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I have a few opinions about the comments made by ESPN broadcaster a well-known announcer after the Serbian champion's win over the American player in the New York major last eight. Consider – Fritz is American, Fowler is from the US – and sports often lend themselves to nationalism. Some letdown was appropriate. Instead, he invoked the ongoing absence of American men at the majors: not one of them has won a trophy since Andy Roddick in 2003, and he had been the final representative in the competition.

We all enjoy a narrative, me too. But really. Even if the American had beaten the legend for the first time, force of nature the Spanish star was looming in the next round, who he has yet to beat in an official match. And if he’d somehow survived that, it would have been defending champion the Italian, versus him Fritz had dropped 10 of the last 11 sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also split the last seven grand slams (and Alcaraz proceeded to defeat a tired Djokovic in the next round). He stated in press following his defeat that he actually preferred his path, because it offered the opportunity to beat the three best competitors in the world in succession. He is well justified to aspire to the accomplishment; an competitor is supposed to believe in themselves. But entering that Serbian quarter-final who else in their right mind had the drought of US winners on the brain?

Coco Gauff’s weaker delivery the sole barrier standing in her way and sustained success

Fritz, 28, is ranked fourth in the global rankings entering this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has secured his previous six matches over third-ranked the German with increasing ease. Presumably he might claim that position for himself in the future. But evidently that at present, that’s as far as he can rise: The Italian and Spaniard sit a chasm of ranking points away. Fritz’s top-class serve and concussive strength on both front side and reverse side are more than enough to defeat most rivals on the ATP tour. Against the handful of once-in-a-lifetime players, however, he is frequently helpless. The past few years has witnessed the curious rise of lanky, towering athletes who can nonetheless move around with the surprising quickness and fluidity of smaller men. Fritz is six-foot-five and appears that way. His footwork is stiff, as if he’s still getting used to his limbs. So he seldom steal a point that the opponent was controlling, and hitting a soft shot against him is typically a reliable tactic. That serves as a pretty severe restriction on his upside.

The American has achieved a number of dramatic, improbable improvements throughout his career. At the beginning of the ten-year period, he was hovering around the bottom of the top 30. Two years after, he was sniffing the elite ten. The previous season, he suddenly surged up to No 4 – and maintained the spot. But the next leap, mixing it up with and beating legendary figures like the young Spaniard, Sinner, and including a aging Djokovic, is the toughest of all. What could Fowler thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate mentioning the ongoing drought of American men winning grand slams when he had exited the New York major in the quarter-finals? The desperation is just excessive and the respect for the magnitude of the task insufficient.

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

Fritz’s performance in that exact quarter-final should have been enough of an sign. The Serbian won in four rounds, a victory that only felt uncertain for brief periods towards the very end, when the American had survived a couple championship opportunities and had a chance to maintain serve for 5-5. The pair appeared well-balanced during the rallies, with Fritz earning plenty of chances to win the opponent's serve. But Djokovic saved service break opportunity after service break opportunity, prolonging the streak to the brink of agony. When he eventually did convert one of the chances at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he immediately produced a terrible game to lose his own serve once more; Djokovic had drawn him into a skirmish secondary to the main contest and forced him to use excessive effort to win it. Facing match points in the last game, Fritz’s primary delivery sailed to heaven. He extended the match two times on his second serve, but ultimately committed two errors. It was not a choke, in my opinion, just a consequence of having to hit an excessive number of weaker deliveries.

The match was fairly compelling proof that the American is not good enough to defeat any form of the Serbian, who was defeated by the Spaniard in the next round and did not particularly appeared like he thought he could win. This is perfectly acceptable – Djokovic is the greatest of all time, and may not be at the height of his athletic abilities anymore, but has developed enough knowledge 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 putting pressure on him to do so, when he was yet to done anything that suggested he would.

The American is an asset to the tour nonetheless. He’s a calm, reflective voice in media sessions, more so than virtually anyone on the men's tour aside from Daniil Medvedev, willing to not only express how he feels or the strategy he felt determined a contest, but clarify it. That he ought to shoulder the majority of the blame for America not spawn a men's grand slam winner since the last American titlist seems unfair. (Now that the fellow American is competing alongside him in the standings, perhaps they can share that burden.)

Year-End Championships: Player Divisions

Jimmy Connors Division

• The Spanish phenom
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• The Australian speedster
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Bjorn Borg Group

• The Italian champion
• The German powerhouse
• Ben Shelton (US)
• The Canadian talent

“I’d probably think about it indefinitely if I don’t accomplish it,” Fritz told a journalist in June of winning a grand slam. I hope he realizes that he’s not unsuccessful if he doesn’t fulfill that goal, that overcoming the Spanish and Italian's young, terrifying reign is actually extremely improbable for all other players. {