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I have a few opinions regarding the remarks made by the sports network broadcaster Chris Fowler after Novak Djokovic's win over Taylor Fritz during the New York major last eight. Consider – Fritz is the United States, the commentator is from the US – and athletic competitions frequently encourage nationalism. Some disappointment would have been appropriate. Rather, Fowler brought up the ongoing drought of American men at the majors: not one of them had lifted a title since Andy Roddick in 2003, and Fritz had been the last one standing in the competition.

We all love a storyline, me too. But really. Even if the American defeated Djokovic for the first time, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was looming in the next round, who he has never defeated in an official match. And if he’d somehow survived that, it would have been title holder the Italian, versus him Fritz had lost 10 of the previous eleven sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also split the last seven major titles (plus the Spaniard proceeded to thrash a fatigued Serbian in the subsequent match). He said in post-match interviews after the loss that he actually liked his path, because it presented the chance to defeat the top three competitors in the sport back-to-back. He is more than justified to aspire to the achievement; an athlete is supposed to have faith in themselves. But entering that Serbian last eight match what other person sensibly had the drought of American champions in mind?

Coco Gauff’s second serve the sole barrier standing in her way and sustained success

Fritz, twenty-eight, is placed number four in the global rankings starting this week’s year-end championships and has secured his last six matches over third-ranked Alexander Zverev with growing comfort. It's likely he might claim that position for himself in the future. But it’s clear that at present, that’s as far as he can rise: The Italian and Spaniard sit a vast gap of performance metrics away. His top-class delivery and concussive power on each forehand and reverse side are sufficiently adequate to defeat the majority of opponents on the ATP tour. When facing the handful of generational talents, though, he is often overmatched. The past few years has seen the interesting rise of lanky, towering athletes who can nonetheless move around with the surprising speed and grace of smaller men. Fritz is six-foot-five and looks it. His footwork is stiff, as if he’s still getting used to his limbs. So he seldom steal a point that the opponent was dictating, and playing a soft shot versus him is usually a safe bet. That acts as a pretty severe restriction on his potential.

The American has made a number of significant, unexpected advancements throughout his career. Early on of the ten-year period, he was hovering around the bottom of the top 30. Two years after, he was sniffing the top 10. Last year, he suddenly exploded up to fourth place – and held the spot. But the next leap, mixing it up with and defeating legendary figures like Alcaraz, the Italian, and including a declining Serbian, is the highest of all. What was the commentator have been thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a serious threat to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate mentioning the ongoing drought of American men lifting grand slams when Fritz had exited the US Open in the quarter-finals? The thirst is simply excessive and the respect for the difficulty of the challenge insufficient.

Taylor Fritz made a career-best advancement to the Wimbledon semi-finals in the summer.

Fritz’s play in that very quarter-final should have been enough of an sign. Djokovic won in four rounds, a victory that only seemed tenuous for moments towards the very end, when Fritz had saved a few match points and had a opportunity to maintain serve for 5-5. The pair appeared evenly matched during the exchanges, with Fritz earning plenty of chances to break. But Djokovic saved service break opportunity after service break opportunity, extending the streak to the brink of agony. When he eventually did convert a single of the opportunities at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he immediately produced a terrible service game to lose his own serve once more; the Serbian had lulled him into a skirmish secondary to the main contest and compelled him to expend far too much energy to win it. Facing set points in the final 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, only a result of needing to hit too many weaker deliveries.

The match was fairly ironclad evidence that Fritz is not good enough to beat any form of Djokovic, who was defeated by Alcaraz in the following match and never especially seem like he thought he could win. This is perfectly fine – the Serbian is the greatest of all time, and may not be at the peak of his physical powers anymore, but has developed enough knowledge and tactical know-how to compensate for quite a bit of the drop-off. The issue is the individuals who were anticipating the American to prevail, and pressuring him to achieve that, when he was had not accomplished anything that indicated he could.

The American is an asset to the tour regardless. He’s a calm, reflective voice in press conferences, more so than almost everyone on the ATP except for the Russian star, willing to not only express his emotions or the strategy he believed decided a match, but clarify it. That he ought to shoulder the majority of the blame for America not produce a men's grand slam winner since Andy Roddick feels unfair. (Since Ben Shelton is competing alongside him in the standings, perhaps they can share that burden.)

ATP Finals: Player Divisions

Jimmy Connors Division

• Carlos Alcaraz (Sp)
• The American contender
• The Australian speedster
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Swedish icon Group

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

“I would likely dwell on it forever if I fail to accomplish it,” Fritz told a journalist in June of claiming a grand slam. It is hoped he understands that he’s not a failure if he does not achieve that objective, that overcoming the Spanish and Italian's dominant, formidable empire is actually highly unlikely for everybody else. {