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I possess a few opinions regarding that remarks delivered by the sports network broadcaster a well-known announcer after Novak Djokovic's win over the American player in the New York major last eight. Consider – the athlete represents American, the commentator is from the US – and athletic competitions often encourage patriotic sentiment. A little bit of disappointment would have been understandable. Rather, Fowler brought up the continued absence of American men at grand slam tournaments: none of them had lifted a title since Andy Roddick in 2003, and he had been the last one standing in the competition.

We all love a narrative, myself included. But come on. Suppose Fritz defeated Djokovic for the initial occasion, force of nature the Spanish star was waiting in the next round, who he has never defeated in an official match. And had he someway survived that, it would have been defending champion the Italian, against whom Fritz had lost 10 of the previous eleven sets. The two young stars had also split the previous seven grand slams (and the Spaniard went on to thrash a tired Djokovic in the next round). He stated in press after the loss that he actually liked his path, because it offered the opportunity to defeat the three best competitors in the world back-to-back. Fritz is well within his right to aspire to the achievement; an athlete is supposed to believe in themselves. But going into that Djokovic quarter-final what other person sensibly had the lack of US winners on the brain?

Coco Gauff’s second serve the only thing between her and sustained success

Fritz, 28, is ranked number four in the world starting the upcoming ATP World Tour Finals and has secured his last six matches over No 3 the German with increasing ease. Presumably he might take that spot for himself in the future. But evidently that right now, that is as high as he can climb: The Italian and Spaniard sit a chasm of performance metrics away. Fritz’s top-class serve and concussive strength on both front side and reverse side are more than enough to dispose of most rivals on the professional circuit. When facing the select few once-in-a-lifetime players, though, he is often overmatched. The last several years has witnessed the curious rise of tall, gangly players who can nevertheless move around with the alarming quickness and grace of smaller men. Fritz is 6ft 5ins and appears that way. His footwork is rigid, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his legs. So he seldom win a rally that the opponent was controlling, and playing a drop shot against him is typically a reliable tactic. That serves as a quite severe limitation on his upside.

The American has made a several dramatic, unexpected improvements throughout his career. Early on of the decade, he was hovering around the lower end of the world's best thirty. 24 months later, he was sniffing the elite ten. The previous season, he suddenly exploded up to fourth place – and held the position. But the next leap, competing against and defeating all-time-greats like the young Spaniard, the Italian, and including a declining Djokovic, is the highest of all. What was Fowler thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was worth mentioning the continuing drought of US male players winning grand slams when he had departed the US Open in the quarter-finals? The desperation is just excessive and the respect for the magnitude of the challenge insufficient.

Taylor Fritz achieved a career-best advancement to the Wimbledon semi-finals in July.

Fritz’s performance in that very last eight match ought to have been enough of an indication. The Serbian triumphed in four sets, a win that only felt uncertain for brief periods towards the conclusion, when the American had survived a few match points and had a chance to maintain serve for 5-5. The pair looked evenly matched during the rallies, with Fritz earning plenty of chances to win the opponent's serve. But the champion rescued break point after break point, prolonging the run to the point of agony. When he eventually did claim a single of the chances at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he promptly produced a horrendous service game to lose his own serve once more; Djokovic had lulled him into a skirmish peripheral to the real battle and forced him to expend excessive effort to prevail. Down set points in the last game, his primary delivery sailed to the sky. He prolonged the contest two times on his backup delivery, but ultimately committed two errors. It wasn’t a collapse, I didn’t think, just a consequence of having to hit an excessive number of second serves.

The contest was fairly ironclad proof that the American is not good enough to defeat any version of Djokovic, who was defeated by Alcaraz in the following match and did not particularly appeared like he thought he could win. This is perfectly acceptable – Djokovic is the best player ever, and might not be at the peak of his physical powers anymore, but has acquired sufficient knowledge and tactical know-how to compensate for a significant portion of the decline. The problem is those who were anticipating the American 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 circuit regardless. He’s a patient, reflective presence in press conferences, more so than virtually everyone on the ATP aside from Daniil Medvedev, willing to not only express how he feels or the tactic he felt decided a contest, but clarify it. That he should bear the brunt of the blame for the United States not spawn a men's grand slam winner since Andy Roddick seems unjust. (Now that the fellow American is rubbing shoulders with him in the standings, maybe they can share that load.)

ATP Finals: Singles Groups

Jimmy Connors Division

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

Bjorn Borg Division

• The Italian champion
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• The rising American
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I’d probably dwell on it forever if I fail to accomplish it,” Fritz told an interviewer in June of winning a grand slam. I hope he understands that he’s not unsuccessful if he doesn’t achieve that objective, that overcoming the Spanish and Italian's young, terrifying reign is in fact extremely improbable for all other players. {