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I possess some opinions about the remarks made by ESPN broadcaster Chris Fowler following the Serbian champion's win over the American player in the New York major quarter-finals. Consider – Fritz is American, Fowler is American – and sports often encourage patriotic sentiment. Some disappointment was understandable. Rather, Fowler brought up the ongoing absence of American men at the majors: none of them has won a title since the last American champion in 2003, and Fritz had been the last one standing in the tournament.

We all love a storyline, me too. But really. Suppose the American had beaten Djokovic for the initial occasion, phenomenal talent the Spanish star was waiting in the following match, whom Fritz has yet to beat in an official match. And if he’d someway gotten past that, it would have been defending champion Jannik Sinner, versus him the American had dropped 10 of the last 11 sets. The two young stars had also divided the last seven grand slams (and the Spaniard went on to thrash a tired Djokovic in the subsequent match). He stated in post-match interviews following his defeat that he actually preferred his draw, because it presented the opportunity to beat the three best competitors in the sport back-to-back. Fritz is well justified to aspire to the accomplishment; an athlete is supposed to believe in themselves. But going into that Serbian last eight match who else sensibly had the lack of US winners on the brain?

The American star's weaker delivery the sole barrier standing in her way and sustained success

The American, 28, is ranked fourth in the world entering this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has secured his previous six encounters over No 3 Alexander Zverev with growing comfort. Presumably he could claim that position for himself in the coming years. But it’s clear that at present, that is as far as he can climb: Sinner and Alcaraz lie a vast gap of performance metrics away. Fritz’s top-class delivery and concussive power on both front side and reverse side are more than enough to defeat most rivals on the ATP tour. Against the handful of generational talents, however, Fritz is often helpless. The past few years has witnessed the interesting emergence of tall, gangly athletes who can nevertheless cover the court with the surprising speed and grace of much shorter men. He is 6ft 5ins and looks it. His footwork is rigid, as if he’s still getting used to his legs. So he’ll rarely steal a point that the opponent was dictating, and hitting a drop shot against him is usually a safe bet. That acts as a pretty harsh restriction on his upside.

Fritz has made a several significant, unexpected improvements over the years. At the beginning of the decade, he was hovering around the lower end of the top 30. 24 months later, he was sniffing the top 10. The previous season, he suddenly surged up to fourth place – and held the spot. But the next leap, competing against and defeating all-time-greats like Alcaraz, the Italian, and even a aging Djokovic, is the toughest of all. What was Fowler have been thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a serious threat to beat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate mentioning the continuing drought of US male players lifting major titles when he had departed the US Open in the quarter-finals? The desperation is just too much and the respect for the difficulty of the task too little.

Taylor Fritz made a personal best advancement to the All England Club last four in the summer.

Fritz’s play in that very last eight match ought to have been enough of an sign. Djokovic won in four sets, a victory that only seemed tenuous for brief periods towards the very end, when the American had saved a couple championship opportunities and had a opportunity to maintain serve for 5-5. The pair appeared evenly matched during the rallies, with the American earning plenty of opportunities to break. But Djokovic rescued service break opportunity after service break opportunity, extending the run to the brink of frustration. When he eventually did convert a single of the chances at 5-5 in the second set, he promptly played a horrendous game to drop serve once more; Djokovic had lulled him into a battle secondary to the real battle and compelled him to expend excessive effort to win it. Facing match points in the last game, Fritz’s primary delivery sailed to the sky. He prolonged the contest two times on his backup delivery, but finally committed two errors. It wasn’t a collapse, in my opinion, just a consequence of needing to hit too many second serves.

The contest was quite ironclad evidence that the American is not good enough to beat any form of the Serbian, who was defeated by Alcaraz in the following match and did not particularly seem like he thought he could triumph. This is absolutely fine – Djokovic is the greatest of all time, and may not be at the height of his physical powers anymore, but has developed sufficient knowledge and strategic intelligence to make up for quite a bit of the decline. The problem is those who were expecting the American to win, and putting pressure on him to achieve that, when he was yet to done anything that indicated he would.

The American is an asset to the circuit regardless. He’s a calm, reflective voice in press conferences, more so than almost everyone on the ATP aside from the Russian star, willing to not just say his emotions or the strategy he believed decided a contest, but explain it. That he ought to shoulder the majority of the responsibility for the United States not spawn a male major champion since the last American titlist seems unjust. (Now that the fellow American is rubbing shoulders with him in the rankings, maybe they can divide that load.)

ATP Finals: Singles Groups

Jimmy Connors Group

• Carlos Alcaraz (Sp)
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• The Australian speedster
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Bjorn Borg Division

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• The German powerhouse
• Ben Shelton (US)
• The Canadian talent

“I’d probably dwell on it forever if I don’t do it,” the American told an interviewer in June of winning a major. It is hoped he realizes that he’s not unsuccessful if he doesn’t fulfill that goal, that overcoming the Spanish and Italian's young, terrifying empire is in fact highly unlikely for everybody else. {