🔗 Share this article

I possess a few opinions about the comments delivered by the sports network broadcaster Chris Fowler following the Serbian champion's win over Taylor Fritz in the New York major last eight. Look – Fritz is the United States, the commentator is American – and athletic competitions frequently lend themselves to patriotic sentiment. Some disappointment would have been appropriate. Instead, he invoked the continued absence of American men at the majors: none of them had lifted a trophy since the last American champion in 2003, and he had been the last one standing in the competition.

Everyone enjoy a storyline, myself included. But come on. Even if the American had beaten the legend for the first time, phenomenal talent 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 the Italian, versus him Fritz had lost 10 of the previous eleven sets. The two young stars had also divided the last seven grand slams (and Alcaraz went on to defeat a tired Djokovic in the subsequent match). He stated in post-match interviews following his defeat that he in fact liked his draw, because it offered the opportunity to beat the top three competitors in the world in succession. Fritz is well justified to aspire to the accomplishment; an competitor is supposed to believe in themselves. But going into that Djokovic quarter-final who else in their right mind had the drought of US winners on the brain?

Coco Gauff’s second serve the only thing standing in her way and sustained success

The American, twenty-eight, is placed fourth in the world starting the upcoming ATP World Tour Finals and has secured his previous six encounters over No 3 Alexander Zverev with growing comfort. Presumably he might claim that position for himself in the coming years. But it’s clear that right now, that is as far as he can climb: Sinner and Alcaraz sit a vast gap of performance metrics away. Fritz’s elite serve and powerful power on both front side and reverse side are sufficiently enough to dispose of most rivals on the ATP tour. Against the handful of generational talents, however, he is often overmatched. The past few seasons has witnessed the interesting rise of lanky, towering players who can nevertheless cover the court with the surprising quickness and grace of much shorter players. He is six-foot-five and appears that way. His movement is stiff, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his limbs. So he’ll rarely steal a point that the other player was dictating, and playing a drop shot versus him is typically a safe bet. That serves as a quite harsh restriction on his upside.

Fritz has achieved a number of dramatic, improbable improvements throughout his career. Early on of the decade, he was circling the bottom of the top 30. 24 months later, he was sniffing the top 10. The previous season, he suddenly exploded to fourth place – and maintained the spot. But the next leap, mixing it up with and defeating all-time-greats like the young Spaniard, the Italian, and even a declining Serbian, is the toughest of all. What could Fowler have been thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to beat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate commenting on the ongoing slump of American men winning major titles when Fritz had departed the New York major in the quarter-finals? The thirst is simply excessive and the appreciation for the difficulty of the challenge too little.

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

Fritz’s play in that very quarter-final should have been sufficient of an indication. The Serbian won in four sets, a win that only seemed tenuous for brief periods towards the very end, when the American had survived a couple championship opportunities and had a chance to hold for 5-5. The duo appeared well-balanced during the exchanges, with Fritz creating plenty of opportunities to break. But the champion rescued service break opportunity after break point, prolonging the run to the brink of agony. When Fritz eventually did claim one of the chances at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he promptly produced a terrible game to lose his own serve once more; the Serbian had drawn him into a battle peripheral to the real battle and forced him to expend excessive energy to win it. Down match points in the last game, Fritz’s first serve sailed to heaven. He prolonged the contest twice on his second serve, but ultimately double-faulted. It wasn’t a choke, in my opinion, only a result of needing to hit an excessive number of second serves.

The match was fairly ironclad proof that the American is insufficiently skilled to defeat any form of Djokovic, that was defeated by the Spaniard in the next round and never especially appeared like he thought he could triumph. This is absolutely acceptable – Djokovic is the greatest of all time, and might not be at the height of his physical powers anymore, but has developed enough experience and tactical know-how to make up for a significant portion of the drop-off. The issue is those who were expecting the American to win, and pressuring him to do so, when he was had not done anything that indicated he would.

The American is an valuable contributor to the tour nonetheless. He’s a patient, reflective presence in media sessions, more so than almost everyone on the men's tour except for Daniil Medvedev, prepared to not just say his emotions or the tactic he felt decided a match, but explain it. That he ought to bear the brunt of the blame for the United States failing to produce a men's grand slam winner since the last American titlist seems unjust. (Since the fellow American is rubbing shoulders with him in the standings, perhaps they can share that burden.)

ATP Finals: Player Divisions

Jimmy Connors Division

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

Bjorn Borg Division

• The Italian champion
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• Ben Shelton (US)
• The Canadian talent

“I’d probably dwell on it indefinitely if I don’t do it,” the American informed a journalist in the summer of winning a major. I hope he realizes that he’s not unsuccessful if he does not achieve that objective, that breaking through the Spanish and Italian's dominant, formidable reign is in fact extremely improbable for all other players. {