🔗 Share this article

I possess some opinions about that comments made by ESPN broadcaster a well-known announcer after Novak Djokovic's win over Taylor Fritz in the New York major last eight. Look – the athlete represents American, Fowler is from the US – and athletic competitions frequently encourage patriotic sentiment. Some letdown was understandable. Rather, Fowler invoked the continued drought of US male players at the majors: not one of them has won a trophy since the last American champion in 2003, and Fritz had been the last one standing in the competition.

Everyone enjoy a storyline, myself included. But really. Even if Fritz defeated Djokovic for the first time, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was waiting in the following match, whom Fritz has never defeated in an official match. And if he’d someway survived that, it would have been defending champion Jannik Sinner, against whom Fritz had dropped 10 of the last 11 sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also divided the last seven major titles (and the Spaniard proceeded to defeat a tired Djokovic in the subsequent match). Fritz said in post-match interviews after the loss that he in fact liked his draw, because it offered the chance to defeat the three best players in the world back-to-back. He is well within his right to aspire to the achievement; an athlete is meant to believe in themselves. But entering that Djokovic quarter-final what other person sensibly had the drought of US winners on the brain?

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

Fritz, 28, is ranked number four in the world entering this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has secured his last six encounters over No 3 Alexander Zverev with increasing ease. It's likely he could claim that position for himself in the coming years. But it’s clear that right now, that’s as high as he can rise: Sinner and Alcaraz sit a chasm of performance metrics away. His elite delivery and powerful power on both front side and reverse side are more than enough to defeat most rivals on the ATP tour. Against the select few once-in-a-lifetime players, though, he is often helpless. The past few years has seen the curious rise of tall, gangly players who can nonetheless move around with the surprising speed and fluidity of much shorter players. He is six-foot-five and appears that way. His footwork is rigid, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his limbs. So he’ll rarely steal a point that the opponent was dictating, and playing a soft shot against him is typically a safe bet. That acts as a quite harsh limitation on his upside.

The American has achieved a number of dramatic, unexpected advancements over the years. At the beginning of the decade, he was hovering around the lower end of the world's best thirty. Two years after, he was approaching the top 10. The previous season, he suddenly exploded to No 4 – and held the position. But the next leap, mixing it up with and defeating legendary figures like the young Spaniard, Sinner, and even a declining Djokovic, is the toughest of all. What was Fowler have been thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a serious threat to beat them all back-to-back? That it was worth mentioning the continuing drought of American men winning major titles when he had departed the US Open in the quarter-finals? The thirst is just too much and the appreciation for the magnitude of the challenge insufficient.

Taylor Fritz made a personal best advancement to the Wimbledon last four in the summer.

Fritz’s performance in that exact quarter-final should have been enough of an indication. Djokovic triumphed in four rounds, a victory that only seemed uncertain for brief periods towards the very end, when the American had survived a couple championship opportunities and had a opportunity to hold for 5-5. The pair looked evenly matched during the rallies, with Fritz earning numerous chances to win the opponent's serve. But the champion rescued break point after service break opportunity, extending the streak to the point of frustration. When Fritz eventually did claim one 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 battle secondary to the main contest and forced him to use far too much energy to prevail. Down match points in the final game, his primary delivery floated to heaven. He extended the match two times on his second serve, but finally double-faulted. It was not a collapse, I didn’t think, just a consequence of needing to hit an excessive number of second serves.

The match was fairly ironclad evidence that the American is insufficiently skilled to defeat any form of the Serbian, who lost to Alcaraz in the next round and did not particularly seem like he thought he could triumph. This is absolutely acceptable – Djokovic is the best player ever, and may not be at the peak of his athletic abilities now, but has acquired enough knowledge and tactical know-how to make up for quite a bit of the drop-off. The issue is those who were expecting Fritz to win, and pressuring him to do so, when he was had not done anything that suggested he could.

Fritz is an asset to the circuit nonetheless. He’s a patient, thoughtful presence in press conferences, more so than almost anyone on the men's tour aside from Daniil Medvedev, prepared to not only say his emotions or the tactic he felt decided a match, but clarify it. That he should shoulder the majority of the blame for the United States not produce 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, maybe they can divide that burden.)

Year-End Championships: Singles Groups

American legend Division

• The Spanish phenom
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Swedish icon Group

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• The German powerhouse
• The rising American
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I’d probably dwell on it forever if I fail to do it,” Fritz informed an interviewer in June of winning a major. It is hoped he understands that he’s not unsuccessful if he doesn’t fulfill that objective, that breaking through Alcaraz and Sinner’s young, terrifying reign is actually highly unlikely for everybody else. {