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I have a few opinions regarding the remarks made by the sports network broadcaster a well-known announcer after the Serbian champion's victory over Taylor Fritz in the US Open quarter-finals. Consider – Fritz is the United States, the commentator is from the US – and sports often encourage patriotic sentiment. Some letdown would have been appropriate. Rather, Fowler brought up the ongoing drought of US male players at the majors: not one of them had lifted a title since the last American champion in 2003, and Fritz had been the final representative in the tournament.

Everyone enjoy a narrative, me too. But really. Even if Fritz defeated Djokovic for the first time, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was waiting in the next round, whom Fritz has yet to beat in an competitive encounter. And had he someway survived that, it would have been title holder the Italian, against whom the American had dropped 10 of the previous eleven sets. The two young stars had also divided the previous seven grand slams (and Alcaraz went on to defeat a fatigued Djokovic in the next round). He stated in post-match interviews following his defeat that he in fact preferred his path, because it offered the opportunity to beat the top three competitors in the world back-to-back. He is well justified to aim for 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?

The American star's weaker delivery the only thing standing in her way and consistent victories

Fritz, 28, is placed number four in the global rankings entering this week’s year-end championships and has secured his previous six matches over third-ranked Alexander Zverev with growing comfort. It's likely he could claim that position for himself in the coming years. But it’s clear that right now, that’s as high as he can climb: Sinner and Alcaraz sit a vast gap of performance metrics away. His elite serve and powerful strength on both front side and reverse side are sufficiently enough to defeat most opponents on the ATP tour. Against the handful of generational talents, however, Fritz is often overmatched. The last several years has seen the interesting emergence of tall, gangly players who can nevertheless move around with the alarming speed and fluidity of smaller players. Fritz is six-foot-five and appears that way. His footwork is rigid, as if he’s still getting used to his limbs. So he’ll rarely steal a point that the other player was controlling, and playing a soft shot against him is usually a reliable tactic. That acts as a pretty severe restriction on his potential.

The American has made a several dramatic, improbable improvements over the years. At the beginning of the ten-year period, he was hovering around the bottom of the world's best thirty. Two years later, he was sniffing the elite ten. Last year, he unexpectedly exploded up to No 4 – and held the position. But the subsequent step, competing against and beating all-time-greats like the young Spaniard, Sinner, and even a aging Serbian, is the highest of all. What was Fowler 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 continuing drought of US male players winning grand slams when Fritz had departed the US Open in the quarter-finals? The thirst is just excessive and the respect for the magnitude of the challenge insufficient.

Taylor Fritz achieved a personal best advancement to the Wimbledon last four in July.

Fritz’s play in that very last eight match ought to have been enough of an indication. Djokovic won in four sets, a victory that only seemed tenuous for brief periods towards the very end, when Fritz had survived a few match points and had a opportunity to hold for 5-5. The duo looked evenly matched during the rallies, with the American earning numerous chances to break. But the champion rescued break point after break point, prolonging the run to the brink of agony. When he finally did claim a single of the opportunities at 5-5 in the second set, he promptly produced a horrendous service game to lose his own serve once more; Djokovic had lulled him into a skirmish secondary to the real battle and compelled him to use excessive effort to win it. Facing match points in the final game, his first serve sailed to the sky. He prolonged the match twice on his second serve, but ultimately double-faulted. It wasn’t a collapse, I didn’t think, only a result of needing to hit an excessive number of second serves.

The contest was fairly compelling evidence that the American is not good enough to defeat any form of the Serbian, who was defeated by the Spaniard in the following match and never particularly seem like he believed he could win. This is perfectly fine – Djokovic is the greatest of all time, and may not be at the height of his physical powers now, but has acquired enough knowledge and strategic intelligence to compensate for quite a bit of the decline. The issue is those who were anticipating the American to prevail, and pressuring him to do so, when he was had not done anything that indicated he would.

Fritz is an asset to the tour nonetheless. He’s a calm, reflective presence in media sessions, more so than virtually everyone on the ATP aside from the Russian star, prepared to not just express how he feels or the strategy he felt determined a match, but clarify it. That he ought to shoulder the majority of the responsibility for America not spawn a men's grand slam winner since the last American titlist feels unfair. (Since Ben Shelton is competing alongside him in the standings, perhaps they can share that load.)

ATP Finals: Player Divisions

Jimmy Connors Division

• The Spanish phenom
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• The Australian speedster
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Swedish icon Division

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• Ben Shelton (US)
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I’d probably think about it forever if I don’t do it,” the American told a journalist in the summer of claiming a major. I hope he understands that he’s not a failure if he doesn’t achieve that goal, that overcoming Alcaraz and Sinner’s dominant, formidable empire is actually extremely unlikely for everybody else. {