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I possess a few thoughts about that remarks delivered by ESPN commentator Chris Fowler 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 athletic competitions frequently encourage nationalism. Some letdown would have been appropriate. Rather, he brought up the ongoing drought of American men at grand slam tournaments: not one of them has won a trophy since the last American champion in 2003, and Fritz had been the final representative in the tournament.

Everyone love a narrative, myself included. But come on. Even if Fritz defeated Djokovic for the initial occasion, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was looming in the following match, who he has never defeated in an competitive encounter. And if he’d somehow survived that, it would have been defending champion the Italian, versus him the American had dropped 10 of the previous eleven sets. The two young stars had also split the last seven major titles (plus Alcaraz went on to thrash a tired Djokovic in the subsequent match). He stated in post-match interviews following his defeat that he in fact liked his path, because it presented the opportunity to beat the top three competitors in the world in succession. Fritz is well within his right to aspire to the achievement; an competitor is meant to believe in themselves. But going into that Djokovic quarter-final who else in their right mind had the lack of American champions on the brain?

Coco Gauff’s second serve the sole barrier standing in her way and sustained success

Fritz, twenty-eight, is ranked number four in the world entering this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has secured his previous six matches over No 3 the German with increasing ease. It's likely he might claim that position for himself in the coming years. But it’s clear that at present, that’s as high as he can rise: The Italian and Spaniard lie a chasm of performance metrics away. Fritz’s elite delivery and concussive power on both front side and reverse side are sufficiently enough to defeat the majority of opponents on the professional circuit. When facing the handful of generational talents, though, he is often helpless. The past few seasons has seen the interesting rise of tall, gangly players who can nonetheless move around with the surprising speed and grace of much shorter men. Fritz is 6ft 5ins and looks it. His movement is rigid, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his legs. So he seldom steal a point that the opponent was dictating, and playing a drop shot versus him is usually a reliable tactic. That acts as a quite severe restriction on his potential.

The American has achieved a several significant, improbable advancements over the years. At the beginning of the decade, he was circling the lower end of the world's best thirty. Two years after, he was approaching the top 10. The previous season, he suddenly surged up to fourth place – and held the spot. But the subsequent step, competing against and defeating legendary figures like the young Spaniard, the Italian, and even a declining Djokovic, is the highest of all. What could Fowler have been thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a serious threat to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was worth mentioning the ongoing slump of US male players lifting grand slams when Fritz had exited the US Open in the quarter-finals? The desperation is simply excessive and the respect for the difficulty of the task insufficient.

The American star achieved a personal best run to the Wimbledon last four in July.

The American's play in that very last eight match ought to have been enough of an sign. Djokovic won in four rounds, a victory that only seemed tenuous for brief periods towards the very end, when the American had saved a few match points and had a chance to hold for 5-5. The pair looked well-balanced during the rallies, with Fritz creating plenty of opportunities to win the opponent's serve. But the champion rescued service break opportunity after service break opportunity, extending the streak to the point of agony. When he finally did convert one of the chances at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he immediately produced a horrendous service game to lose his own serve once more; the Serbian had lulled him into a skirmish peripheral to the real battle and compelled him to use excessive effort to prevail. Down match points in the last game, his first serve sailed to the sky. He prolonged the contest two times on his second serve, but ultimately committed two errors. It wasn’t a choke, in my opinion, only a result of having to hit an excessive number of second serves.

The match was quite ironclad proof that the American is not good enough to beat any form of Djokovic, who lost to Alcaraz in the following match and did not 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 height of his physical powers anymore, but has acquired sufficient knowledge and tactical know-how to compensate for quite a bit of the decline. The problem is those who were expecting Fritz to win, and putting pressure on him to achieve that, when he was yet to done anything that suggested he could.

The American is an asset to the circuit regardless. He’s a calm, thoughtful voice in media sessions, exceeding almost everyone on the ATP except for the Russian star, willing to not just express how he feels or the strategy he felt determined a match, but clarify it. That he ought to bear the brunt of the blame for the United States failing to produce a male major champion since the last American titlist seems unfair. (Now that Ben Shelton is competing alongside him in the rankings, maybe they can divide that load.)

Year-End Championships: Singles Groups

American legend Group

• 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 would likely think about it indefinitely if I fail to accomplish it,” Fritz informed an interviewer in the summer of winning a major. It is hoped he understands that he’s not a failure if he doesn’t achieve that objective, that overcoming the Spanish and Italian's dominant, formidable empire is actually extremely unlikely for all other players. {