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I have a few opinions about that comments made by the sports network broadcaster Chris Fowler after the Serbian champion's victory over Taylor Fritz during the New York major quarter-finals. Look – Fritz is American, Fowler is American – and sports frequently lend themselves to nationalism. A little bit of letdown was appropriate. Rather, Fowler brought up the continued absence of American men at the majors: none of them has won a title since Andy Roddick in 2003, and Fritz had been the last one standing in the competition.

We all love a storyline, myself included. But really. Even if Fritz defeated Djokovic for the first time, phenomenal talent the Spanish star was looming in the following match, whom he has yet to beat in an official match. And if he’d someway gotten past that, it would have been title holder Jannik Sinner, versus him the American had dropped 10 of the last 11 sets. The two young stars had also divided the last seven grand slams (plus Alcaraz went on to thrash a tired Serbian in the subsequent match). He stated in post-match interviews following his defeat that he actually liked his path, because it presented the opportunity to beat the three best competitors in the world back-to-back. Fritz is more than justified to aspire to the achievement; an competitor is supposed to have faith in themselves. But going into that Serbian quarter-final who else sensibly had the drought of American champions in mind?

Coco Gauff’s second serve the sole barrier between her and sustained success

Fritz, 28, is placed fourth in the world starting this week’s year-end championships and has secured his previous six matches over third-ranked Alexander Zverev with growing comfort. Presumably he could take that spot for himself in the coming years. But evidently that right now, that is as far as he can climb: The Italian and Spaniard lie a vast gap of performance metrics away. Fritz’s top-class delivery and powerful power on both forehand and backhand are sufficiently enough to dispose of the majority of opponents on the ATP tour. Against the handful of once-in-a-lifetime players, though, he is often helpless. The past few years has witnessed the curious emergence of lanky, towering players who can nonetheless move around with the alarming speed and grace of much shorter men. Fritz is six-foot-five and appears that way. His movement is stiff, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his legs. So he’ll rarely win a rally that the opponent was dictating, and hitting a drop shot against him is usually a safe bet. That serves as a quite severe restriction on his upside.

Fritz has achieved a several dramatic, unexpected advancements throughout his career. Early on of the decade, he was circling the bottom of the top 30. Two years later, he was sniffing the top 10. The previous season, he unexpectedly surged to fourth place – and maintained the position. But the next leap, mixing it up with and defeating legendary figures like the young Spaniard, the Italian, and including a aging Djokovic, is the toughest of all. What was the commentator have been thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to beat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate mentioning the ongoing slump of US male players winning grand slams when he had exited the New York major in the quarter-finals? The desperation is just too much and the appreciation for the difficulty of the challenge insufficient.

The American star achieved a career-best run to the Wimbledon semi-finals in July.

The American's performance in that very last eight match ought to have been sufficient of an sign. Djokovic won in four sets, a victory that only felt uncertain for brief periods towards the very end, when the American had saved a couple championship opportunities and had a opportunity to hold for 5-5. The pair looked evenly matched during the exchanges, with Fritz earning numerous opportunities to break. But Djokovic rescued break point after break point, extending the run to the point of agony. When he finally did convert a single of the opportunities at 5-5 in the second set, he promptly produced a terrible service game to lose his own serve once more; the Serbian had drawn him into a battle secondary to the main contest and forced him to use far too much effort to prevail. Down set points in the last game, Fritz’s primary delivery sailed to heaven. He extended the contest two times on his backup delivery, but finally double-faulted. It wasn’t a choke, in my opinion, just a result of having to hit an excessive number of weaker deliveries.

The contest was fairly ironclad evidence that the American is insufficiently skilled to beat any version of Djokovic, who was defeated by Alcaraz in the next round and did not especially seem like he believed he could win. This is perfectly acceptable – the Serbian is the greatest of all time, and may not be at the peak of his physical powers now, but has developed enough knowledge and strategic intelligence to make up for a significant portion of the drop-off. The issue is the individuals who were anticipating Fritz to prevail, and putting pressure on him to do so, when he was had not accomplished anything that suggested he could.

The American is an valuable contributor to the circuit nonetheless. He’s a calm, reflective presence in media sessions, exceeding virtually anyone on the ATP aside from Daniil Medvedev, willing to not only express how he feels or the strategy he believed decided a contest, but explain it. That he ought to bear the brunt of the responsibility for America failing to spawn a male major champion since the last American titlist feels unfair. (Since Ben Shelton is competing alongside him in the rankings, maybe they can share that burden.)

Year-End Championships: Player Divisions

American legend Division

• The Spanish phenom
• The American contender
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• The Italian stylist

Swedish icon Group

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• The German powerhouse
• Ben Shelton (US)
• The Canadian talent

“I would likely think about it forever if I fail to accomplish it,” Fritz told an interviewer in June of claiming a grand slam. I hope he understands that he’s not unsuccessful if he does not achieve that objective, that breaking through Alcaraz and Sinner’s young, terrifying empire is actually extremely unlikely for all other players. {