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I have some opinions regarding that comments delivered by the sports network commentator a well-known announcer after the Serbian champion's victory over Taylor Fritz during the US Open last eight. Consider – Fritz is the United States, the commentator is American – and athletic competitions often encourage patriotic sentiment. Some letdown would have been appropriate. Rather, Fowler invoked the continued absence of US male players at the majors: none of them had lifted a title since the last American champion in 2003, and he had been the final representative in the tournament.

Everyone enjoy a narrative, myself included. But really. Even if Fritz defeated the legend for the first time, force of nature the Spanish star was looming in the next round, whom Fritz has never defeated in an competitive encounter. And if he’d someway survived that, it would have been defending champion Jannik Sinner, versus him Fritz had lost 10 of the previous eleven sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also divided the last seven major titles (plus Alcaraz proceeded to defeat a fatigued Djokovic in the next round). Fritz said in post-match interviews after the loss that he in fact liked his draw, because it offered the chance to beat the top three competitors in the world in succession. Fritz is well within his right to aspire to the achievement; an competitor is supposed to have faith in themselves. But going into that Serbian quarter-final what other person sensibly had the drought of American champions on the brain?

Coco Gauff’s weaker delivery the sole barrier between her and sustained success

Fritz, 28, is ranked fourth in the global rankings starting this week’s year-end championships and has won his last six encounters over third-ranked the German with increasing ease. It's likely he might take that spot for himself in the coming years. But evidently that at present, that’s as far as he can climb: Sinner and Alcaraz lie a vast gap of ranking points away. His elite serve and concussive strength on each front side and reverse side are sufficiently enough to defeat the majority of opponents on the professional circuit. Against the select few generational talents, though, he is frequently helpless. The past few years has seen the interesting rise of lanky, towering athletes who can nevertheless cover the court with the surprising quickness and fluidity of much shorter men. Fritz is six-foot-five and appears that way. His footwork is rigid, as if he’s still getting used to his limbs. So he’ll rarely steal a point that the opponent was controlling, and playing a drop shot versus him is typically a reliable tactic. That serves as a pretty harsh restriction on his upside.

The American has achieved a several dramatic, unexpected improvements over the years. Early on of the decade, he was hovering around the bottom of the world's best thirty. 24 months after, he was approaching the elite ten. Last year, he unexpectedly exploded up to fourth place – and held the spot. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and beating legendary figures like Alcaraz, Sinner, and including a aging Djokovic, is the highest of all. What could Fowler have been thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to beat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate mentioning the ongoing drought of American men lifting grand slams when he had departed the New York major in the quarter-finals? The thirst is simply too much and the respect for the difficulty of the task too little.

Taylor Fritz made a personal best run to the Wimbledon last four in the summer.

The American's play in that very last eight match ought to have been enough of an sign. The Serbian triumphed in four sets, a win that only seemed uncertain for brief periods towards the conclusion, when Fritz had saved a couple match points and had a chance to hold for 5-5. The pair looked well-balanced during the exchanges, with the American creating plenty of chances to break. But Djokovic rescued service break opportunity after service break opportunity, extending the streak to the point of frustration. When he eventually did claim a single of the opportunities at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he promptly played a horrendous service game to lose his own serve again; the Serbian had lulled him into a skirmish peripheral to the real battle and forced him to expend far too much energy to prevail. Facing set points in the final game, Fritz’s first serve sailed to heaven. He prolonged the contest twice on his backup delivery, but finally committed two errors. It wasn’t a choke, I didn’t think, only a result of having to hit an excessive number of weaker deliveries.

The match was quite compelling proof that Fritz is not good enough to beat any form of Djokovic, that lost to Alcaraz in the next round and did not especially seem like he thought he could win. This is perfectly fine – the Serbian is the best player ever, and might not be at the height of his athletic abilities now, but has developed enough knowledge and strategic intelligence to compensate for quite a bit of the drop-off. The problem is those who were anticipating Fritz to prevail, and pressuring him to do so, when he was yet to accomplished anything that suggested he would.

Fritz is an valuable contributor to the tour regardless. He’s a patient, thoughtful presence in press conferences, exceeding virtually anyone on the men's tour aside from Daniil Medvedev, prepared to not only express his emotions or the strategy he believed decided a match, but clarify it. That he should shoulder the majority of the blame for America not spawn a male major champion since the last American titlist feels unfair. (Now that Ben Shelton is competing alongside him in the standings, maybe they can divide that burden.)

Year-End Championships: Player Divisions

Jimmy Connors Division

• The Spanish phenom
• The American contender
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Bjorn Borg Group

• The Italian champion
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• Ben Shelton (US)
• The Canadian talent

“I’d probably think about it indefinitely if I don’t accomplish it,” Fritz informed a journalist in the summer of winning a major. I hope he understands that he’s not unsuccessful if he doesn’t achieve that objective, that breaking through the Spanish and Italian's dominant, formidable reign is actually highly improbable for all other players. {