has won his last six matches over No 3 the German with increasing ease. Presumably he could claim that position for himself in the future. But it’s clear that at present, that is as far as he can rise: The Italian and Spaniard lie a chasm of performance metrics away. His elite delivery and powerful strength on both forehand and backhand are more than enough to dispose of most opponents on the ATP tour. Against the select few once-in-a-lifetime players, though, Fritz is frequently overmatched. The last several years has seen the curious rise of tall, gangly players who can nevertheless cover the court with the surprising speed and grace of much shorter players. Fritz is 6ft 5ins and looks it. 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 playing a drop shot versus him is typically a safe bet. That acts as a pretty severe limitation on his upside.

Fritz has made a several significant, unexpected advancements throughout his career. At the beginning of the ten-year period, he was hovering around the lower end of the top 30. 24 months later, he was sniffing the elite ten. The previous season, he unexpectedly exploded to fourth place – and held the spot. But the next leap, competing against and defeating all-time-greats like Alcaraz, Sinner, and including a aging Djokovic, is the toughest of all. What could the commentator have been thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a serious threat to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was worth commenting on the ongoing drought of US male players lifting grand slams when Fritz had departed the US Open in the quarter-finals? The desperation is just too much and the respect for the difficulty of the challenge insufficient.

Taylor Fritz achieved a career-best advancement to the All England Club last four in July.

Fritz’s play in that exact last eight match ought to have been enough of an indication. Djokovic triumphed in four sets, a win that only seemed tenuous for brief periods towards the very end, when Fritz had survived a few championship opportunities and had a chance to maintain serve for 5-5. The duo appeared well-balanced during the exchanges, with the American creating numerous chances to win the opponent's serve. But Djokovic rescued break point after break point, prolonging the streak to the point of agony. When he eventually did convert one of the chances at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he immediately played a terrible service game to lose his own serve once more; Djokovic had drawn him into a battle peripheral to the main contest and forced him to use far too much effort to win it. Down match points in the last game, his primary delivery floated to heaven. He prolonged the match two times on his backup delivery, but finally committed two errors. It was not a collapse, in my opinion, only a consequence of needing to hit too many second serves.

The match was fairly compelling evidence that Fritz is not good enough to defeat any version of Djokovic, who lost to Alcaraz in the following match and never especially appeared like he believed he could triumph. This is absolutely fine – Djokovic is the greatest of all time, and may not be at the peak of his physical powers anymore, but has acquired enough experience and strategic intelligence to make up for a significant portion of the drop-off. The issue is those who were expecting Fritz to prevail, and pressuring him to do so, when he was yet to done anything that suggested he could.

Fritz is an asset to the tour regardless. He’s a calm, thoughtful voice in press conferences, more so than virtually everyone on the ATP aside from Daniil Medvedev, willing to not only say how he feels or the strategy he felt decided a contest, but explain it. That he should shoulder the majority of the responsibility for the United States failing to spawn a men's grand slam winner since Andy Roddick seems unjust. (Since the fellow American is rubbing shoulders with him in the standings, perhaps they can share that load.)

ATP Finals: Singles Groups

Jimmy Connors Group

• Carlos Alcaraz (Sp)
• The American contender
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Swedish icon Group

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• The German powerhouse
• Ben Shelton (US)
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I’d probably think about it indefinitely if I fail to accomplish it,” Fritz informed a journalist in June of winning a grand slam. I hope he understands that he’s not unsuccessful if he doesn’t achieve that goal, that breaking through Alcaraz and Sinner’s dominant, formidable reign is in fact extremely unlikely for all other players. {