🔗 Share this article

I possess a few opinions regarding the remarks delivered by ESPN broadcaster Chris Fowler following the Serbian champion's victory over Taylor Fritz in the US Open last eight. Look – the athlete represents the United States, the commentator is American – and athletic competitions frequently lend themselves to patriotic sentiment. Some letdown would have been appropriate. Instead, Fowler invoked the continued drought of American men at the majors: not one of them has won a trophy since the last American champion in 2003, and Fritz had been the final representative in the competition.

Everyone enjoy a storyline, me too. But really. Even if Fritz defeated Djokovic for the initial occasion, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was waiting in the following match, who Fritz has yet to beat in an official match. And if he’d somehow survived that, it would have been defending champion the Italian, against whom Fritz had dropped 10 of the last 11 sets. The two young stars had also divided the last seven major titles (and Alcaraz went on to thrash a tired Djokovic in the subsequent match). Fritz stated in post-match interviews after the loss that he in fact preferred his path, because it offered the chance to defeat the three best players in the world in succession. He is well within his right to aim for the achievement; an athlete is supposed to have faith in themselves. But entering that Serbian last eight match who else in their right mind had the drought of US winners on the brain?

The American star's weaker delivery the sole barrier standing in her way and consistent victories

Fritz, twenty-eight, is placed fourth in the world starting the upcoming year-end championships and has secured his previous six encounters over No 3 the German with growing comfort. It's likely he could claim that position for himself in the coming years. But it’s clear that at present, that is as far as he can rise: Sinner and Alcaraz sit a chasm of performance metrics away. His elite serve and concussive strength on both forehand and backhand are sufficiently adequate to defeat most rivals on the ATP tour. When facing the handful of generational talents, though, Fritz is frequently overmatched. The past few seasons has witnessed the interesting emergence of lanky, towering players who can nevertheless move around with the surprising quickness and fluidity of smaller players. He is 6ft 5ins and looks it. His movement is stiff, as if he’s still getting used to his legs. So he seldom steal a point that the other player was controlling, and hitting a soft shot against him is usually a safe bet. That serves as a quite severe restriction on his potential.

Fritz has made a several significant, unexpected advancements throughout his career. At the beginning of the decade, he was hovering around the lower end of the top 30. Two years after, he was sniffing the top 10. Last year, he suddenly surged up to No 4 – and held the position. But the next leap, mixing it up with and defeating all-time-greats like Alcaraz, the Italian, and even a aging Djokovic, is the toughest of all. What was Fowler have been thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a serious threat to beat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate commenting on the ongoing slump of American men lifting grand slams when Fritz had departed the US Open in the quarter-finals? The thirst is just excessive and the respect for the difficulty of the challenge insufficient.

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

Fritz’s performance in that exact quarter-final should have been sufficient of an sign. Djokovic triumphed in four rounds, a victory that only felt uncertain for brief periods towards the very end, when the American had survived a couple match points and had a chance to hold for 5-5. The pair looked evenly matched during the exchanges, with the American earning numerous chances to win the opponent's serve. But the champion rescued break point after service break opportunity, extending the streak to the brink of agony. When he finally did convert one of the chances at 5-5 in the second set, he promptly produced a horrendous game to lose his own serve again; Djokovic had lulled him into a skirmish secondary to the main contest and compelled him to expend excessive effort to prevail. Down set points in the last game, his first serve floated to heaven. He prolonged the contest twice on his backup delivery, but ultimately double-faulted. It was not a choke, in my opinion, just a result of having to hit too many weaker deliveries.

The contest was quite compelling evidence that Fritz is not good enough to beat any form of Djokovic, that lost to the Spaniard in the following match and never particularly seem like he believed he could triumph. This is perfectly acceptable – Djokovic is the best player ever, and might not be at the peak of his physical powers now, but has developed enough knowledge and strategic intelligence to compensate for quite a bit of the drop-off. The problem is those who were anticipating the American to win, and pressuring him to achieve that, when he was yet to done anything that suggested he could.

Fritz is an asset to the tour nonetheless. He’s a calm, reflective presence in press conferences, more so than virtually everyone on the men's tour aside from the Russian star, prepared to not only express his emotions or the tactic he believed determined a contest, but explain 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. (Now that the fellow American is competing alongside him in the standings, maybe they can divide that load.)

ATP Finals: Singles Groups

American legend Division

• Carlos Alcaraz (Sp)
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• The Italian stylist

Swedish icon Group

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

“I’d probably dwell on it forever if I don’t accomplish it,” the American informed an interviewer in the summer of winning a major. I hope he realizes that he’s not unsuccessful if he does not achieve that goal, that overcoming Alcaraz and Sinner’s young, terrifying empire is actually extremely unlikely for everybody else. {