🔗 Share this article

I possess some opinions about that comments made by ESPN commentator a well-known announcer following the Serbian champion's win over Taylor Fritz in the New York major last eight. Look – the athlete represents the United States, the commentator is from the US – and athletic competitions frequently encourage nationalism. Some letdown would have been understandable. Instead, Fowler brought up the ongoing drought of American men at grand slam tournaments: none of them had lifted a title since the last American champion in 2003, and he had been the last one standing in the competition.

We all enjoy a storyline, me too. But really. Even if Fritz defeated the legend for the initial occasion, phenomenal talent the Spanish star was looming in the next round, whom he has yet to beat in an official match. And had he someway survived that, it would have been defending champion the Italian, versus him Fritz had dropped 10 of the last 11 sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also divided the previous seven major titles (plus Alcaraz proceeded to defeat a fatigued Djokovic in the subsequent match). Fritz said in press following his defeat that he in fact preferred his draw, because it presented the chance to beat the three best competitors in the sport back-to-back. Fritz is more than within his right to aim for the accomplishment; an competitor is supposed to have faith in themselves. But entering that Serbian quarter-final what other person sensibly had the lack of American champions on the brain?

Coco Gauff’s second serve the only thing between her and consistent victories

Fritz, 28, is placed number four in the world entering this week’s year-end championships and has won his last six matches over third-ranked Alexander Zverev with growing comfort. Presumably he might take that spot for himself in the coming years. But it’s clear that at present, that is as far as he can rise: The Italian and Spaniard lie a chasm of ranking points away. Fritz’s elite serve and powerful strength on both front side and reverse side are more than adequate to dispose of the majority of opponents on the ATP tour. When facing the handful of generational talents, though, he is often overmatched. The last several seasons has seen the curious emergence of tall, gangly athletes who can nonetheless cover the court with the surprising speed and grace of much shorter players. He is 6ft 5ins 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 hitting a drop shot versus him is typically a safe bet. That serves as a quite severe restriction on his potential.

Fritz has achieved a number of significant, improbable advancements throughout his career. At the beginning of the ten-year period, he was hovering around the bottom of the world's best thirty. Two years after, he was sniffing the top 10. Last year, he unexpectedly exploded to No 4 – and held the spot. But the next leap, mixing it up with and beating all-time-greats like Alcaraz, the Italian, and including a aging Serbian, is the toughest of all. What was the commentator thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a serious threat to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was worth mentioning the continuing slump of US male players winning grand slams when Fritz had exited the US Open in the quarter-finals? The desperation is just excessive and the appreciation for the difficulty of the challenge too little.

The American star achieved a personal best run to the All England Club semi-finals in July.

Fritz’s play in that very quarter-final should have been sufficient of an indication. Djokovic won in four sets, a win that only seemed tenuous for moments towards the conclusion, when the American had survived a couple match points and had a opportunity to hold for 5-5. The duo appeared evenly matched during the rallies, with Fritz creating numerous opportunities to break. But Djokovic rescued service break opportunity after service break opportunity, prolonging the streak to the brink of agony. When he finally did convert a single of the opportunities at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he promptly produced a terrible game to lose his own serve once more; Djokovic had drawn him into a skirmish peripheral to the main contest and compelled him to expend far too much energy to win it. Down match points in the final game, his first serve floated to the sky. He extended the contest twice on his backup delivery, but finally double-faulted. It was not a collapse, I didn’t think, just a result of having to hit an excessive number of second serves.

The match was fairly ironclad proof that Fritz is insufficiently skilled to defeat any version of the Serbian, that lost to Alcaraz in the next round and never particularly seem like he thought he could triumph. This is perfectly fine – Djokovic is the best player ever, and might not be at the height of his physical powers now, but has acquired sufficient knowledge and strategic intelligence to compensate for quite a bit of the decline. The problem is the individuals who were expecting Fritz to win, and putting pressure on him to achieve that, when he was yet to done anything that suggested he could.

Fritz is an asset to the circuit regardless. He’s a calm, thoughtful presence in press conferences, more so than virtually everyone on the men's tour aside from the Russian star, willing to not just express how he feels or the tactic he believed determined a contest, but explain it. That he ought to shoulder the majority of the blame for America not produce a male major champion since the last American titlist seems unjust. (Since the fellow American is rubbing shoulders with him in the rankings, maybe they can divide that load.)

Year-End Championships: Singles Groups

Jimmy Connors Division

• Carlos Alcaraz (Sp)
• The American contender
• The Australian speedster
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Swedish icon Group

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• The German powerhouse
• The rising American
• The Canadian talent

“I would likely think about it indefinitely if I don’t do it,” Fritz told an interviewer in the summer of claiming a grand slam. It is hoped he realizes that he’s not a failure if he does not fulfill that objective, that breaking through the Spanish and Italian's dominant, formidable reign is actually highly unlikely for everybody else. {