🔗 Share this article

I have some opinions regarding that comments made by ESPN commentator Chris Fowler after the Serbian champion's win over the American player in the New York major last eight. Consider – the athlete represents the United States, Fowler is American – and athletic competitions often lend themselves to patriotic sentiment. A little bit of disappointment would have been appropriate. Instead, Fowler brought up the ongoing absence of American men at the majors: none of them has won a trophy since Andy Roddick in 2003, and he had been the final representative in the competition.

Everyone love a storyline, myself included. But come on. Even if the American defeated Djokovic for the initial occasion, force of nature the Spanish star was looming in the next round, whom Fritz has yet to beat in an official match. And if he’d someway survived that, it would have been title holder Jannik Sinner, against whom Fritz had lost 10 of the last 11 sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also divided the previous seven major titles (and Alcaraz proceeded to thrash a fatigued Serbian in the subsequent match). He said in post-match interviews after the loss that he in fact preferred his path, because it presented the chance to beat the top three players in the world back-to-back. He is more than within his right to aim for the achievement; an competitor is meant to believe in themselves. But going into that Djokovic last eight match who else sensibly had the lack of US winners in mind?

Coco Gauff’s weaker delivery the only thing standing in her way and sustained success

The American, twenty-eight, is ranked number four in the world entering the upcoming year-end championships and has won his previous six matches over No 3 Alexander Zverev with increasing ease. It's likely he might 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. His top-class delivery and powerful power on each front side and reverse side are sufficiently adequate to defeat the majority of rivals on the ATP tour. Against the handful of generational talents, however, he is often overmatched. The last several years has seen the curious rise of tall, gangly players who can nevertheless move around with the alarming speed and grace of much shorter players. He is six-foot-five and looks it. His movement is stiff, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his legs. So he seldom steal a point that the opponent was controlling, and playing a drop shot versus him is usually a safe bet. That acts as a quite severe limitation on his potential.

The American has achieved a several dramatic, unexpected improvements throughout his career. At the beginning of the ten-year period, he was circling the bottom of the world's best thirty. Two years after, he was sniffing the top 10. The previous season, he unexpectedly surged to fourth place – and maintained the spot. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and beating all-time-greats like Alcaraz, the Italian, and including a aging Serbian, is the highest of all. What could Fowler have been thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate mentioning the continuing slump of American men winning grand slams when he had exited the US Open in the quarter-finals? The thirst is simply excessive and the appreciation for the difficulty of the task too little.

Taylor Fritz achieved a personal best run to the Wimbledon last four in the summer.

The American's play in that very quarter-final should have been sufficient of an indication. The Serbian won in four rounds, a win that only seemed uncertain for moments towards the very end, when Fritz had saved a couple match points and had a chance to hold for 5-5. The duo looked well-balanced during the exchanges, with Fritz creating plenty of chances to win the opponent's serve. But Djokovic rescued service break opportunity after break point, prolonging the run to the point of agony. When he finally did convert a single of the chances at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he promptly produced a horrendous game to drop serve once more; Djokovic had drawn him into a skirmish peripheral to the real battle and compelled him to expend far too much energy to win it. Down match points in the last game, Fritz’s primary delivery floated to the sky. He extended the contest twice on his second serve, but ultimately double-faulted. It was not a choke, in my opinion, only a consequence of needing to hit an excessive number of second serves.

The match was fairly compelling proof that the American is insufficiently skilled to defeat any form of Djokovic, who lost to the Spaniard in the next round and did not especially seem like he thought he could win. This is perfectly fine – the Serbian is the greatest of all time, and might not be at the peak of his physical powers anymore, but has developed enough knowledge and tactical know-how to make up for a significant portion of the decline. The problem 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 regardless. He’s a calm, thoughtful voice in media sessions, more so than almost anyone on the men's tour aside from Daniil Medvedev, prepared to not just express his emotions or the strategy he believed decided a contest, but explain it. That he should shoulder the majority of the blame for America not spawn a male major champion since Andy Roddick seems unjust. (Since Ben Shelton is competing alongside him in the standings, maybe they can share that burden.)

Year-End Championships: Singles Groups

Jimmy Connors Division

• Carlos Alcaraz (Sp)
• The American contender
• The Australian speedster
• The Italian stylist

Bjorn Borg Group

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• The German powerhouse
• The rising American
• The Canadian talent

“I’d probably think about it indefinitely if I fail to do it,” Fritz informed an interviewer in June of claiming a grand slam. I hope he understands that he’s not unsuccessful if he doesn’t fulfill that objective, that breaking through the Spanish and Italian's dominant, formidable reign is in fact highly unlikely for everybody else. {