🔗 Share this article

I have a few opinions regarding that remarks made by the sports network broadcaster Chris Fowler after the Serbian champion's win over Taylor Fritz in the New York major last eight. Consider – the athlete represents the United States, Fowler is from the US – and sports frequently lend themselves to patriotic sentiment. A little bit of disappointment was understandable. Rather, Fowler invoked the ongoing drought of American men at the majors: not one of them has won a title since Andy Roddick in 2003, and Fritz had been the last one standing in the tournament.

We all love a storyline, me too. But really. Even if the American had beaten Djokovic for the first time, phenomenal talent the Spanish star was waiting in the next round, who he has never defeated in an competitive encounter. And if he’d someway survived that, it would have been defending champion the Italian, against whom Fritz had dropped 10 of the previous eleven sets. The two young stars had also divided the last seven major titles (and the Spaniard proceeded to defeat a fatigued Serbian in the next round). Fritz stated in press after the loss that he actually liked his draw, because it offered the chance to beat the three best players in the sport in succession. Fritz is more than within his right 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?

The American star's weaker delivery the only thing between her and sustained success

The American, 28, is placed fourth in the world starting the upcoming year-end championships and has won his last six matches over No 3 Alexander Zverev with growing comfort. Presumably he might claim that position for himself in the coming years. But evidently that at present, that’s as far as he can climb: The Italian and Spaniard lie a vast gap of performance metrics away. His elite serve and concussive power on both front side and reverse side are more than adequate to defeat most rivals on the ATP tour. When facing the handful of generational talents, however, he is often overmatched. The past few years has seen the curious rise of tall, gangly players who can nevertheless move around with the alarming quickness and grace of much shorter players. He is six-foot-five and appears that way. 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 drop shot versus him is usually a safe bet. That acts as a quite harsh restriction on his upside.

Fritz has made a number of significant, unexpected advancements over the years. At the beginning of the decade, he was hovering around the bottom of the world's best thirty. Two years later, he was sniffing the elite ten. Last year, he suddenly surged up to No 4 – and held the position. But the subsequent step, competing against and beating legendary figures like the young Spaniard, the Italian, and even a declining Djokovic, is the toughest of all. What was the commentator thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate commenting on the ongoing slump of American men lifting grand slams when Fritz had exited the New York major in the quarter-finals? The thirst is just excessive and the respect for the difficulty of the challenge too little.

Taylor Fritz achieved a career-best advancement to the All England Club semi-finals in July.

Fritz’s play in that exact quarter-final should have been enough of an indication. The Serbian triumphed in four rounds, a victory that only felt uncertain for moments towards the very end, when Fritz had saved a couple match points and had a chance to hold for 5-5. The pair appeared evenly matched during the rallies, with Fritz earning plenty of chances to win the opponent's serve. But Djokovic saved break point after break point, prolonging the streak to the point of frustration. When he finally did convert a single of the chances at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he promptly played a horrendous service game to drop serve again; the Serbian had drawn him into a skirmish secondary to the main contest and compelled him to expend excessive energy to win it. Facing match points in the last game, his first serve floated to the sky. He prolonged the contest twice on his second serve, but finally committed two errors. It wasn’t a collapse, in my opinion, only a result of needing to hit too many second serves.

The match was quite compelling proof that Fritz is not good enough to defeat any version of the Serbian, who was defeated by the Spaniard in the next round and did not especially seem like he thought he could triumph. This is absolutely fine – Djokovic is the best player ever, and might not be at the peak of his physical powers now, but has developed enough experience and tactical know-how to compensate for a significant portion of the decline. The issue is the individuals who were anticipating the American to win, and putting pressure on him to do so, when he was yet to done anything that indicated he could.

The American is an valuable contributor to the circuit regardless. He’s a patient, thoughtful voice in press conferences, more so than virtually everyone on the ATP aside from the Russian star, prepared to not just say his emotions or the strategy he felt determined a contest, but clarify it. That he ought to bear the brunt of the responsibility for the United States failing to spawn a male major champion since the last American titlist feels unfair. (Since the fellow American is rubbing shoulders with him in the rankings, maybe they can divide that load.)

Year-End Championships: Singles Groups

American legend Division

• The Spanish phenom
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• The Australian speedster
• The Italian stylist

Bjorn Borg Group

• The Italian champion
• The German powerhouse
• Ben Shelton (US)
• The Canadian talent

“I’d probably dwell on it forever if I fail to accomplish it,” Fritz informed a journalist in the summer of winning a grand slam. I hope he understands that he’s not a failure if he does not achieve that objective, that breaking through Alcaraz and Sinner’s dominant, formidable empire is in fact highly unlikely for everybody else. {