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I have a few opinions regarding that comments made by the sports network commentator Chris Fowler after the Serbian champion's win over Taylor Fritz in the US Open last eight. Look – Fritz is American, Fowler is American – and athletic competitions often encourage patriotic sentiment. Some disappointment would have been appropriate. Rather, he brought up the ongoing absence of American men at grand slam tournaments: none of them had lifted a trophy since the last American champion in 2003, and Fritz had been the final representative in the tournament.

We all love a storyline, myself included. But come on. Suppose Fritz defeated the legend for the initial occasion, phenomenal talent the Spanish star was waiting in the next round, who Fritz has yet to beat in an official match. And had he someway survived that, it would have been defending champion Jannik Sinner, against whom Fritz had dropped 10 of the previous eleven sets. The two young stars had also divided the last seven major titles (plus Alcaraz went on to thrash a fatigued Djokovic in the next round). He said in press after the loss that he actually preferred his draw, because it offered the chance to defeat the three best players in the sport in succession. He is well justified to aspire to the accomplishment; an athlete is meant to have faith in themselves. But going into that Djokovic last eight match who else in their right mind had the lack of American champions on the brain?

Coco Gauff’s weaker delivery the only thing between her and sustained success

Fritz, 28, is ranked fourth in the global rankings entering this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has secured his last six matches over No 3 the German with increasing ease. It's likely he could claim that position for himself in the coming years. But evidently that at present, that is as high as he can climb: Sinner and Alcaraz lie a chasm of ranking points away. Fritz’s top-class serve and concussive power on both forehand and backhand are more than enough to dispose of most rivals on the professional circuit. Against the handful of once-in-a-lifetime players, though, Fritz is often helpless. The last several years has witnessed the curious emergence of lanky, towering athletes who can nonetheless cover the court with the alarming quickness and grace of much shorter men. Fritz is six-foot-five and looks it. His movement is stiff, as if he’s still getting used to his limbs. So he seldom steal a point that the opponent was controlling, and hitting a soft shot versus him is usually a reliable tactic. That acts as a quite harsh limitation on his upside.

Fritz has made a several dramatic, improbable advancements over the years. At the beginning of the ten-year period, he was circling the bottom of the top 30. Two years later, he was approaching the top 10. The previous season, he suddenly exploded up to fourth place – and maintained the spot. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and defeating all-time-greats like Alcaraz, the Italian, and including a aging Djokovic, is the highest of all. What was the commentator thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a serious threat to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was worth commenting on the continuing slump of US male players winning grand slams when he had exited the New York major in the quarter-finals? The thirst is simply excessive and the respect for the magnitude of the task insufficient.

The American star made a personal best run to the Wimbledon semi-finals in the summer.

Fritz’s play in that very quarter-final should have been enough of an sign. Djokovic triumphed in four rounds, a win that only felt tenuous for brief periods 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 the American creating plenty of chances to break. But Djokovic rescued service break opportunity after service break opportunity, prolonging the streak to the point of agony. When Fritz finally did claim one of the chances at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he promptly played a horrendous service game to lose his own serve again; the Serbian had drawn him into a skirmish secondary to the main contest and compelled him to expend far too much effort to prevail. Down match points in the last game, Fritz’s primary delivery floated to heaven. He extended the contest two times on his second serve, but ultimately committed two errors. It wasn’t a choke, I didn’t think, only a consequence of having to hit an excessive number of second serves.

The contest was fairly ironclad evidence that the American is insufficiently skilled to beat any version of Djokovic, who was defeated by Alcaraz in the following match and did not especially appeared like he believed he could triumph. 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 developed 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 the American to prevail, and pressuring him to achieve that, when he was had not accomplished anything that suggested he would.

The American is an valuable contributor to the tour regardless. He’s a patient, reflective voice in press conferences, exceeding almost everyone on the men's tour except for Daniil Medvedev, prepared to not just express how he feels or the strategy he believed decided a contest, but clarify it. That he ought to shoulder the majority of the blame for America not produce a men's grand slam winner since the last American titlist feels unfair. (Since the fellow American is rubbing shoulders with him in the standings, perhaps they can share that burden.)

ATP Finals: Singles Groups

Jimmy Connors Group

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

Swedish icon Division

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• Ben Shelton (US)
• The Canadian talent

“I’d probably think about it indefinitely if I fail to do it,” the American informed a journalist in the summer of claiming a major. It is hoped he understands that he’s not unsuccessful if he does not achieve that goal, that breaking through the Spanish and Italian's dominant, formidable reign is actually highly unlikely for all other players. {