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I possess a few thoughts regarding the comments made by the sports network broadcaster a well-known announcer following the Serbian champion's win over the American player in the US Open last eight. Look – Fritz is the United States, Fowler is from the US – and athletic competitions often encourage nationalism. A little bit of letdown was appropriate. Instead, Fowler brought up the continued absence of American men at the majors: none of them has won a trophy since Andy Roddick in 2003, and Fritz had been the last one standing in the tournament.

Everyone love a storyline, me too. But come on. Even if the American had beaten the legend for the initial occasion, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was looming in the next round, whom Fritz has yet to beat in an competitive encounter. And if he’d somehow survived that, it would have been defending champion Jannik Sinner, against whom Fritz had lost 10 of the previous eleven sets. The two young stars had also split the previous seven major titles (and Alcaraz went on to defeat a tired Djokovic in the next round). He stated in post-match interviews after the loss that he actually preferred his draw, because it presented the chance to defeat the three best players in the world back-to-back. He is well within his right to aim for the achievement; an athlete is meant to believe in themselves. But going into that Djokovic quarter-final what other person in their right mind had the drought of American champions on the brain?

Coco Gauff’s second serve the sole barrier standing in her way and sustained success

Fritz, 28, is ranked fourth in the world entering this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has won his previous six encounters over third-ranked the German with growing comfort. It's likely he might claim that position for himself in the coming years. But evidently that right now, that’s as high as he can rise: The Italian and Spaniard sit a vast gap of ranking points away. Fritz’s elite delivery and powerful strength on both front side and reverse side are more than enough to defeat most rivals on the ATP tour. Against the select few generational talents, however, he is frequently helpless. The past few seasons has witnessed the curious emergence of tall, gangly athletes who can nevertheless move around with the alarming quickness and fluidity of smaller players. He is 6ft 5ins and looks it. His footwork is stiff, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his limbs. So he’ll rarely steal a point that the other player was controlling, and playing a soft shot versus him is usually a reliable tactic. That acts as a pretty harsh restriction on his potential.

Fritz has achieved a several significant, improbable improvements over the years. At the beginning of the decade, he was hovering around the lower end of the top 30. Two years later, he was sniffing the top 10. Last year, he suddenly surged up to No 4 – and maintained the spot. But the next leap, mixing it up with and defeating legendary figures like the young Spaniard, the Italian, and including a declining Serbian, is the highest of all. What could Fowler have been thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate commenting on the continuing drought 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 respect for the magnitude of the challenge too little.

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

Fritz’s play in that very quarter-final should have been enough of an sign. The Serbian won in four sets, a victory that only felt tenuous for brief periods towards the very end, when the American had saved a few match points and had a opportunity to hold for 5-5. The pair looked evenly matched during the rallies, with the American earning numerous opportunities 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 he eventually 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 lulled him into a skirmish secondary to the main contest and forced him to expend excessive energy to prevail. Facing match points in the final game, Fritz’s first serve sailed to heaven. He extended the contest two times on his backup delivery, but finally committed two errors. It was not a collapse, I didn’t think, only a result of having to hit an excessive number of weaker deliveries.

The contest was fairly ironclad proof that the American is insufficiently skilled to beat any version of the Serbian, that was defeated by Alcaraz in the next round 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 athletic abilities now, but has developed sufficient knowledge and tactical know-how to compensate for a significant portion of the drop-off. The issue is those who were anticipating Fritz to win, and pressuring him to do so, when he was yet to accomplished anything that suggested he could.

The American is an asset to the circuit regardless. He’s a patient, reflective presence in media sessions, more so than almost anyone on the ATP except for the Russian star, prepared to not just express his emotions or the strategy he believed decided a match, but explain it. That he ought to shoulder the majority of the responsibility for America failing to produce a male major champion since the last American titlist seems unfair. (Since the fellow American is rubbing shoulders with him in the standings, perhaps they can share that load.)

ATP Finals: Player Divisions

American legend Group

• Carlos Alcaraz (Sp)
• The American contender
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• The Italian stylist

Bjorn Borg Division

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• The German powerhouse
• The rising American
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I would likely think about it forever if I fail to accomplish it,” the American informed a journalist in June of claiming a major. It is hoped he understands that he’s not a failure if he does not achieve that goal, that overcoming the Spanish and Italian's dominant, formidable reign is actually extremely unlikely for all other players. {