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I have a few thoughts about that comments made by ESPN broadcaster Chris Fowler after the Serbian champion's victory over the American player in the New York major quarter-finals. Look – the athlete represents American, the commentator is American – and sports frequently lend themselves to patriotic sentiment. A little bit of letdown would have been appropriate. Instead, he invoked the continued absence of US male players at the majors: not one of them had lifted a title since Andy Roddick in 2003, and he had been the final representative in the tournament.

Everyone love a narrative, me too. But really. Suppose the American defeated Djokovic for the initial occasion, phenomenal talent the Spanish star was waiting in the following match, whom Fritz has yet to beat in an competitive encounter. And if he’d someway survived that, it would have been defending champion the Italian, versus him the American had dropped 10 of the previous eleven sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also split the previous seven major titles (plus the Spaniard went on to defeat a fatigued Serbian in the next round). Fritz stated in press after the loss that he in fact preferred his draw, because it presented the opportunity to beat the three best competitors in the world in succession. He is more than justified to aspire to the accomplishment; an athlete is supposed to believe in themselves. But going into that Djokovic quarter-final who else sensibly had the lack of US winners on the brain?

Coco Gauff’s second serve the sole barrier between her and consistent victories

The American, 28, is ranked number four in the global rankings entering this week’s year-end championships and has secured his last six matches over No 3 the German with increasing ease. It's likely he might take that spot for himself in the coming years. But evidently that right now, that’s as far as he can climb: Sinner and Alcaraz sit a vast gap of performance metrics away. Fritz’s elite delivery and powerful strength on each front side and backhand are more than enough to dispose of the majority of opponents on the professional circuit. When facing the handful of generational talents, however, Fritz is frequently helpless. The last several years has seen the curious emergence of tall, gangly players who can nonetheless move around with the alarming speed and grace of smaller players. Fritz is 6ft 5ins and looks it. His movement is stiff, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his legs. So he’ll rarely win a rally that the opponent was controlling, and hitting a soft shot against him is typically a safe bet. That serves as a pretty harsh limitation on his potential.

Fritz has achieved a several dramatic, improbable improvements throughout his career. Early on of the decade, he was circling the lower end of the top 30. Two years later, he was sniffing the elite ten. The previous season, he unexpectedly exploded up to fourth place – and maintained the spot. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and defeating legendary figures like the young Spaniard, Sinner, and including a aging Serbian, is the toughest of all. What was the commentator have been thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a serious threat to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was worth mentioning the continuing drought of US male players lifting major titles when he had departed the US Open in the quarter-finals? The thirst is just too much and the appreciation for the difficulty of the task too little.

The American star achieved a personal best advancement to the Wimbledon last four in the summer.

Fritz’s performance in that very last eight match should have been sufficient of an sign. Djokovic triumphed in four rounds, a win that only seemed tenuous for brief periods towards the very end, when the American had survived a couple match points and had a opportunity to hold for 5-5. The duo looked evenly matched during the rallies, with Fritz creating plenty of opportunities to win the opponent's serve. But the champion rescued service break opportunity after service break opportunity, prolonging the streak to the brink of frustration. When he finally did convert a single of the opportunities at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he promptly played a terrible service game to lose his own serve once more; Djokovic had lulled him into a skirmish peripheral to the real battle and compelled him to expend far too much energy to win it. Facing set points in the final game, Fritz’s primary delivery floated to heaven. He prolonged the contest two times on his second serve, but ultimately committed two errors. It was not a choke, I didn’t think, just a result of having to hit too many weaker deliveries.

The match was fairly ironclad evidence that the American is not good enough to beat any version of the Serbian, that lost to the Spaniard in the next round and did not particularly appeared like he believed he could triumph. This is perfectly fine – the Serbian is the best player ever, and might not be at the peak of his physical powers anymore, but has developed sufficient experience and tactical know-how to compensate for quite a bit of the drop-off. The issue is those who were anticipating Fritz to win, and putting pressure on him to do so, when he was yet to accomplished anything that indicated he could.

The American is an asset to the circuit nonetheless. He’s a calm, thoughtful presence in media sessions, exceeding almost everyone on the ATP aside from the Russian star, prepared to not only say his emotions or the strategy he believed determined a contest, but clarify it. That he ought to bear the brunt of the blame for the United States not produce a male major champion since the last American titlist seems unfair. (Now that Ben Shelton is competing alongside him in the standings, maybe they can divide that load.)

ATP Finals: Player Divisions

American legend Division

• The Spanish phenom
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Swedish icon Group

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• The German powerhouse
• The rising American
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I’d probably dwell on it indefinitely if I fail to do it,” Fritz informed a journalist in the summer of claiming a major. I hope he understands that he’s not unsuccessful if he does not fulfill that goal, that breaking through the Spanish and Italian's young, terrifying reign is actually highly unlikely for everybody else. {