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I possess some thoughts regarding that remarks delivered by the sports network commentator a well-known announcer after the Serbian champion's win over Taylor Fritz in the US Open quarter-finals. Consider – the athlete represents the United States, Fowler is American – and athletic competitions often lend themselves to patriotic sentiment. Some letdown was appropriate. Instead, Fowler invoked the continued drought of US male players at the majors: not one of them had lifted a title since Andy Roddick in 2003, and Fritz had been the last one standing in the tournament.

Everyone enjoy a narrative, myself included. But really. Suppose Fritz had beaten Djokovic for the initial occasion, force of nature the Spanish star was looming in the following match, whom Fritz has yet to beat in an official match. And had he somehow gotten past that, it would have been defending champion Jannik Sinner, against whom the American had lost 10 of the last 11 sets. The two young stars had also divided the previous seven major titles (plus the Spaniard went on to defeat a fatigued Serbian in the subsequent match). Fritz stated in press after the loss that he actually preferred his path, because it presented the opportunity to beat the three best competitors in the sport back-to-back. He is well justified to aspire to the achievement; an competitor is meant to have faith in themselves. But going into that Djokovic quarter-final who else sensibly had the drought of US winners in mind?

Coco Gauff’s second serve the only thing between her and sustained success

Fritz, twenty-eight, is placed fourth in the global rankings starting the upcoming ATP World Tour Finals and has secured his last six matches 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 is as far as he can climb: Sinner and Alcaraz lie a vast gap of ranking points away. Fritz’s elite delivery and powerful strength on each forehand and backhand are more than adequate to defeat the majority of opponents on the ATP tour. When facing the handful of once-in-a-lifetime players, however, he is frequently overmatched. The past few seasons has seen the interesting emergence of lanky, towering athletes who can nevertheless move around with the alarming speed and grace of smaller players. He is 6ft 5ins and looks it. His movement is rigid, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his limbs. So he’ll rarely steal a point that the opponent was controlling, and hitting a drop shot against him is usually a safe bet. That acts as a pretty harsh limitation on his potential.

Fritz has achieved a number of dramatic, unexpected improvements over the years. At the beginning of the ten-year period, he was circling the bottom of the world's best thirty. Two years after, he was sniffing the top 10. Last year, he unexpectedly exploded up to fourth place – and held the position. But the next leap, competing against and beating legendary figures like Alcaraz, the Italian, and including a aging Djokovic, is the toughest of all. What could the commentator thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a serious threat to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was worth mentioning the ongoing drought of US male players lifting major titles when Fritz had departed the New York major in the quarter-finals? The desperation is simply too much and the respect for the magnitude of the task too little.

The American star achieved a career-best run to the Wimbledon semi-finals in the summer.

Fritz’s play in that very last eight match should have been sufficient of an indication. Djokovic triumphed in four sets, a win that only felt tenuous for brief periods towards the conclusion, when the American had saved a few match points and had a opportunity to hold for 5-5. The pair looked well-balanced during the rallies, with the American earning plenty of opportunities to break. But the champion saved break point after break point, extending the streak to the point of frustration. When he finally did claim one of the chances at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he immediately played a horrendous game to lose his own serve again; Djokovic had drawn him into a skirmish peripheral to the main contest and forced him to expend far too much effort to win it. Facing match points in the last game, his first serve sailed to heaven. He extended the contest twice on his second serve, but finally committed two errors. It was not a choke, I didn’t think, just a consequence of needing to hit too many weaker deliveries.

The contest was quite ironclad proof that the American is not good enough to defeat any version of Djokovic, that was defeated by the Spaniard in the next round and never especially appeared like he thought he could win. This is absolutely fine – Djokovic is the greatest of all time, and may not be at the height of his physical powers now, but has developed enough knowledge and strategic intelligence to make up for quite a bit of the drop-off. The issue is those who were expecting the American to win, and pressuring him to achieve that, when he was yet to accomplished anything that indicated he would.

Fritz is an asset to the circuit regardless. He’s a patient, thoughtful voice in press conferences, more so than virtually anyone on the men's tour except for Daniil Medvedev, prepared to not only express how he feels or the tactic he believed decided a contest, but explain it. That he ought to bear the brunt of the responsibility for the United States not produce a men's grand slam winner since the last American titlist feels unjust. (Now that Ben Shelton is rubbing shoulders with him in the standings, maybe they can share that load.)

Year-End Championships: Player Divisions

Jimmy Connors Group

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

Swedish icon Group

• The Italian champion
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• Ben Shelton (US)
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I’d probably think about it forever if I fail to accomplish it,” the American informed an interviewer in June of winning a major. I hope he understands that he’s not unsuccessful if he doesn’t achieve that objective, that breaking through the Spanish and Italian's young, terrifying reign is in fact extremely unlikely for everybody else. {