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I have some thoughts regarding the comments delivered by ESPN commentator a well-known announcer after Novak Djokovic's win over Taylor Fritz during the US Open quarter-finals. Look – the athlete represents American, Fowler is from the US – and sports often encourage patriotic sentiment. A little bit of disappointment was appropriate. Instead, he brought up the ongoing drought of US male players at grand slam tournaments: not one of them had lifted a trophy since the last American champion in 2003, and Fritz had been the last one standing in the tournament.

We all enjoy a narrative, myself included. But really. Even if Fritz had beaten the legend for the initial occasion, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was waiting in the following match, whom he has yet to beat in an official match. And if he’d someway survived that, it would have been defending champion the Italian, against whom Fritz had lost 10 of the last 11 sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also divided the last seven grand slams (plus the Spaniard went on to thrash a tired Serbian in the next round). Fritz stated in press after the loss that he in fact preferred his path, because it offered the chance to beat the top three players in the sport in succession. He is well justified to aspire to the accomplishment; an athlete is supposed to believe in themselves. But entering that Serbian quarter-final who else in their right mind had the drought of US winners in mind?

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

The American, twenty-eight, is placed number four in the global rankings entering this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has secured his previous six encounters over third-ranked the German with growing comfort. It's likely he might take that spot for himself in the coming years. But evidently that at present, that is as high as he can rise: The Italian and Spaniard lie a chasm of ranking points away. His top-class serve and concussive strength on each front side and backhand are sufficiently enough to defeat the majority of rivals on the professional circuit. When facing the select few generational talents, though, Fritz is frequently helpless. The last several years has seen the curious emergence of lanky, towering players who can nonetheless move around with the alarming quickness and grace of much shorter men. Fritz is 6ft 5ins and appears that way. His movement is stiff, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his limbs. So he seldom win a rally that the other player was dictating, and hitting a soft shot versus him is typically a safe bet. That serves as a quite severe restriction on his potential.

Fritz has made a several dramatic, improbable improvements throughout his career. Early on of the decade, he was hovering around the lower end of the world's best thirty. 24 months after, he was sniffing the elite ten. Last year, he suddenly exploded to No 4 – and maintained the spot. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and defeating all-time-greats like Alcaraz, Sinner, and including a aging Djokovic, is the highest of all. What could Fowler have been thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a serious threat to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was worth mentioning the ongoing drought of US male players winning major titles when he had exited the New York major in the quarter-finals? The thirst is just too much and the respect for the difficulty of the challenge insufficient.

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

Fritz’s performance in that very last eight match should have been enough of an sign. The Serbian triumphed in four rounds, a victory that only felt uncertain for brief periods towards the conclusion, when the American had survived a couple match points and had a opportunity to maintain serve for 5-5. The duo appeared well-balanced during the rallies, with the American earning numerous opportunities to break. But Djokovic saved service break opportunity after service break opportunity, prolonging the streak to the point of agony. When Fritz finally did claim one of the opportunities at 5-5 in the second set, he promptly produced a terrible game to lose his own serve again; Djokovic had lulled him into a battle peripheral to the main contest and compelled him to expend excessive effort to prevail. Down set points in the final game, Fritz’s first serve sailed to heaven. He prolonged the match two times on his backup delivery, but finally double-faulted. It was not a choke, I didn’t think, only a consequence of having to hit an excessive number of second serves.

The contest was fairly compelling evidence that Fritz is insufficiently skilled to defeat any version of the Serbian, who lost to Alcaraz in the following match and never particularly seem like he thought he could triumph. This is absolutely acceptable – the Serbian is the best player ever, and might not be at the peak of his physical powers now, but has acquired sufficient experience and strategic intelligence to make up for quite a bit of the decline. The issue is those who were anticipating the American to prevail, and putting pressure on him to do so, when he was had not done anything that suggested he could.

The American is an valuable contributor to the circuit nonetheless. He’s a patient, thoughtful presence in press conferences, exceeding almost everyone on the men's tour except for Daniil Medvedev, prepared to not just say how he feels or the tactic he believed decided a contest, but clarify it. That he ought to shoulder the majority of the responsibility for America not spawn a men's grand slam winner since Andy Roddick feels unfair. (Now that the fellow American is rubbing shoulders with him in the rankings, maybe they can share that load.)

ATP Finals: Player Divisions

American legend Group

• The Spanish phenom
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• The Australian speedster
• The Italian stylist

Swedish icon Division

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• The German powerhouse
• Ben Shelton (US)
• The Canadian talent

“I would likely think about it indefinitely if I fail to accomplish it,” Fritz told a journalist in the summer of winning a major. I hope he realizes that he’s not a failure if he doesn’t achieve that goal, that breaking through the Spanish and Italian's young, terrifying empire is in fact highly unlikely for all other players. {