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I have a few thoughts about that comments made by the sports network broadcaster a well-known announcer after Novak Djokovic's win over the American player in the New York major last eight. Look – Fritz is the United States, Fowler is from the US – and sports often lend themselves to patriotic sentiment. A little bit of disappointment would have been understandable. Rather, Fowler brought up the continued absence of American men at grand slam tournaments: none of them has won a title since the last American champion in 2003, and Fritz had been the final representative in the competition.

We all enjoy a storyline, me too. But really. Suppose Fritz had beaten the legend for the first time, phenomenal talent the Spanish star was looming in the following match, who Fritz has yet to beat in an official match. And if he’d someway survived that, it would have been defending champion the Italian, versus him Fritz had lost 10 of the last 11 sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also split the last seven major titles (and Alcaraz went on to defeat a fatigued Djokovic in the next round). He said in press following his defeat that he actually preferred his draw, because it offered the opportunity to beat the top three players in the world in succession. Fritz is more than within his right to aspire to the accomplishment; an competitor is meant to have faith in themselves. But entering that Serbian quarter-final what other person sensibly had the drought of US winners on the brain?

Coco Gauff’s second serve the only thing between her and sustained success

The American, twenty-eight, is placed number four in the world entering this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has secured his last six matches over third-ranked Alexander Zverev with growing comfort. Presumably he could take that spot for himself in the coming years. But it’s clear that right now, that’s as high as he can climb: Sinner and Alcaraz lie a chasm of performance metrics away. Fritz’s elite serve and powerful power on both forehand and reverse side are more than adequate to dispose of most rivals on the professional circuit. Against the select few once-in-a-lifetime players, though, Fritz is often overmatched. The last several seasons has witnessed the interesting emergence of tall, gangly athletes who can nonetheless cover the court with the surprising quickness and fluidity of smaller players. He is six-foot-five and appears that way. His footwork is stiff, as if he’s still getting used to his legs. So he seldom win a rally that the other player was controlling, and hitting a drop shot versus him is typically a safe bet. That acts as a pretty severe limitation on his upside.

Fritz has made a number of significant, unexpected improvements throughout his career. At the beginning of the decade, he was circling the bottom of the world's best thirty. 24 months later, he was approaching the elite ten. The previous season, he unexpectedly exploded to fourth place – and maintained the position. But the next leap, mixing it up with and beating legendary figures like the young Spaniard, the Italian, and even a aging Djokovic, is the highest of all. What could the commentator have been thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to beat them all back-to-back? That it was worth mentioning the ongoing slump of US male players lifting grand slams when he had departed the US Open in the quarter-finals? The desperation is simply too much and the respect for the difficulty of the task insufficient.

Taylor Fritz achieved a personal best run to the Wimbledon semi-finals in the summer.

Fritz’s performance in that exact last eight match should have been enough of an sign. The Serbian triumphed in four sets, a win that only seemed uncertain for brief periods towards the very end, when the American had survived a few match points and had a opportunity to hold for 5-5. The pair looked well-balanced during the rallies, with Fritz earning plenty of chances to break. But the champion saved service break opportunity after break point, extending the streak to the brink of frustration. When he finally did claim a single of the opportunities at 5-5 in the second set, he immediately produced a terrible game to lose his own serve once more; Djokovic had lulled him into a skirmish secondary to the main contest and compelled him to expend excessive effort to prevail. Down match points in the last game, Fritz’s primary delivery sailed to the sky. He extended the match twice on his backup delivery, but finally committed two errors. It wasn’t a choke, I didn’t think, just a result of having to hit too many weaker deliveries.

The match was fairly ironclad proof that Fritz is insufficiently skilled to beat any version of Djokovic, who was defeated by Alcaraz in the next round and never especially seem like he believed he could win. This is perfectly fine – the Serbian is the greatest of all time, and might not be at the height of his athletic abilities anymore, but has acquired sufficient knowledge and tactical know-how to make up for a significant portion of the drop-off. The issue is the individuals who were expecting Fritz to prevail, and putting pressure on him to do so, when he was yet to accomplished anything that indicated he would.

The American is an valuable contributor to the circuit regardless. He’s a patient, thoughtful presence in press conferences, exceeding almost anyone on the men's tour except for Daniil Medvedev, prepared to not just express how he feels or the tactic he felt decided a match, but clarify it. That he ought to shoulder the majority of the responsibility for the United States not produce a men's grand slam winner since the last American titlist seems unfair. (Now that the fellow American is rubbing shoulders with him in the rankings, perhaps they can share that burden.)

Year-End Championships: Player Divisions

Jimmy Connors Group

• The Spanish phenom
• The American contender
• The Australian speedster
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Bjorn Borg Division

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• The German powerhouse
• The rising American
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I would likely dwell on it forever if I fail to accomplish it,” Fritz informed a journalist in the summer of claiming a grand slam. It is hoped he realizes that he’s not unsuccessful if he doesn’t achieve that objective, that overcoming the Spanish and Italian's dominant, formidable empire is actually highly improbable for everybody else. {