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I have a few thoughts regarding that comments delivered by the sports network broadcaster Chris Fowler after Novak Djokovic's victory over Taylor Fritz in the New York major quarter-finals. Look – the athlete represents the United States, Fowler is from the US – and sports often encourage patriotic sentiment. A little bit of letdown would have been appropriate. Rather, Fowler invoked the ongoing drought of American men at the majors: none of them has won a trophy since the last American champion in 2003, and Fritz had been the final representative in the competition.

We all enjoy a narrative, me too. But really. Even if Fritz had beaten the legend for the first time, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was waiting in the next round, who Fritz 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 the American had lost 10 of the last 11 sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also divided the previous seven grand slams (plus Alcaraz went on to defeat a fatigued Serbian in the next round). Fritz said in press after the loss that he actually liked his draw, because it offered the opportunity to beat the three best players in the sport in succession. He is more than within his right to aim for the accomplishment; an athlete is supposed to have faith in themselves. But entering that Djokovic last eight match who else sensibly had the drought of US winners on the brain?

The American star's weaker delivery the only thing between her and consistent victories

Fritz, 28, is placed fourth in the global rankings entering the upcoming year-end championships and has secured his last six encounters over third-ranked the German with growing comfort. It's likely he could take that spot for himself in the coming years. But evidently that right now, that’s as far as he can rise: The Italian and Spaniard lie a vast gap of performance metrics away. His top-class serve and powerful power on both front side and backhand are more than adequate to dispose of most rivals on the ATP tour. Against the select few once-in-a-lifetime players, though, he is frequently overmatched. The past few years has witnessed the interesting emergence of lanky, towering players who can nevertheless move around with the alarming quickness and grace of smaller players. Fritz is 6ft 5ins and looks it. His footwork is rigid, as if he’s still getting used to his legs. So he seldom win a rally that the other player was dictating, and playing a soft shot against him is usually a reliable tactic. That serves as a pretty severe limitation on his upside.

Fritz has achieved a several dramatic, improbable advancements over the years. At the beginning of the decade, he was hovering around the bottom of the world's best thirty. 24 months after, he was approaching the elite ten. The previous season, he unexpectedly exploded to No 4 – and held the spot. But the next leap, mixing it up with and beating legendary figures like Alcaraz, Sinner, and even a aging Djokovic, is the highest of all. What could the commentator thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was worth mentioning the ongoing slump of American men winning major titles when he had exited the US Open in the quarter-finals? The thirst is just too much and the respect for the magnitude of the challenge too little.

Taylor Fritz made a career-best advancement to the Wimbledon semi-finals in July.

Fritz’s performance in that very last eight match should have been sufficient of an indication. The Serbian won in four rounds, a victory that only felt tenuous for moments towards the conclusion, when Fritz had survived a couple championship opportunities and had a chance to hold for 5-5. The duo appeared evenly matched during the exchanges, with the American earning plenty of opportunities to win the opponent's serve. But Djokovic rescued break point after service break opportunity, extending the run to the point of agony. When he finally did convert one of the chances at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he immediately played a terrible service game to lose his own serve again; Djokovic had lulled him into a battle peripheral to the real battle and forced him to expend far too much effort to prevail. Facing match points in the final game, Fritz’s first serve sailed to heaven. He prolonged the match twice on his backup delivery, but ultimately committed two errors. It was not a choke, in my opinion, just a result of needing to hit too many weaker deliveries.

The contest was fairly ironclad proof that Fritz is not good enough to defeat any version of Djokovic, that was defeated by Alcaraz in the following match and never especially seem like he believed he could triumph. This is perfectly acceptable – Djokovic is the best player ever, and might not be at the height of his athletic abilities now, but has acquired enough experience and strategic intelligence to make up for a significant portion of the decline. The issue is the individuals who were anticipating the American to prevail, and putting pressure on him to achieve that, when he was had not done anything that indicated he could.

Fritz is an valuable contributor to the circuit nonetheless. He’s a calm, thoughtful voice in media sessions, exceeding almost everyone on the ATP aside from Daniil Medvedev, prepared to not just say how he feels or the tactic he felt determined a contest, but clarify it. That he should bear the brunt of the blame for the United States not spawn a men's grand slam winner since the last American titlist seems unjust. (Now that the fellow American is competing alongside him in the standings, perhaps they can divide that burden.)

ATP Finals: Singles Groups

Jimmy Connors Division

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

Swedish icon Division

• The Italian champion
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• The rising American
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I’d probably dwell on it forever if I fail to do it,” the American told a journalist in June of claiming a grand slam. It is hoped he realizes that he’s not unsuccessful if he doesn’t achieve that objective, that breaking through the Spanish and Italian's young, terrifying reign is in fact highly improbable for everybody else. {