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I have a few thoughts about the comments made by the sports network broadcaster a well-known announcer following Novak Djokovic's win over Taylor Fritz during the New York major quarter-finals. Look – the athlete represents the United States, Fowler is American – and athletic competitions frequently lend themselves to patriotic sentiment. Some disappointment would have been understandable. Rather, he brought up the continued drought of American men at grand slam tournaments: not one of them had lifted a trophy since Andy Roddick in 2003, and he had been the last one standing in the competition.

Everyone love a storyline, me too. But come on. Suppose the American defeated the legend for the initial occasion, phenomenal talent Carlos Alcaraz was waiting in the next round, who Fritz has never defeated in an competitive encounter. And had he somehow gotten past that, it would have been defending champion Jannik Sinner, against whom Fritz had lost 10 of the last 11 sets. The two young stars had also divided the last seven grand slams (and the Spaniard proceeded to thrash a tired Djokovic in the next round). He said in post-match interviews following his defeat that he actually liked his draw, because it presented the chance to beat the top three competitors in the world back-to-back. He is more than within his right to aspire to the accomplishment; an competitor is supposed to have faith in themselves. But entering that Djokovic quarter-final who else in their right mind had the drought of US winners on the brain?

Coco Gauff’s second serve the only thing standing in her way and sustained success

The American, twenty-eight, is ranked number four in the world entering this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has secured his previous six encounters over No 3 the German with increasing ease. Presumably he could claim that position for himself in the future. But it’s clear that right now, that’s as far as he can rise: The Italian and Spaniard sit a vast gap of ranking points away. Fritz’s top-class delivery and powerful power on each forehand and backhand are sufficiently adequate to defeat most opponents on the ATP tour. When facing the select few once-in-a-lifetime players, however, Fritz is often helpless. The last several years has witnessed the curious rise of lanky, towering players who can nevertheless cover the court with the alarming quickness and fluidity of smaller players. He 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 other player was controlling, and hitting a drop shot versus him is usually a reliable tactic. That serves as a quite severe restriction on his potential.

The American has achieved a several dramatic, unexpected improvements over the years. Early on of the ten-year period, he was hovering around the bottom of the world's best thirty. 24 months later, he was sniffing the elite ten. Last year, he suddenly exploded to fourth place – and maintained the position. But the subsequent step, competing against and defeating all-time-greats like Alcaraz, Sinner, and including a aging 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 commenting on the ongoing slump of US male players lifting major titles when he had exited the US Open in the quarter-finals? The desperation is simply excessive and the respect for the difficulty of the challenge too little.

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

Fritz’s performance in that very quarter-final ought to have been enough of an indication. Djokovic triumphed in four sets, a win that only seemed tenuous for brief periods towards the very end, when Fritz had saved a few championship opportunities and had a chance to hold for 5-5. The duo appeared evenly matched during the rallies, with Fritz earning plenty of opportunities to break. But the champion saved break point after service break opportunity, prolonging the streak to the brink of agony. When Fritz finally did convert a single of the chances at 5-5 in the second set, he immediately played a terrible service game to drop serve again; Djokovic had lulled him into a skirmish peripheral to the main contest and forced him to expend far too much energy to win it. Down set points in the final game, his first serve floated to the sky. He extended the contest two times on his backup delivery, but finally committed two errors. It wasn’t a collapse, I didn’t think, just a consequence of needing to hit an excessive number of weaker deliveries.

The match was quite ironclad evidence that the American is insufficiently skilled to defeat any form of the Serbian, that was defeated by the Spaniard in the following match and did not particularly appeared like he thought he could win. This is absolutely fine – the Serbian is the greatest of all time, and may not be at the height of his physical powers now, but has acquired enough knowledge and tactical know-how to compensate for a significant portion of the drop-off. The problem is the individuals who were anticipating Fritz to prevail, and putting pressure on him to achieve that, when he was had not accomplished anything that indicated he could.

Fritz is an valuable contributor to the tour regardless. He’s a calm, thoughtful voice in press conferences, exceeding virtually anyone on the men's tour except for Daniil Medvedev, willing to not just express how he feels or the tactic he believed determined a match, but clarify it. That he should shoulder the majority of the blame for the United States not spawn a male major champion since Andy Roddick seems unjust. (Since Ben Shelton is rubbing shoulders with him in the rankings, maybe they can divide that load.)

ATP Finals: Player Divisions

Jimmy Connors Division

• Carlos Alcaraz (Sp)
• The American contender
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Swedish icon Division

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

“I’d probably think about it forever if I fail to accomplish it,” the American told a journalist in the summer of winning a grand slam. I hope he realizes that he’s not a failure if he doesn’t achieve that goal, that breaking through the Spanish and Italian's dominant, formidable reign is actually highly unlikely for all other players. {