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I have some opinions regarding the remarks delivered by the sports network broadcaster Chris Fowler following the Serbian champion's victory over the American player in the New York major quarter-finals. Consider – the athlete represents the United States, Fowler is from the US – and athletic competitions often encourage patriotic sentiment. A little bit of disappointment would have been understandable. Rather, he brought up the ongoing absence of American men at grand slam tournaments: not one of them has won a trophy since the last American champion in 2003, and Fritz had been the last one standing in the competition.

Everyone love a storyline, me too. But really. Even if Fritz had beaten the legend for the first time, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was waiting in the next round, who Fritz has never defeated 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. Alcaraz and Sinner had also split the previous seven grand slams (plus Alcaraz went on to thrash a tired Djokovic in the subsequent match). He said in press after the loss that he actually preferred his draw, because it presented the chance to beat the top three competitors in the world in succession. Fritz is well justified to aspire to the achievement; an athlete is meant to have faith in themselves. But entering that Djokovic quarter-final who else sensibly had the drought of US winners in mind?

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

Fritz, 28, is placed number four in the world starting this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has secured his last six encounters over No 3 the German with increasing ease. Presumably he could take that spot for himself in the coming years. But evidently that right now, that’s as far as he can climb: Sinner and Alcaraz lie a vast gap of performance metrics away. His elite delivery and concussive strength on each front side and backhand are more than enough to defeat the majority of rivals on the ATP tour. When facing the select few generational talents, though, Fritz is frequently overmatched. The last several seasons has seen the curious rise of lanky, towering athletes who can nevertheless cover the court with the alarming quickness and grace of much shorter men. Fritz is six-foot-five and appears that way. His movement is rigid, as if he’s still getting used to his legs. So he seldom steal a point that the opponent was controlling, and hitting a soft shot against him is typically a safe bet. That acts as a pretty severe restriction on his potential.

Fritz has made a several dramatic, improbable improvements over the years. Early on of the ten-year period, he was circling the lower end of the top 30. Two years later, he was approaching the elite ten. The previous season, he unexpectedly surged up to fourth place – and maintained the spot. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and defeating legendary figures like the young Spaniard, the Italian, and even a aging Djokovic, is the highest of all. What was the commentator have been thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a serious threat to beat them all back-to-back? That it was worth mentioning the ongoing slump of American men winning major titles when Fritz had exited the US Open in the quarter-finals? The thirst is simply excessive and the appreciation for the magnitude of the task too little.

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

The American's performance in that very quarter-final ought to have been sufficient of an sign. The Serbian triumphed in four sets, a victory that only felt tenuous for brief periods towards the conclusion, when Fritz had saved a few championship opportunities and had a chance to hold for 5-5. The pair appeared well-balanced during the rallies, with the American creating plenty of opportunities to break. But Djokovic rescued break point after break point, extending the streak to the brink of agony. When he finally did convert one of the opportunities at 5-5 in the second set, he immediately played a horrendous game to lose his own serve once more; the Serbian had lulled him into a battle peripheral to the real battle and forced him to use far too much effort to win it. Facing match points in the final game, Fritz’s first serve sailed to heaven. He prolonged the contest twice on his second serve, but ultimately committed two errors. It wasn’t a choke, in my opinion, only a consequence of needing to hit an excessive number of weaker deliveries.

The match was quite ironclad evidence that Fritz is insufficiently skilled to defeat any form of the Serbian, that was defeated by Alcaraz in the next round and did not particularly appeared like he thought he could triumph. This is perfectly fine – the Serbian is the greatest of all time, and may not be at the peak of his athletic abilities anymore, but has acquired sufficient experience and strategic intelligence to make up for quite a bit of the decline. The issue is the individuals who were expecting Fritz to win, and pressuring him to achieve that, when he was had not done anything that indicated he would.

Fritz is an valuable contributor to the circuit nonetheless. He’s a calm, reflective presence in press conferences, more so than almost everyone on the men's tour except for Daniil Medvedev, prepared to not only express his emotions or the tactic he believed determined a contest, but clarify it. That he should bear the brunt of the responsibility for America not produce a men's grand slam winner since the last American titlist feels unfair. (Now that Ben Shelton is rubbing shoulders with him in the rankings, perhaps they can divide that load.)

ATP Finals: Singles Groups

Jimmy Connors Division

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

Swedish icon Division

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

“I would likely dwell on it indefinitely if I don’t accomplish it,” the American told an interviewer in June of winning a grand slam. I hope he realizes that he’s not a failure if he doesn’t fulfill that goal, that breaking through Alcaraz and Sinner’s young, terrifying empire is actually extremely unlikely for all other players. {