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I have some thoughts about that remarks made by the sports network commentator a well-known announcer following the Serbian champion's victory over Taylor Fritz in the US Open last eight. 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 absence of American men at grand slam tournaments: not one of them has won a trophy since Andy Roddick in 2003, and Fritz had been the last one standing in the competition.

Everyone enjoy a narrative, me too. But really. Even if the American defeated the legend for the initial occasion, phenomenal talent Carlos Alcaraz was waiting in the next round, who Fritz has yet to beat in an official match. And if he’d someway gotten past that, it would have been defending champion the Italian, versus him Fritz had lost 10 of the last 11 sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also divided the last seven major titles (plus Alcaraz went on to defeat a fatigued Djokovic in the subsequent match). He said in post-match interviews after the loss that he in fact preferred his path, because it offered the opportunity to beat the three best players in the sport in succession. He is more than within his right to aspire to the accomplishment; an athlete is supposed to have faith 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 between her and consistent victories

Fritz, twenty-eight, is placed fourth in the global rankings starting this week’s year-end championships and has won his previous six encounters over third-ranked Alexander Zverev with growing comfort. Presumably he could take that spot for himself in the coming years. But it’s clear that right now, that’s as far as he can climb: Sinner and Alcaraz sit a chasm of ranking points away. His elite serve and powerful strength on each forehand and backhand are more than enough to dispose of the majority of opponents on the professional circuit. When facing the handful of generational talents, though, Fritz is frequently overmatched. The past few seasons has witnessed the curious emergence of lanky, towering athletes who can nonetheless move around with the surprising speed and fluidity of much shorter players. He is 6ft 5ins and looks it. His footwork is rigid, as if he’s still getting used to his limbs. So he seldom steal a point that the opponent was controlling, and hitting a drop shot versus him is usually a reliable tactic. That serves as a quite severe limitation on his upside.

The American has achieved a number of significant, unexpected improvements over the years. Early on of the decade, he was circling the lower end of the world's best thirty. Two years after, he was approaching the elite ten. Last year, he unexpectedly surged to No 4 – and maintained the position. But the subsequent step, competing against and defeating legendary figures like Alcaraz, the Italian, and even a declining Serbian, is the toughest of all. What was the commentator thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to beat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate commenting on the continuing slump of American men lifting grand slams when he had departed the New York major in the quarter-finals? The desperation is just excessive and the appreciation for the difficulty of the challenge too little.

The American star made a personal best run to the Wimbledon last four in July.

Fritz’s performance in that very quarter-final ought to have been sufficient of an indication. The Serbian won in four rounds, a win that only seemed uncertain for moments towards the very end, when Fritz had saved a couple match points and had a chance to maintain serve for 5-5. The duo looked evenly matched during the exchanges, with Fritz earning numerous opportunities to win the opponent's serve. But the champion rescued service break opportunity after service break opportunity, extending the run to the point of agony. When Fritz eventually did convert a single of the chances at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he immediately played a terrible service game to drop serve again; Djokovic had drawn him into a skirmish secondary to the main contest and forced him to expend far too much effort to prevail. Down set points in the last game, his first serve sailed to the sky. He extended the match two times on his second serve, but finally committed two errors. It was not a collapse, I didn’t think, only a result of having to hit too many second serves.

The contest was quite compelling proof that Fritz is not good enough to beat any version of the Serbian, that lost to Alcaraz in the next round and did not especially seem like he believed he could triumph. This is perfectly fine – the Serbian is the greatest of all time, and might not be at the height of his physical powers anymore, but has acquired sufficient knowledge and strategic intelligence to compensate for quite a bit of the drop-off. The problem is the individuals who were anticipating Fritz to prevail, and putting pressure on him to achieve that, when he was yet to done anything that indicated he could.

Fritz is an asset to the tour nonetheless. He’s a patient, thoughtful voice in press conferences, exceeding almost anyone on the men's tour aside from Daniil Medvedev, prepared to not just say how he feels or the tactic he felt determined a match, but clarify it. That he ought to shoulder the majority of the blame for the United States failing to spawn a men's grand slam winner since Andy Roddick seems unjust. (Since the fellow American is rubbing shoulders with him in the standings, maybe they can share that burden.)

Year-End Championships: Player Divisions

American legend Division

• Carlos Alcaraz (Sp)
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• The Australian speedster
• The Italian stylist

Bjorn Borg Group

• The Italian champion
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• Ben Shelton (US)
• The Canadian talent

“I would likely dwell on it indefinitely if I don’t do it,” Fritz told a journalist in June of claiming a major. I hope he understands that he’s not unsuccessful if he does not fulfill that goal, that overcoming the Spanish and Italian's young, terrifying empire is in fact extremely improbable for everybody else. {