🔗 Share this article

I possess a few thoughts about that comments delivered by the sports network broadcaster Chris Fowler following the Serbian champion's win over Taylor Fritz in the US Open last eight. Look – Fritz is American, Fowler is from the US – and sports frequently encourage patriotic sentiment. Some disappointment was appropriate. Rather, he brought up the ongoing absence of US male players at grand slam tournaments: not one of them had lifted a title since the last American champion in 2003, and Fritz had been the final representative in the competition.

Everyone love a storyline, me too. But really. Suppose the American had beaten Djokovic for the first time, phenomenal talent Carlos Alcaraz was waiting in the next round, whom he has yet to beat in an official match. And if he’d someway survived that, it would have been title holder the Italian, against whom Fritz had lost 10 of the last 11 sets. The two young stars had also split the previous seven major titles (and Alcaraz proceeded to thrash a fatigued Serbian in the subsequent match). He stated in press after the loss that he actually liked his path, because it presented the chance to beat the three best players in the sport in succession. Fritz is more than within his right to aspire to the achievement; an competitor is supposed to have faith in themselves. But going into that Djokovic quarter-final what other person in their right mind had the drought of American champions on the brain?

Coco Gauff’s weaker delivery the sole barrier between her and sustained success

The American, 28, is ranked fourth in the global rankings starting the upcoming year-end championships and has won his previous six encounters over No 3 the German with increasing ease. It's likely he could take that spot for himself in the coming years. But evidently that at present, that’s as high as he can climb: Sinner and Alcaraz lie a chasm of ranking points away. His top-class serve and powerful power on each front side and reverse side are more than enough to defeat most opponents on the professional circuit. When facing the handful of generational talents, though, Fritz is often overmatched. The last several seasons has witnessed the curious emergence of tall, gangly athletes who can nonetheless move around with the alarming quickness and fluidity of much shorter men. He is six-foot-five and appears that way. His movement is rigid, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his legs. So he seldom steal a point that the other player was controlling, and hitting a soft shot against him is usually a reliable tactic. That serves as a pretty harsh restriction on his upside.

Fritz has made a number of significant, unexpected advancements throughout his career. At the beginning of the ten-year period, he was circling the bottom of the top 30. Two years later, he was approaching the top 10. The previous season, he unexpectedly exploded to fourth place – and held the spot. But the subsequent step, competing against and defeating all-time-greats like Alcaraz, Sinner, and including a aging Serbian, is the toughest of all. What could Fowler thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a serious threat to beat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate mentioning the continuing drought of US male players lifting grand slams when Fritz had exited the New York major in the quarter-finals? The desperation is simply excessive and the respect for the difficulty of the task too little.

The American star made a personal best advancement to the Wimbledon last four in July.

Fritz’s performance in that exact quarter-final ought to have been enough of an indication. The Serbian won in four sets, a win that only felt uncertain for moments towards the conclusion, when the American had survived a few championship opportunities and had a opportunity to maintain serve for 5-5. The pair appeared well-balanced during the exchanges, with Fritz earning numerous chances to break. But the champion saved break point after break point, prolonging the run to the brink of agony. When Fritz finally did convert a single of the opportunities at 5-5 in the second set, he immediately produced a horrendous service game to lose his own serve again; the Serbian had lulled him into a skirmish secondary to the real battle and forced him to use far too much effort to win it. Facing match points in the last game, Fritz’s primary delivery sailed to heaven. He prolonged the match twice on his backup delivery, but ultimately committed two errors. It wasn’t a collapse, I didn’t think, only a consequence of having to hit too many weaker deliveries.

The match was fairly ironclad proof that the American is not good enough to beat any form of Djokovic, that was defeated by the Spaniard in the following match and did not particularly seem like he thought he could win. This is absolutely fine – the Serbian is the greatest of all time, and might not be at the height of his physical powers anymore, but has developed sufficient knowledge and tactical know-how to compensate for quite a bit of the drop-off. The problem is the individuals who were expecting Fritz to prevail, and pressuring him to do so, when he was had not done anything that suggested he would.

The American is an valuable contributor to the tour regardless. He’s a calm, thoughtful presence in press conferences, more so than virtually everyone on the ATP aside from the Russian star, willing to not only say how he feels or the strategy he believed decided a contest, but clarify it. That he should shoulder the majority of the responsibility for the United States failing to produce a male major champion since the last American titlist seems unjust. (Now that Ben Shelton is competing alongside him in the standings, perhaps they can share that burden.)

ATP Finals: Singles Groups

Jimmy Connors Division

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

Bjorn Borg Group

• The Italian champion
• The German powerhouse
• The rising American
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I’d probably dwell on it forever if I don’t accomplish it,” Fritz told an interviewer in June of winning a major. I hope he realizes that he’s not a failure if he does not achieve that objective, that overcoming Alcaraz and Sinner’s dominant, formidable empire is in fact extremely improbable for all other players. {