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I have some opinions regarding that comments delivered by the sports network commentator a well-known announcer following Novak Djokovic's win over the American player during the US Open last eight. Consider – the athlete represents American, the commentator is American – and sports frequently lend themselves to patriotic sentiment. Some disappointment would have been understandable. Rather, Fowler brought up the continued drought of US male players at the majors: 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 enjoy a narrative, me too. But really. Even if Fritz had beaten Djokovic for the first time, phenomenal talent Carlos Alcaraz was waiting in the following match, whom he has yet to beat in an competitive encounter. And had he somehow gotten past that, it would have been title holder Jannik Sinner, against whom Fritz had lost 10 of the last 11 sets. The two young stars had also split the previous seven major titles (and Alcaraz went on to thrash a fatigued Serbian in the next round). Fritz stated in press following his defeat that he actually preferred his path, because it presented the opportunity to beat the three best competitors in the sport in succession. Fritz is more than within his right to aim for the accomplishment; an competitor is supposed to believe in themselves. But going into that Serbian quarter-final who else sensibly had the lack of American champions in mind?

Coco Gauff’s second serve the only thing between her and sustained success

The American, twenty-eight, is placed fourth in the global rankings starting the upcoming ATP World Tour Finals and has won his last six encounters over third-ranked Alexander Zverev with growing comfort. Presumably he could take that spot 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 serve and powerful power on both forehand and backhand are sufficiently enough to defeat most rivals on the ATP tour. When facing the handful of generational talents, though, Fritz is often overmatched. The last several years has seen the interesting rise of tall, gangly players who can nevertheless cover the court with the alarming speed and fluidity of smaller men. Fritz is six-foot-five and appears that way. His footwork is stiff, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his legs. So he seldom win a rally that the other player was controlling, and playing a soft shot versus him is usually a reliable tactic. That acts as a pretty severe limitation on his potential.

Fritz has made a several dramatic, improbable improvements over the years. Early on of the decade, he was circling the bottom of the world's best thirty. Two years after, he was approaching the top 10. The previous season, he suddenly surged up to No 4 – and maintained the spot. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and beating all-time-greats like the young Spaniard, Sinner, and even a aging Serbian, is the toughest of all. What was Fowler thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was worth commenting on the ongoing drought of American men winning grand slams when he had departed the New York major in the quarter-finals? The thirst is just too much and the respect for the difficulty of the task too little.

The American star made a career-best run to the All England Club last four in the summer.

The American's play in that exact last eight match ought to have been sufficient of an sign. The Serbian won in four rounds, a victory that only seemed uncertain for brief periods towards the very end, when Fritz had saved a few match points and had a opportunity to maintain serve for 5-5. The pair looked evenly matched during the rallies, with Fritz earning plenty of opportunities to break. But the champion saved service break opportunity after service break opportunity, extending the run to the point of frustration. When Fritz finally did convert one of the chances at 5-5 in the second set, he immediately produced a terrible game to lose his own serve once more; Djokovic had lulled him into a battle peripheral to the main contest and compelled him to expend excessive effort to win it. Down match points in the last game, Fritz’s primary delivery floated to the sky. He extended 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 too many weaker deliveries.

The contest was fairly ironclad proof that the American is insufficiently skilled to beat any form of Djokovic, that lost to Alcaraz in the following match and never particularly seem like he believed he could win. This is perfectly fine – Djokovic is the best player ever, and might not be at the peak of his athletic abilities anymore, but has acquired sufficient experience and tactical know-how to compensate for a significant portion of the drop-off. The problem is the individuals who were anticipating the American to prevail, and pressuring him to do so, when he was yet to accomplished anything that indicated he could.

Fritz is an asset to the circuit nonetheless. He’s a calm, thoughtful presence in media sessions, more so than almost anyone on the ATP aside from Daniil Medvedev, prepared to not just say how he feels or the strategy he believed determined a match, but explain it. That he should shoulder the majority of the blame for America failing to spawn a male major champion since the last American titlist seems unfair. (Now that Ben Shelton is rubbing shoulders with him in the standings, maybe they can divide that burden.)

ATP Finals: Player Divisions

American legend Division

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

Bjorn Borg Group

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• The German powerhouse
• The rising American
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I’d probably think about it forever if I fail to do it,” the American told a journalist in the summer of winning a grand slam. I hope he understands that he’s not a failure if he does not fulfill that goal, that overcoming Alcaraz and Sinner’s young, terrifying empire is actually extremely improbable for everybody else. {