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I have some opinions about the comments delivered by ESPN commentator a well-known announcer after Novak Djokovic's victory over the American player in the New York major last eight. Look – the athlete represents the United States, Fowler is from the US – and sports frequently lend themselves to patriotic sentiment. A little bit of disappointment would have been understandable. Rather, Fowler invoked the continued absence of US male players at grand slam tournaments: none of them has won a trophy since the last American champion in 2003, and he had been the last one standing in the competition.

We all love a storyline, myself included. But come on. Suppose Fritz had beaten the legend for the first time, phenomenal talent Carlos Alcaraz was waiting in the following match, who Fritz has yet to beat in an official match. And had he somehow gotten past that, it would have been title holder Jannik Sinner, against whom Fritz had lost 10 of the last 11 sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also divided the previous seven major titles (and Alcaraz proceeded to defeat a tired Serbian in the subsequent match). He said in press after the loss that he in fact liked his path, because it offered the chance to beat the three best players in the sport back-to-back. He is well within his right to aim for the achievement; an athlete is supposed to believe in themselves. But going into that Djokovic last eight match what other person sensibly had the lack of US winners in mind?

Coco Gauff’s weaker delivery the sole barrier standing in her way and sustained success

The American, 28, is ranked number four in the world starting the upcoming year-end championships and has secured his last six encounters over third-ranked Alexander Zverev with growing comfort. It's likely he could take that spot for himself in the future. But it’s clear that at present, that is as high as he can rise: The Italian and Spaniard lie a vast gap of ranking points away. His top-class serve and concussive power on both front side and reverse side are more than enough to defeat the majority of rivals on the ATP tour. Against the handful of generational talents, however, Fritz is often helpless. The last several seasons has witnessed the interesting rise of tall, gangly athletes who can nonetheless move around with the surprising speed and grace of smaller men. He is six-foot-five and appears that way. His footwork is rigid, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his legs. So he’ll rarely win a rally that the opponent was dictating, and hitting a drop shot against him is usually a safe bet. That serves as a quite harsh limitation on his upside.

Fritz has achieved a several significant, improbable improvements throughout his career. Early on of the ten-year period, he was hovering around the lower end of the world's best thirty. Two years later, he was sniffing the elite ten. The previous season, he unexpectedly surged up to No 4 – and maintained the position. But the next leap, competing against and beating all-time-greats like Alcaraz, the Italian, and including a aging Djokovic, is the toughest of all. What was the commentator have been thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate commenting on the ongoing slump of American men lifting grand slams when Fritz had departed the US Open in the quarter-finals? The desperation is just too much and the appreciation for the magnitude of the challenge insufficient.

The American star achieved a personal best advancement to the Wimbledon semi-finals in July.

The American's play in that very last eight match ought to have been sufficient of an indication. Djokovic won in four sets, a victory that only seemed tenuous for moments towards the conclusion, when Fritz had survived a few championship opportunities and had a opportunity to hold for 5-5. The pair looked evenly matched during the exchanges, with Fritz earning plenty of chances to win the opponent's serve. But the champion saved service break opportunity after service break opportunity, extending the streak to the point of agony. When Fritz finally did convert one of the chances at 5-5 in the second set, he immediately produced a horrendous service game to drop serve once more; the Serbian had drawn him into a skirmish peripheral to the real battle and compelled him to expend excessive energy to prevail. Facing set points in the last game, his first serve floated to the sky. He prolonged the match two times on his backup delivery, but finally double-faulted. It wasn’t a collapse, I didn’t think, just a result of needing to hit an excessive number of second serves.

The contest was quite ironclad proof that Fritz is not good enough to beat any version of Djokovic, that was defeated by Alcaraz in the following match and never especially appeared like he thought he could win. This is perfectly fine – the Serbian is the best player ever, and may not be at the height of his athletic abilities anymore, but has developed sufficient experience and strategic intelligence to compensate for quite a bit of the drop-off. The problem is those who were expecting Fritz to win, and pressuring him to do so, when he was yet to done anything that suggested he would.

Fritz is an asset to the circuit nonetheless. He’s a calm, reflective presence in media sessions, more so than almost everyone on the ATP except for the Russian star, prepared to not just express his emotions or the strategy he believed determined a match, but clarify it. That he should bear the brunt of the blame for America not spawn a male major champion since the last American titlist feels unjust. (Now that the fellow American is competing alongside him in the rankings, maybe they can share that burden.)

Year-End Championships: Singles Groups

Jimmy Connors Division

• Carlos Alcaraz (Sp)
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• The Italian stylist

Swedish icon Group

• The Italian champion
• The German powerhouse
• The rising American
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I would likely dwell on it indefinitely if I don’t do it,” Fritz informed an interviewer in June of winning a grand slam. I hope he understands that he’s not a failure if he doesn’t fulfill that goal, that overcoming Alcaraz and Sinner’s young, terrifying reign is in fact highly improbable for everybody else. {