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I have a few thoughts regarding the comments delivered by the sports network commentator Chris Fowler following Novak Djokovic's win over the American player in the US Open quarter-finals. Consider – the athlete represents American, the commentator is American – and sports often encourage patriotic sentiment. Some letdown would have been appropriate. Rather, Fowler invoked the ongoing drought of US male players at grand slam tournaments: none of them has won a title since Andy Roddick in 2003, and he had been the last one standing in the competition.

We all love a storyline, myself included. But really. Even if Fritz defeated Djokovic for the initial occasion, phenomenal talent Carlos Alcaraz was waiting in the following match, whom he has never defeated in an official match. And if he’d somehow gotten past that, it would have been defending champion Jannik Sinner, versus him Fritz had dropped 10 of the last 11 sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also split the previous seven major titles (and Alcaraz proceeded to thrash a tired Djokovic in the next round). Fritz said in press following his defeat that he actually liked his draw, because it offered the opportunity to beat the top three players in the world back-to-back. Fritz is well within his right to aim for the accomplishment; an athlete is meant to believe in themselves. But going into that Djokovic last eight match who else in their right mind had the drought of American champions on the brain?

The American star's weaker delivery the only thing standing in her way and sustained success

Fritz, twenty-eight, is ranked fourth in the global rankings entering this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has won his previous six encounters over third-ranked Alexander Zverev with increasing ease. Presumably he might claim that position for himself in the coming years. But evidently that at present, that’s as high as he can rise: The Italian and Spaniard sit a vast gap of performance metrics away. Fritz’s top-class delivery and powerful strength on each forehand and backhand are sufficiently enough to defeat most rivals on the ATP tour. When facing the select few once-in-a-lifetime players, however, Fritz is frequently helpless. The past few years has witnessed the curious emergence of lanky, towering players who can nonetheless move around with the alarming speed and grace of much shorter men. He is 6ft 5ins and appears that way. His footwork is rigid, as if he’s still getting used to his legs. So he’ll rarely win a rally that the other player was controlling, and playing a drop shot versus him is typically a reliable tactic. That acts as a pretty severe restriction on his potential.

The American has achieved a number of significant, unexpected advancements over the years. At the beginning of the decade, he was circling the lower end of the world's best thirty. Two years later, he was sniffing the elite ten. The previous season, he unexpectedly exploded up to fourth place – and held the position. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and beating legendary figures like Alcaraz, the Italian, and even a aging Serbian, is the highest of all. What was the commentator have been thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was worth mentioning the continuing drought of US male players lifting grand slams when Fritz had departed the New York major in the quarter-finals? The desperation is simply too much and the appreciation for the magnitude of the challenge insufficient.

The American star achieved a career-best run to the Wimbledon last four in the summer.

The American's play in that exact last eight match ought to have been enough of an sign. Djokovic triumphed in four rounds, a victory that only seemed uncertain for moments towards the very end, when the American had survived a few match points and had a opportunity to maintain serve for 5-5. The duo looked evenly matched during the rallies, with Fritz creating plenty of opportunities to break. But Djokovic rescued service break opportunity after service break opportunity, extending the streak to the brink of frustration. When Fritz finally did convert one of the chances at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he promptly played a horrendous game to drop serve again; the Serbian had drawn him into a battle peripheral to the real battle and forced him to expend far too much energy to prevail. Facing set points in the final game, Fritz’s first serve floated to heaven. He prolonged the contest two times 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 weaker deliveries.

The match was fairly ironclad proof that Fritz is not good enough to defeat any form of the Serbian, who was defeated by Alcaraz in the following match and never especially appeared like he thought he could triumph. This is absolutely fine – the Serbian is the greatest of all time, and might not be at the height of his athletic abilities anymore, but has acquired sufficient experience and strategic intelligence to compensate for a significant portion of the drop-off. The problem is those who were expecting Fritz to win, and putting pressure on him to achieve that, when he was had not accomplished anything that indicated he could.

Fritz is an valuable contributor to the circuit regardless. He’s a calm, reflective presence in press conferences, more so than almost everyone on the men's tour aside from Daniil Medvedev, willing to not only say his emotions or the tactic he felt decided a contest, but clarify it. That he ought to bear the brunt of the responsibility for America not spawn a men's grand slam winner since Andy Roddick seems unfair. (Now that Ben Shelton is rubbing shoulders with him in the rankings, perhaps they can share that load.)

Year-End Championships: Player Divisions

American legend Group

• The Spanish phenom
• The American contender
• The Australian speedster
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Bjorn Borg Group

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

“I would likely dwell on it indefinitely if I fail to do it,” the American told a journalist in the summer of claiming a major. It is hoped he realizes that he’s not unsuccessful if he does not fulfill that objective, that overcoming Alcaraz and Sinner’s young, terrifying empire is actually highly unlikely for all other players. {