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I have some opinions regarding that comments delivered by the sports network broadcaster Chris Fowler after Novak Djokovic's victory over Taylor Fritz in the US Open quarter-finals. Consider – Fritz is American, the commentator is from the US – and athletic competitions often lend themselves to nationalism. Some letdown would have been understandable. Instead, he 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.

Everyone enjoy a narrative, myself included. But come on. Even if the American defeated Djokovic for the initial occasion, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was looming in the next round, whom he has yet to beat in an competitive encounter. And if he’d someway survived that, it would have been title holder Jannik Sinner, against whom the American had dropped 10 of the previous eleven sets. The two young stars had also divided the previous seven grand slams (and the Spaniard proceeded to thrash a tired Djokovic in the next round). Fritz said in post-match interviews after the loss that he in fact preferred his path, because it offered the opportunity to beat the top three competitors in the world back-to-back. He is more than within his right to aim for the achievement; an competitor is meant to have faith in themselves. But going into that Djokovic quarter-final what other person sensibly had the drought of US winners in mind?

The American star's second serve the sole barrier between her and consistent victories

The American, 28, is placed number four in the global rankings starting the upcoming year-end championships and has secured his previous six encounters over third-ranked Alexander Zverev with growing comfort. It's likely he might take that spot for himself in the coming years. But evidently that at present, that is as high as he can climb: The Italian and Spaniard sit a vast gap of ranking points away. Fritz’s elite delivery and powerful power on each forehand and backhand are sufficiently enough to dispose of the majority of rivals on the professional circuit. Against the handful of once-in-a-lifetime players, though, Fritz is often overmatched. The past few years has seen the interesting rise of lanky, towering players who can nonetheless move around with the alarming speed and fluidity of smaller men. Fritz is six-foot-five and appears that way. His footwork is rigid, 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 drop shot versus him is typically a safe bet. That serves as a pretty severe limitation on his upside.

The American has achieved a several significant, improbable improvements over the years. At the beginning of the ten-year period, he was hovering around the bottom of the top 30. Two years later, he was sniffing the top 10. The previous season, he unexpectedly exploded to No 4 – and maintained the spot. But the next leap, mixing it up with and beating legendary figures like Alcaraz, Sinner, and even a aging Djokovic, is the toughest of all. What could Fowler thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a serious threat to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate commenting on the continuing slump of US male players lifting major titles when Fritz had exited the US Open in the quarter-finals? The thirst is simply excessive and the respect for the difficulty of the task too little.

Taylor Fritz made a personal best run to the Wimbledon last four in July.

Fritz’s play in that very last eight match ought to have been sufficient of an sign. The Serbian triumphed in four rounds, a victory that only felt uncertain for moments towards the very end, when the American had survived a couple championship opportunities and had a chance to maintain serve for 5-5. The duo appeared evenly matched during the exchanges, with the American creating numerous opportunities to win the opponent's serve. But Djokovic rescued service break opportunity after service break opportunity, extending the streak to the brink of frustration. When he eventually did claim one of the chances at 5-5 in the second set, he immediately played a terrible game to lose his own serve again; Djokovic had drawn him into a skirmish peripheral to the real battle and forced him to expend far too much energy to prevail. Facing set points in the final game, Fritz’s primary delivery sailed to heaven. He extended the contest twice on his second serve, but ultimately committed two errors. It wasn’t a collapse, I didn’t think, just a result of having to hit too many weaker deliveries.

The match was quite ironclad evidence that Fritz is not good enough to defeat any form of Djokovic, that lost to Alcaraz in the following match and did not particularly appeared like he believed he could win. This is perfectly acceptable – Djokovic is the best player ever, and may not be at the height of his athletic abilities anymore, but has developed sufficient knowledge and tactical know-how to make up for quite a bit of the drop-off. The problem is those who were anticipating the American to prevail, and putting pressure on him to achieve that, when he was yet to accomplished anything that suggested he could.

Fritz is an valuable contributor to the circuit nonetheless. He’s a calm, thoughtful voice in press conferences, more so than virtually everyone on the ATP aside from the Russian star, prepared to not just say his emotions or the tactic he believed determined a contest, but explain it. That he should bear the brunt of the blame for the United States not spawn a male major champion since Andy Roddick feels unjust. (Since Ben Shelton is competing alongside him in the standings, perhaps they can share that burden.)

ATP Finals: Singles Groups

American legend Division

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

Bjorn Borg Group

• The Italian champion
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• Ben Shelton (US)
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I’d probably think about it forever if I fail to accomplish it,” Fritz told a journalist in June of claiming a grand slam. It is hoped he understands that he’s not unsuccessful if he doesn’t achieve that objective, that overcoming the Spanish and Italian's dominant, formidable reign is actually extremely unlikely for all other players. {