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I have a few thoughts about that remarks made by the sports network commentator Chris Fowler following the Serbian champion's win over Taylor Fritz during the New York major quarter-finals. Consider – the athlete represents American, Fowler is American – and athletic competitions frequently lend themselves to patriotic sentiment. A little bit of disappointment would have been understandable. Rather, he brought up the ongoing absence of US male players at grand slam tournaments: none of them has won a trophy since the last American champion in 2003, and he had been the last one standing in the tournament.

We all love a narrative, myself included. But really. Even if Fritz had beaten Djokovic for the first time, phenomenal talent the Spanish star was waiting in the following match, who Fritz has yet to beat in an competitive encounter. And if he’d somehow survived that, it would have been defending champion Jannik Sinner, against whom the American had dropped 10 of the last 11 sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also split the previous seven major titles (plus Alcaraz went on to defeat a fatigued Djokovic in the subsequent match). He said in post-match interviews after the loss that he actually preferred his path, because it presented the chance to beat the top three competitors in the sport in succession. He is more than within his right to aim for the accomplishment; an competitor is meant to believe in themselves. But going into that Serbian quarter-final who else sensibly had the drought of American champions in mind?

The American star's weaker delivery the sole barrier between her and sustained success

Fritz, 28, is ranked fourth in the global rankings starting this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has secured his last six encounters over third-ranked the German with growing comfort. It's likely he might claim that position for himself in the future. But evidently that right now, that’s as far as he can rise: Sinner and Alcaraz lie a chasm of performance metrics away. His top-class serve and powerful power on each front side and reverse side are sufficiently enough to defeat the majority of rivals on the ATP tour. When facing the handful of once-in-a-lifetime players, however, Fritz is frequently overmatched. The past few seasons has witnessed the interesting rise of tall, gangly athletes who can nonetheless cover the court with the alarming quickness and fluidity of much shorter men. Fritz is six-foot-five and looks it. His movement is rigid, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his limbs. So he’ll rarely win a rally that the opponent was controlling, and playing a drop shot against him is typically a safe bet. That serves as a pretty severe restriction on his potential.

Fritz has achieved a several significant, unexpected improvements over the years. Early on of the ten-year period, he was circling the lower end of the top 30. Two years later, he was sniffing the top 10. Last year, he unexpectedly exploded to fourth place – and held the position. But the next leap, competing against and defeating legendary figures like Alcaraz, the Italian, and including a declining Serbian, is the highest of all. What could Fowler 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 slump of American men lifting major titles when he had exited the US Open in the quarter-finals? The desperation is just too much and the respect for the difficulty of the task too little.

The American star achieved a personal best run to the All England Club last four in July.

Fritz’s performance in that very last eight match ought to have been enough of an sign. Djokovic won in four rounds, a win that only felt tenuous for moments towards the conclusion, when the American had survived a couple match points and had a chance to maintain serve for 5-5. The pair looked evenly matched during the exchanges, with Fritz earning numerous chances to break. But Djokovic saved service break opportunity after service break opportunity, extending the streak to the brink of frustration. When he finally did claim one of the opportunities at 5-5 in the second set, he immediately produced a terrible game to drop serve again; Djokovic had lulled him into a battle peripheral to the real battle and forced him to expend far too much effort to win it. Facing set points in the final game, his first serve floated to the sky. He extended the contest two times on his second serve, but ultimately committed two errors. It wasn’t a collapse, in my opinion, just a result of having to hit too many second serves.

The contest was quite compelling proof that Fritz is not good enough to defeat any version of Djokovic, that was defeated by the Spaniard in the next round and never especially seem like he believed he could win. This is perfectly acceptable – the Serbian is the greatest of all time, and may not be at the peak of his physical powers anymore, but has acquired sufficient knowledge and tactical know-how to compensate for quite a bit of the decline. The issue is those who were anticipating the American to win, and putting pressure on him to do so, when he was yet to accomplished anything that suggested he could.

Fritz is an valuable contributor to the circuit nonetheless. He’s a patient, thoughtful presence in media sessions, more so than almost anyone on the men's tour except for Daniil Medvedev, willing to not only express his emotions or the tactic he felt determined a contest, but explain it. That he ought to shoulder the majority of the responsibility for the United States not produce a male major champion since the last American titlist feels unfair. (Now that the fellow American is competing alongside him in the standings, maybe 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)

Swedish icon Division

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

“I would likely think about it indefinitely if I fail to accomplish it,” Fritz told an interviewer in June of winning a major. It is hoped he understands that he’s not unsuccessful if he does not fulfill that goal, that breaking through Alcaraz and Sinner’s dominant, formidable reign is in fact highly improbable for everybody else. {