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I have a few thoughts regarding that comments made by ESPN broadcaster Chris Fowler after Novak Djokovic's win over Taylor Fritz during the US Open quarter-finals. Look – the athlete represents American, Fowler is American – and sports often lend themselves to nationalism. A little bit of letdown would have been understandable. Instead, Fowler brought up the continued absence of American men at the majors: none of them has won a title since the last American champion in 2003, and he had been the last one standing in the tournament.

We all love a narrative, me too. But really. Even if the American had beaten Djokovic for the initial occasion, force of nature the Spanish star was looming in the following match, whom Fritz has never defeated in an competitive encounter. And if he’d someway survived that, it would have been defending champion the Italian, versus him Fritz had dropped 10 of the previous eleven sets. The two young stars had also divided the last seven grand slams (plus the Spaniard went on to thrash a fatigued Djokovic in the subsequent match). Fritz stated in press after the loss that he in fact preferred his draw, because it presented the chance to defeat the top three competitors in the world back-to-back. He is well justified to aim for the achievement; an athlete is supposed to believe in themselves. But entering 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 entering this week’s year-end championships and has won his last six encounters over No 3 the German with increasing ease. Presumably he might claim that position for himself in the future. But it’s clear that right now, that’s as far as he can climb: The Italian and Spaniard lie a chasm of ranking points away. Fritz’s top-class delivery and concussive power on both forehand and backhand are more than adequate to defeat the majority of rivals on the ATP tour. When facing the select few once-in-a-lifetime players, though, Fritz is frequently helpless. The past few seasons has witnessed the interesting rise of lanky, towering athletes who can nonetheless move around with the surprising quickness and fluidity of much shorter players. He is six-foot-five and appears that way. His movement is rigid, as if he’s still getting used to his legs. So he seldom win a rally that the other player was controlling, and hitting a drop shot against him is usually a safe bet. That acts as a pretty harsh restriction on his potential.

The American has achieved a several dramatic, improbable advancements throughout his career. Early on of the decade, he was circling the bottom of the top 30. Two years after, he was sniffing the elite ten. The previous season, he suddenly surged up to fourth place – and maintained the spot. But the subsequent step, competing against and beating legendary figures like Alcaraz, the Italian, and even a declining Serbian, is the highest of all. What could the commentator thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to beat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate mentioning the continuing drought 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 appreciation for the difficulty of the task too little.

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

The American's performance in that exact last eight match should have been sufficient of an sign. Djokovic won in four sets, a win that only felt tenuous for brief periods towards the very end, when Fritz had survived a few match points and had a opportunity to hold for 5-5. The duo looked 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 point of frustration. When he finally did claim one of the chances at 5-5 in the second set, he immediately played a terrible service game to lose his own serve again; Djokovic had drawn him into a skirmish secondary to the real battle and forced him to expend excessive energy to win it. Facing match points in the final game, his first serve sailed to the sky. He prolonged the contest twice on his backup delivery, but finally double-faulted. It was not a collapse, in my opinion, only a result of needing to hit too many weaker deliveries.

The contest was fairly ironclad proof that the American is not good enough to beat any form of the Serbian, that was defeated by the Spaniard in the next round and did not particularly appeared like he thought he could triumph. This is absolutely fine – the Serbian is the greatest of all time, and might not be at the peak of his physical powers anymore, but has acquired enough experience and strategic intelligence to compensate for quite a bit of the decline. The issue is those who were anticipating Fritz to prevail, and pressuring him to do so, when he was yet to accomplished anything that suggested he could.

The American is an asset to the tour nonetheless. He’s a calm, thoughtful presence in media sessions, more so than almost anyone on the men's tour aside from 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 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 standings, perhaps they can share that load.)

Year-End Championships: Singles Groups

American legend Division

• Carlos Alcaraz (Sp)
• The American contender
• 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 dwell on it forever if I fail to do it,” the American informed an interviewer in the summer of claiming a major. It is hoped he realizes that he’s not a failure if he does not achieve that goal, that overcoming Alcaraz and Sinner’s young, terrifying reign is actually extremely unlikely for all other players. {