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I possess some opinions regarding that remarks made by ESPN commentator a well-known announcer after the Serbian champion's victory over Taylor Fritz in the New York major quarter-finals. Look – the athlete represents American, the commentator is American – and athletic competitions often encourage nationalism. Some letdown was understandable. Instead, he invoked the ongoing drought 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 last one standing in the competition.

Everyone love a narrative, me too. But really. Even if Fritz defeated the legend for the first time, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was waiting in the next round, who Fritz has never defeated in an competitive encounter. And if he’d somehow gotten past that, it would have been title holder the Italian, versus him the American had lost 10 of the last 11 sets. The two young stars had also divided the last seven major titles (and the Spaniard proceeded to defeat a fatigued Djokovic in the subsequent match). Fritz said in post-match interviews after the loss that he in fact preferred his path, because it offered the opportunity to defeat the top three competitors in the world in succession. Fritz is well justified to aim for the accomplishment; an athlete is supposed to have faith in themselves. But entering that Djokovic quarter-final who else sensibly had the lack of US winners on the brain?

Coco Gauff’s second serve the only thing standing in her way and sustained success

The American, 28, is ranked fourth in the world starting this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has secured his last six matches over third-ranked the German with growing comfort. Presumably he could take that spot for himself in the coming years. But it’s clear that right now, that is as high as he can rise: Sinner and Alcaraz lie a vast gap of performance metrics away. His elite delivery and powerful strength on both front side and backhand are sufficiently adequate to dispose of the majority of rivals on the professional circuit. When facing the handful of once-in-a-lifetime players, however, he is often helpless. The last several years has seen the curious emergence of lanky, towering athletes who can nonetheless move around with the surprising speed and fluidity of much shorter players. Fritz is 6ft 5ins and appears that way. His movement is stiff, as if he’s still getting used to his limbs. So he’ll rarely steal a point that the other player was dictating, and hitting a drop shot against him is typically a safe bet. That serves as a pretty severe restriction on his potential.

Fritz has made a number of significant, unexpected improvements over the years. At the beginning of the decade, he was circling the lower end of the top 30. Two years later, he was sniffing the elite ten. Last year, he unexpectedly exploded to fourth place – and held the position. But the next leap, competing against and defeating all-time-greats like Alcaraz, the Italian, and even a declining Serbian, 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 worth mentioning the continuing drought of US male players winning major titles when Fritz had departed the US Open in the quarter-finals? The thirst is just too much and the respect for the difficulty of the task too little.

Taylor Fritz achieved a personal best advancement to the Wimbledon last four in the summer.

Fritz’s play in that very quarter-final ought to have been enough of an indication. Djokovic triumphed in four rounds, a victory that only felt tenuous for moments towards the very end, when the American had survived a couple match points and had a chance to maintain serve for 5-5. The duo appeared well-balanced during the rallies, with the American creating plenty of opportunities to win the opponent's serve. But the champion rescued break point after break point, prolonging the streak to the point of frustration. When he eventually did claim one of the opportunities at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he immediately played a terrible game to drop serve again; Djokovic had lulled him into a skirmish peripheral to the main contest and forced him to expend far too much energy to win it. Down match points in the last game, Fritz’s first serve floated to the sky. He prolonged the contest two times on his second serve, but finally double-faulted. It was not a collapse, I didn’t think, just a consequence of needing to hit too many second serves.

The contest was fairly ironclad proof that the American is not good enough to defeat any version of Djokovic, that was defeated by the Spaniard in the following match and did not particularly appeared like he thought he could triumph. This is absolutely acceptable – the Serbian is the greatest of all time, and might not be at the height of his athletic abilities anymore, but has developed sufficient experience and strategic intelligence to compensate for a significant portion of the drop-off. The issue is those who were anticipating the American to prevail, and pressuring him to achieve that, when he was yet to accomplished anything that suggested he would.

The American is an valuable contributor to the tour regardless. He’s a calm, reflective presence in media sessions, exceeding virtually everyone on the men's tour aside from the Russian star, prepared to not just express how he feels or the tactic he felt determined a contest, but explain it. That he ought to shoulder the majority of the responsibility for America failing to spawn a male major champion since Andy Roddick seems unfair. (Now that Ben Shelton is competing alongside him in the standings, perhaps they can divide that burden.)

ATP Finals: Player Divisions

Jimmy Connors Group

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

Swedish icon Group

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• Ben Shelton (US)
• The Canadian talent

“I would likely dwell on it forever if I fail to do it,” the American informed an interviewer in June of claiming a grand slam. It is hoped he realizes that he’s not a failure if he does not achieve that goal, that overcoming Alcaraz and Sinner’s dominant, formidable empire is actually extremely improbable for all other players. {