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I have a few opinions regarding the remarks delivered by ESPN broadcaster Chris Fowler after the Serbian champion's win over Taylor Fritz during the New York major quarter-finals. Look – Fritz is American, Fowler is from the US – and athletic competitions frequently encourage patriotic sentiment. A little bit of disappointment was understandable. Instead, Fowler invoked the continued drought of American men 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 enjoy a storyline, me too. But really. Even if Fritz had beaten the legend for the first time, phenomenal talent Carlos Alcaraz was waiting in the following match, whom he has yet to beat in an official match. And if he’d somehow gotten past that, it would have been defending champion Jannik Sinner, against whom the American had dropped 10 of the last 11 sets. The two young stars had also divided the previous seven grand slams (plus Alcaraz went on to defeat a fatigued Djokovic in the next round). Fritz stated in post-match interviews after the loss that he in fact preferred his draw, because it presented the chance to defeat the three best players in the sport back-to-back. He is well justified to aim for the accomplishment; an competitor is meant to believe in themselves. But going into that Serbian quarter-final what other person in their right mind had the lack of American champions in mind?

The American star's weaker delivery the sole barrier standing in her way and sustained success

Fritz, twenty-eight, is placed fourth in the global rankings entering the upcoming year-end championships and has won his previous six matches over No 3 Alexander Zverev with growing comfort. It's likely he might claim that position for himself in the coming years. But evidently that right now, that’s as high as he can rise: The Italian and Spaniard lie a chasm of performance metrics away. His top-class serve and powerful strength on both forehand and backhand are more than adequate to defeat most rivals on the ATP tour. Against the select few generational talents, though, he is frequently overmatched. The past few years has witnessed the interesting emergence of tall, gangly athletes who can nonetheless move around with the alarming quickness and grace of much shorter men. Fritz is 6ft 5ins and appears that way. 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 dictating, and hitting a drop shot versus him is typically a reliable tactic. That serves as a quite severe limitation on his upside.

Fritz has made a several significant, improbable improvements throughout his career. At the beginning of the decade, he was circling the lower end of the world's best thirty. 24 months after, he was approaching the elite ten. The previous season, he suddenly exploded up to fourth place – and maintained the position. But the subsequent step, competing against and beating legendary figures like the young Spaniard, Sinner, and including a declining Serbian, is the highest of all. What was Fowler have been thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a serious threat to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was worth mentioning the continuing drought of American men winning major titles when Fritz had departed the US Open in the quarter-finals? The desperation is just too much and the appreciation for the magnitude of the task insufficient.

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

Fritz’s play in that exact quarter-final ought to have been enough of an sign. Djokovic won in four rounds, a victory that only felt uncertain for brief periods towards the very end, when the American had survived a couple championship opportunities and had a chance to hold for 5-5. The pair looked evenly matched during the rallies, with the American earning numerous chances to win the opponent's serve. But the champion saved service break opportunity after break point, extending the run to the brink of frustration. When he finally did convert a single of the opportunities at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he immediately played a terrible game to lose his own serve once more; the Serbian had lulled him into a battle secondary to the main contest and forced him to use far too much energy to prevail. Down match points in the last game, his first serve sailed to the sky. He extended the match twice on his backup delivery, but finally double-faulted. It wasn’t a choke, I didn’t think, just a result of having to hit an excessive number of weaker deliveries.

The contest was quite compelling proof that Fritz is insufficiently skilled to beat any form of the Serbian, that lost to Alcaraz in the next round and never especially appeared like he believed he could triumph. This is absolutely fine – Djokovic is the greatest of all time, and might not be at the height of his athletic abilities now, but has acquired enough experience and tactical know-how to make up for a significant portion of the decline. The issue is those who were expecting the American to win, and putting pressure on him to do so, when he was had not done anything that indicated he could.

Fritz is an asset to the tour nonetheless. He’s a calm, reflective presence in media sessions, more so than almost anyone on the men's tour aside from Daniil Medvedev, willing to not only say how he feels or the strategy he felt decided a contest, but clarify it. That he ought to bear the brunt of the blame for the United States not spawn a male major champion since Andy Roddick seems unjust. (Since Ben Shelton is rubbing shoulders with him in the rankings, perhaps they can share that burden.)

ATP Finals: Player Divisions

Jimmy Connors Division

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

Swedish icon Division

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

“I would likely dwell on it indefinitely if I fail to do it,” the American informed a journalist in the summer of claiming a grand slam. I hope he understands that he’s not unsuccessful if he doesn’t fulfill that goal, that breaking through the Spanish and Italian's young, terrifying empire is in fact highly unlikely for everybody else. {