🔗 Share this article

I possess a few thoughts about the remarks delivered by the sports network commentator Chris Fowler after the Serbian champion's victory over Taylor Fritz during the US Open last eight. Look – Fritz is the United States, Fowler is from the US – and athletic competitions often encourage patriotic sentiment. Some letdown would have been appropriate. Rather, he brought up the continued drought of US male players at grand slam tournaments: none of them had lifted a trophy since the last American champion in 2003, and he had been the last one standing in the tournament.

Everyone love a narrative, myself included. But really. Suppose the American had beaten the legend for the initial occasion, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was looming in the following match, whom he has never defeated in an competitive encounter. And if he’d somehow gotten past that, it would have been defending champion Jannik Sinner, against whom the American had dropped 10 of the previous eleven sets. The two young stars had also divided the previous seven grand slams (plus the Spaniard proceeded to thrash a fatigued Serbian in the subsequent match). He stated in post-match interviews following his defeat that he in fact preferred his path, because it offered the chance to defeat the top three competitors in the sport back-to-back. He is well within his right to aspire to the accomplishment; an athlete is supposed to have faith in themselves. But going into that Djokovic quarter-final what other person sensibly had the lack of US winners on the brain?

Coco Gauff’s second serve the only thing standing in her way and consistent victories

Fritz, twenty-eight, is ranked fourth in the world entering this week’s year-end championships and has won his last six encounters over third-ranked Alexander Zverev with increasing ease. It's likely he could take that spot for himself in the coming years. But evidently that right now, that is as high as he can rise: The Italian and Spaniard sit a vast gap of performance metrics away. His top-class serve and powerful strength on both front side and reverse side are sufficiently adequate to defeat most opponents on the professional circuit. When facing the handful of once-in-a-lifetime players, however, he is often overmatched. The past few seasons has witnessed the interesting rise of lanky, towering athletes who can nevertheless cover the court with the alarming quickness and fluidity of much shorter men. Fritz is 6ft 5ins and looks it. His footwork is rigid, as if he’s still getting used to his legs. So he seldom steal a point that the other player was dictating, and hitting a drop shot against him is usually a safe bet. That serves as a pretty severe restriction on his upside.

The American has made a several significant, improbable advancements throughout his career. Early on of the decade, he was circling the bottom of the top 30. Two years after, he was approaching the elite ten. The previous season, he suddenly surged 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 declining Djokovic, is the toughest of all. What was Fowler thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a serious threat to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate mentioning the continuing slump of American men lifting grand slams when Fritz had exited the New York major in the quarter-finals? The thirst is simply too much and the respect for the difficulty of the task too little.

Taylor Fritz made a personal best advancement to the All England Club last four in the summer.

The American's play in that exact quarter-final ought to have been sufficient of an indication. Djokovic triumphed in four rounds, a victory that only felt tenuous for brief periods towards the very end, when the American had saved a few championship opportunities and had a opportunity to hold for 5-5. The pair looked evenly matched during the rallies, with Fritz creating plenty of chances to break. But Djokovic rescued service break opportunity after service break opportunity, extending the streak to the point of frustration. When he eventually did claim a single of the chances at 5-5 in the second set, he promptly played a terrible game to drop serve again; the Serbian had drawn him into a battle peripheral to the main contest and forced him to expend far too much energy to prevail. Down set points in the last game, Fritz’s primary delivery floated to the sky. He extended the match two times on his second serve, but ultimately double-faulted. It was not a choke, in my opinion, only a consequence of having to hit too many weaker deliveries.

The match was fairly compelling proof that Fritz is not good enough to beat any form of Djokovic, that was defeated by the Spaniard in the following match and did not especially seem like he believed he could win. This is absolutely acceptable – the Serbian is the best player ever, and may not be at the peak of his athletic abilities anymore, but has developed sufficient knowledge and strategic intelligence to compensate for a significant portion of the decline. The problem is those who were anticipating Fritz to prevail, and pressuring him to do so, when he was yet to accomplished anything that indicated he could.

Fritz is an valuable contributor to the circuit nonetheless. He’s a patient, reflective voice in press conferences, more so than almost anyone on the ATP aside from Daniil Medvedev, willing to not just say his emotions or the tactic he felt decided a match, but clarify it. That he ought to bear the brunt of the responsibility for the United States failing to spawn a men's grand slam winner since the last American titlist feels unjust. (Since the fellow American is rubbing shoulders with him in the standings, maybe they can share that burden.)

ATP Finals: Player Divisions

American legend Division

• Carlos Alcaraz (Sp)
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• The Australian speedster
• The Italian stylist

Bjorn Borg Group

• The Italian champion
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• The rising American
• The Canadian talent

“I would likely think about it indefinitely if I don’t do it,” the American informed a journalist in June of claiming a major. It is hoped he understands that he’s not a failure if he does not achieve that goal, that breaking through the Spanish and Italian's dominant, formidable empire is in fact extremely unlikely for everybody else. {