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I have some thoughts about the remarks made by ESPN commentator Chris Fowler following Novak Djokovic's victory over the American player in the New York major quarter-finals. Consider – Fritz is American, Fowler is from the US – and sports often encourage patriotic sentiment. Some disappointment was understandable. Instead, Fowler brought up the ongoing absence of US male players at grand slam tournaments: not one of them has won a trophy since Andy Roddick in 2003, and he had been the final representative in the tournament.

Everyone love a storyline, me too. But come on. Suppose the American defeated the legend for the initial occasion, phenomenal talent Carlos Alcaraz was waiting in the following match, whom Fritz has yet to beat in an competitive encounter. And had he somehow survived that, it would have been defending champion Jannik Sinner, against whom Fritz had lost 10 of the last 11 sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also split the last seven grand slams (plus Alcaraz proceeded to defeat a tired Djokovic in the subsequent match). He stated in post-match interviews after the loss that he actually preferred his draw, because it offered the chance to defeat the top three competitors in the world back-to-back. He is well justified to aspire to the accomplishment; an athlete is supposed to believe in themselves. But entering that Serbian last eight match who else in their right mind had the lack of American champions on the brain?

Coco Gauff’s second serve the sole barrier standing in her way and consistent victories

Fritz, 28, is placed fourth in the global rankings entering this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has won his previous six matches over third-ranked Alexander Zverev with growing comfort. Presumably he might claim that position for himself in the future. But evidently that at present, that is as high as he can climb: Sinner and Alcaraz sit a chasm of ranking points away. His top-class serve and concussive power on each front side and backhand are more than enough to dispose of most rivals on the ATP tour. Against the handful of once-in-a-lifetime players, however, Fritz is frequently helpless. The last several years has seen the interesting emergence of tall, gangly players who can nevertheless move around with the surprising speed and grace of much shorter players. He is 6ft 5ins and appears that way. His movement is rigid, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his legs. So he’ll rarely win a rally that the other player was controlling, and hitting a drop shot versus him is typically a reliable tactic. That serves as a quite harsh limitation on his upside.

The American has made a number of significant, unexpected improvements throughout his career. Early on of the decade, he was hovering around the bottom of the world's best thirty. Two years after, he was approaching the elite ten. The previous season, he suddenly exploded up to No 4 – and maintained the position. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and beating legendary figures like Alcaraz, Sinner, and even a declining Djokovic, is the highest of all. What was Fowler thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a serious threat to defeat 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 desperation is just too much and the respect for the magnitude of the task too little.

Taylor Fritz made a career-best advancement to the Wimbledon semi-finals in July.

Fritz’s performance in that exact quarter-final should have been sufficient of an sign. The Serbian triumphed in four sets, a victory that only felt uncertain for brief periods towards the very end, when Fritz had survived a couple match points and had a opportunity to hold for 5-5. The duo looked well-balanced during the exchanges, with the American creating numerous chances to break. But the champion rescued break point after break point, prolonging the run to the brink of frustration. When Fritz finally did convert one of the opportunities at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he immediately played a terrible game to drop serve again; the Serbian had lulled him into a skirmish peripheral to the main contest and compelled him to expend excessive effort to win it. Down match points in the final game, Fritz’s primary delivery floated to heaven. He prolonged the contest twice on his backup delivery, but ultimately committed two errors. It wasn’t a choke, in my opinion, only a result of needing to hit too many weaker deliveries.

The match was quite ironclad proof that Fritz is insufficiently skilled to beat any version of Djokovic, that was defeated by the Spaniard in the following match and did not especially seem like he thought he could win. This is absolutely fine – the Serbian is the greatest of all time, and might not be at the peak of his physical powers anymore, but has acquired sufficient experience and strategic intelligence to make up for a significant portion of the decline. The problem is those who were anticipating Fritz to win, and pressuring him to achieve that, when he was had not accomplished anything that indicated he would.

The American is an valuable contributor to the circuit regardless. He’s a calm, reflective voice in media sessions, exceeding almost anyone on the ATP aside from Daniil Medvedev, prepared to not just say how he feels or the strategy he believed determined a match, but clarify it. That he should bear the brunt of the responsibility for America not produce a men's grand slam winner since the last American titlist feels unfair. (Now that the fellow American is rubbing shoulders with him in the standings, perhaps they can share that burden.)

ATP Finals: Player Divisions

American legend Group

• The Spanish phenom
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• The Australian speedster
• The Italian stylist

Swedish icon Group

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

“I’d probably think about it indefinitely if I don’t accomplish it,” Fritz told an interviewer in the summer of claiming a grand slam. It is hoped he understands that he’s not a failure if he doesn’t achieve that objective, that breaking through Alcaraz and Sinner’s dominant, formidable reign is in fact highly unlikely for everybody else. {