🔗 Share this article

I have some thoughts regarding the comments delivered by the sports network broadcaster Chris Fowler following the Serbian champion's win over Taylor Fritz in the New York major quarter-finals. Consider – the athlete represents the United States, Fowler is American – and athletic competitions often encourage patriotic sentiment. A little bit of disappointment was appropriate. Instead, Fowler brought up the ongoing absence of US male players at the majors: none of them had lifted a trophy since Andy Roddick in 2003, and he had been the final representative in the competition.

Everyone love a storyline, me too. But come on. Even if the American had beaten the legend for the initial occasion, phenomenal talent the Spanish star was looming in the following match, who he has yet to beat in an competitive encounter. And if he’d somehow survived that, it would have been title holder the Italian, against whom the American had dropped 10 of the previous eleven sets. The two young stars had also split the last seven grand slams (plus the Spaniard went on to defeat a tired Djokovic in the next round). Fritz stated in post-match interviews after the loss that he actually liked his draw, because it offered the chance to beat the top three competitors in the sport back-to-back. He is well within his right to aim for the achievement; an competitor is supposed to have faith in themselves. But going into that Serbian quarter-final what other person in their right mind had the drought of American champions on the brain?

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

Fritz, 28, is ranked fourth in the world entering this week’s ATP World Tour Finals 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 it’s clear that at present, that’s as high 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 backhand are more than adequate to defeat most opponents on the ATP tour. Against the select few generational talents, though, Fritz is frequently overmatched. The past few seasons has seen the interesting rise of lanky, towering players who can nonetheless cover the court with the alarming speed and grace of much shorter players. He is six-foot-five and appears that way. His footwork is stiff, as if he’s still getting used to his legs. So he’ll rarely win a rally that the other player was controlling, and hitting a drop shot versus him is usually a reliable tactic. That acts as a quite severe limitation on his potential.

The American has achieved a number of dramatic, improbable advancements over the years. At the beginning of the decade, he was hovering around the lower end of the world's best thirty. 24 months later, he was approaching the top 10. Last year, he unexpectedly exploded up to No 4 – and held the position. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and beating legendary figures like the young Spaniard, the Italian, and including a declining Serbian, is the highest of all. What was the commentator thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a serious threat to beat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate mentioning the ongoing slump of US male players lifting grand slams when he had exited the New York major in the quarter-finals? The desperation is just excessive and the appreciation for the difficulty of the challenge insufficient.

Taylor Fritz made a career-best run to the All England Club semi-finals in July.

Fritz’s play in that exact last eight match ought to have been enough of an indication. The Serbian triumphed in four rounds, a victory that only seemed uncertain for moments towards the very end, when Fritz had saved a few match points and had a opportunity to hold for 5-5. The pair looked evenly matched during the exchanges, with Fritz earning numerous opportunities to win the opponent's serve. But Djokovic saved break point after break point, prolonging the run to the brink of agony. When Fritz finally did claim one of the chances at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he promptly produced a terrible game to drop serve once more; Djokovic had lulled him into a battle secondary to the main contest and compelled him to expend far too much effort to prevail. Facing set points in the final game, his first serve sailed to heaven. He prolonged the match two times on his second serve, but finally committed two errors. It wasn’t a choke, in my opinion, only a consequence of needing to hit an excessive number of second serves.

The contest was fairly compelling proof that Fritz is insufficiently skilled to beat any form of the Serbian, who was defeated by Alcaraz in the following match and never especially seem like he thought he could triumph. This is absolutely fine – the Serbian is the greatest of all time, and might not be at the height of his physical powers now, but has developed enough experience and tactical know-how to compensate for a significant portion of the decline. The problem is those who were expecting Fritz to prevail, and putting pressure on him to do so, when he was had not done anything that suggested he could.

The American is an valuable contributor to the circuit nonetheless. He’s a calm, reflective presence in press conferences, exceeding almost everyone on the men's tour except for Daniil Medvedev, prepared to not just say his emotions or the tactic he felt decided a contest, but explain it. That he should bear the brunt of the responsibility for America not spawn a male major champion since the last American titlist seems unfair. (Now that the fellow American is competing alongside him in the standings, maybe they can share that burden.)

Year-End Championships: Singles Groups

American legend Division

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

Swedish icon Division

• The Italian champion
• The German powerhouse
• Ben Shelton (US)
• The Canadian talent

“I’d probably dwell on it indefinitely if I don’t accomplish it,” the American informed an interviewer in the summer of winning a major. It is hoped he understands that he’s not a failure if he doesn’t fulfill that objective, that breaking through the Spanish and Italian's dominant, formidable empire is in fact highly improbable for everybody else. {