🔗 Share this article

I have some thoughts regarding that comments delivered by the sports network commentator Chris Fowler following Novak Djokovic's win over Taylor Fritz during the New York major quarter-finals. Consider – Fritz is American, Fowler is American – and athletic competitions frequently encourage patriotic sentiment. Some disappointment would have been appropriate. Instead, Fowler brought up the continued absence of US male players at the majors: none of them has won a trophy since the last American champion in 2003, and he had been the final representative in the competition.

Everyone enjoy a storyline, myself included. But come on. Even if the American defeated the legend for the first time, phenomenal talent Carlos Alcaraz was waiting in the following match, who he has never defeated in an competitive encounter. And had he somehow survived that, it would have been defending champion Jannik Sinner, against whom the American had lost 10 of the last 11 sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also split the previous seven grand slams (and the Spaniard went on to thrash a fatigued Djokovic in the subsequent match). Fritz stated in post-match interviews following his defeat that he actually preferred his draw, because it presented the opportunity to beat the three best competitors in the world in succession. Fritz is well within his right to aspire to the accomplishment; an athlete is supposed to have faith in themselves. But entering that Serbian quarter-final who else in their right mind had the lack of US winners on the brain?

Coco Gauff’s second serve the sole barrier between her and sustained success

Fritz, 28, is placed fourth in the world entering this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has secured his previous six matches over third-ranked the German with growing comfort. It's likely he might claim that position for himself in the coming years. But evidently that right now, that is as far as he can rise: The Italian and Spaniard sit a chasm of performance metrics away. His elite serve and powerful power on both front side and reverse side are more than enough to defeat most opponents on the professional circuit. Against the select few generational talents, however, Fritz is frequently overmatched. The past few seasons has seen the curious rise of lanky, towering athletes who can nevertheless move around with the surprising speed and fluidity of smaller players. He is 6ft 5ins and appears that way. His movement is rigid, as if he’s still getting used to his limbs. So he seldom win a rally that the other player was dictating, and playing a drop shot against him is typically a reliable tactic. That serves as a pretty severe restriction on his upside.

Fritz has made a several significant, unexpected improvements over the years. Early on of the decade, he was hovering around the lower end of the top 30. 24 months after, he was sniffing the elite ten. The previous season, he unexpectedly exploded to No 4 – and maintained the spot. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and defeating legendary figures like the young Spaniard, the Italian, and even a declining Djokovic, is the highest of all. What was the commentator thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to beat them all back-to-back? That it was worth commenting on the ongoing slump of US male players lifting major titles when he had departed the US Open in the quarter-finals? The thirst is simply too much and the appreciation for the difficulty of the task too little.

The American star achieved a career-best advancement to the All England Club last four in July.

Fritz’s play in that very last eight match ought to have been enough of an sign. The Serbian won in four sets, a win that only felt tenuous for brief periods towards the conclusion, when Fritz had survived a couple championship opportunities and had a chance to maintain serve for 5-5. The duo looked well-balanced during the rallies, with the American creating plenty of chances to win the opponent's serve. But the champion rescued service break opportunity after break point, extending the run to the point of frustration. When he eventually did claim one of the opportunities at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he promptly produced a terrible game to lose his own serve again; Djokovic had drawn him into a battle secondary to the main contest and forced him to use excessive energy to win it. Down set points in the last game, Fritz’s first serve floated to heaven. He extended the contest two times on his second serve, but finally double-faulted. It was not a collapse, in my opinion, only a consequence of needing to hit too many weaker deliveries.

The contest was fairly ironclad evidence that Fritz is not good enough to defeat any version of the Serbian, who lost to Alcaraz in the next round and never especially seem like he believed he could triumph. This is perfectly fine – Djokovic is the best player ever, and may not be at the peak of his physical powers now, but has developed enough knowledge and tactical know-how to make up for a significant portion of the decline. The issue is those who were expecting the American to win, and pressuring him to achieve that, when he was had not accomplished anything that suggested he would.

Fritz is an valuable contributor to the circuit regardless. He’s a calm, thoughtful presence in press conferences, exceeding almost everyone on the men's tour except for the Russian star, willing to not just say how he feels or the strategy he felt determined a contest, but explain it. That he should shoulder the majority of the responsibility for America failing to produce a male major champion since the last American titlist feels unfair. (Since the fellow American is competing alongside him in the standings, maybe they can divide that burden.)

ATP Finals: Singles Groups

American legend Group

• The Spanish phenom
• The American contender
• The Australian speedster
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Swedish icon Group

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• The German powerhouse
• Ben Shelton (US)
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I’d probably think about it forever if I fail to accomplish it,” Fritz told an interviewer in the summer of winning a major. It is hoped he understands that he’s not a failure if he does not achieve that goal, that overcoming Alcaraz and Sinner’s dominant, formidable reign is in fact highly improbable for everybody else. {