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I have a few opinions about the remarks made by ESPN broadcaster Chris Fowler after the Serbian champion's win over the American player during the New York major quarter-finals. Look – the athlete represents American, Fowler is American – and sports often encourage nationalism. Some letdown would have been appropriate. Instead, Fowler brought up the continued absence of American men at grand slam tournaments: 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 come on. Even if Fritz had beaten the legend for the first time, force of nature the Spanish star was waiting in the next round, who he has yet to beat in an competitive encounter. And if he’d somehow gotten past that, it would have been title holder the Italian, against whom the American had dropped 10 of the last 11 sets. The two young stars had also split the previous seven grand slams (plus the Spaniard went on to defeat a tired Serbian in the next round). Fritz stated in press after the loss that he actually liked his draw, because it presented the opportunity to beat the three best players in the world in succession. Fritz is well within his right to aim for the achievement; an athlete is meant to have faith in themselves. But going into that Serbian quarter-final what other person sensibly had the lack of US winners in mind?

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

Fritz, twenty-eight, is ranked number four in the world starting the upcoming year-end championships and has won his previous six encounters over third-ranked the German with increasing ease. Presumably he might claim that position for himself in the future. But evidently that at present, that’s as far as he can climb: Sinner and Alcaraz lie a vast gap of performance metrics away. His top-class serve and concussive power on each front side and backhand are more than enough to defeat the majority of opponents on the professional circuit. Against the handful of generational talents, however, he is frequently overmatched. The last several years has seen the interesting rise of tall, gangly players who can nevertheless move around with the surprising speed and grace of much shorter players. Fritz is 6ft 5ins and appears that way. His footwork is stiff, as if he’s still getting used to his limbs. So he’ll rarely win a rally that the other player was dictating, and hitting a soft shot versus him is usually a reliable tactic. That serves as a pretty harsh limitation on his upside.

Fritz has achieved a number of significant, unexpected improvements throughout his career. Early on of the decade, he was circling the bottom of the world's best thirty. 24 months later, he was approaching the top 10. Last year, he suddenly surged to fourth place – and held the spot. But the next leap, competing against and defeating all-time-greats like the young Spaniard, the Italian, and including a aging Djokovic, is the highest of all. What was the commentator have been thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a serious threat to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate commenting on the ongoing slump of US male players winning major titles when he had exited the US Open in the quarter-finals? The desperation is simply too much and the respect for the magnitude of the challenge too little.

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

Fritz’s play in that exact quarter-final should have been sufficient of an indication. Djokovic won in four sets, a win that only seemed uncertain for brief periods towards the very end, when Fritz had saved a couple championship opportunities and had a chance to maintain serve for 5-5. The pair appeared evenly matched during the rallies, with the American earning numerous opportunities to win the opponent's serve. But Djokovic rescued break point after break point, prolonging the run to the point of agony. When he finally did claim a single of the opportunities at 5-5 in the second set, he promptly played a horrendous game to lose his own serve once more; Djokovic had drawn him into a skirmish peripheral to the main contest and compelled him to expend far too much energy to prevail. Facing set points in the final game, Fritz’s first serve sailed to the sky. He extended the contest twice on his backup delivery, but ultimately double-faulted. It was not a collapse, in my opinion, only a consequence of having to hit too many weaker deliveries.

The contest was quite ironclad evidence that the American is insufficiently skilled to beat any version of the Serbian, that was defeated by Alcaraz in the next round and never especially seem like he believed he could triumph. This is absolutely acceptable – Djokovic is the greatest of all time, and may not be at the peak of his athletic abilities anymore, but has developed enough experience and tactical know-how to compensate for a significant portion of the drop-off. The issue is those who were anticipating Fritz to prevail, and putting pressure on him to achieve that, when he was had not done anything that suggested he would.

Fritz is an asset to the circuit nonetheless. He’s a patient, reflective voice in media sessions, more so than almost everyone on the men's tour except for the Russian star, prepared to not only say his emotions or the tactic he felt decided a contest, but explain it. That he ought to bear the brunt of the blame for America not spawn a male major champion since the last American titlist seems unfair. (Now that Ben Shelton is competing alongside him in the rankings, maybe they can divide that burden.)

Year-End Championships: Player Divisions

Jimmy Connors Group

• The Spanish phenom
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Bjorn Borg Division

• The Italian champion
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• The rising American
• The Canadian talent

“I would likely think about it forever if I don’t do it,” Fritz told an interviewer in June of winning a grand slam. I hope he understands that he’s not unsuccessful if he does not achieve that objective, that overcoming Alcaraz and Sinner’s young, terrifying empire is actually extremely unlikely for everybody else. {