🔗 Share this article

I possess some thoughts about the remarks made by ESPN broadcaster Chris Fowler following Novak Djokovic's victory over Taylor Fritz during the New York major quarter-finals. Consider – Fritz is American, Fowler is American – and athletic competitions often encourage patriotic sentiment. A little bit of disappointment would have been appropriate. Rather, he brought up the continued drought of American men at grand slam tournaments: none of them had lifted a trophy since the last American champion in 2003, and Fritz had been the last one standing in the competition.

We all enjoy a storyline, myself included. But really. Even if the American defeated the legend for the initial occasion, phenomenal talent Carlos Alcaraz was looming in the following match, who he has never defeated in an official match. And had he somehow survived that, it would have been defending champion the Italian, against whom Fritz had dropped 10 of the previous eleven sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also divided the last seven grand slams (and the Spaniard went on to defeat a fatigued Djokovic in the next round). He stated in post-match interviews following his defeat that he actually liked his path, because it presented the chance to beat the top three players in the world back-to-back. Fritz is well within his right to aspire to the accomplishment; an competitor is meant to believe in themselves. But entering that Serbian quarter-final what other person sensibly had the lack of American champions in mind?

The American star's second serve the sole barrier between her and sustained success

The American, twenty-eight, is placed fourth in the global rankings entering this week’s year-end championships and has secured his previous six matches over third-ranked the German with growing comfort. It's likely he could claim that position for himself in the future. But evidently that right now, that’s as high as he can climb: Sinner and Alcaraz sit a vast gap of performance metrics away. Fritz’s elite delivery and concussive strength on both front side and backhand are sufficiently adequate to defeat the majority of opponents on the ATP tour. Against the handful of once-in-a-lifetime players, though, he is frequently overmatched. The past few seasons has witnessed the curious emergence of lanky, towering athletes who can nevertheless move around with the alarming quickness and fluidity of smaller men. He is 6ft 5ins and looks it. His movement is stiff, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his limbs. So he seldom steal a point that the other player was controlling, and hitting a drop shot against him is usually a reliable tactic. That acts as a quite harsh restriction on his potential.

The American has achieved a number of significant, improbable advancements throughout his career. At the beginning of the decade, he was hovering around the bottom of the world's best thirty. Two years after, he was sniffing the top 10. Last year, he unexpectedly surged to fourth place – and maintained the position. But the next leap, mixing it up with and defeating all-time-greats like Alcaraz, the Italian, and including a declining Serbian, is the highest of all. What was the commentator thinking? That Fritz, 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 major titles when he had departed the US Open in the quarter-finals? The thirst is just excessive and the respect for the difficulty of the challenge insufficient.

Taylor Fritz achieved a personal best advancement to the Wimbledon semi-finals in the summer.

Fritz’s performance in that exact last eight match should have been enough of an indication. The Serbian triumphed in four rounds, a victory that only seemed tenuous for brief periods towards the very end, when the American had survived a couple match points and had a chance to maintain serve for 5-5. The pair appeared well-balanced during the rallies, with the American earning plenty of opportunities to break. But the champion rescued service break opportunity after service break opportunity, prolonging the streak to the brink of frustration. When Fritz finally did convert a single of the opportunities at 5-5 in the second set, he promptly produced a horrendous game to lose his own serve once more; the Serbian had lulled him into a battle secondary to the main contest and compelled him to expend excessive effort to win it. Down set points in the last game, his primary delivery floated to heaven. He prolonged the match twice on his backup delivery, but ultimately committed two errors. It wasn’t a collapse, I didn’t think, only a result of having to hit an excessive number of weaker deliveries.

The match was fairly ironclad proof that Fritz is not good enough to beat any form of Djokovic, that lost to Alcaraz in the next round and never especially appeared like he thought he could triumph. This is absolutely acceptable – the Serbian is the best player ever, and may not be at the peak of his physical powers anymore, but has acquired sufficient experience and tactical know-how to make up 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 had not done anything that suggested he would.

Fritz 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 the Russian star, willing to not just express how he feels or the strategy he believed determined a contest, but explain it. That he should shoulder the majority of the blame for the United States failing to spawn a male major champion since the last American titlist feels unfair. (Since Ben Shelton is rubbing shoulders with him in the rankings, maybe they can share that burden.)

ATP Finals: Player Divisions

American legend Group

• Carlos Alcaraz (Sp)
• The American contender
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Bjorn Borg Group

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• The rising American
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I would likely dwell on it indefinitely if I fail to do it,” Fritz told an interviewer in June of winning a grand slam. It is hoped he realizes that he’s not a failure if he doesn’t achieve that objective, that overcoming the Spanish and Italian's dominant, formidable reign is in fact extremely unlikely for everybody else. {