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I possess a few opinions regarding that remarks made by the sports network broadcaster Chris Fowler after the Serbian champion's victory over Taylor Fritz during the US Open quarter-finals. Consider – the athlete represents the United States, Fowler is American – and athletic competitions frequently encourage patriotic sentiment. A little bit of letdown would have been appropriate. Rather, he brought up the ongoing absence of US male players at grand slam tournaments: not one of them has won a title since the last American champion in 2003, and he had been the last one standing in the competition.

Everyone enjoy a narrative, me too. But really. Suppose Fritz had beaten the legend for the initial occasion, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was waiting in the following match, who Fritz has never defeated in an official match. And had he somehow gotten past that, it would have been title holder Jannik Sinner, versus him Fritz had lost 10 of the last 11 sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also divided the last seven major titles (plus Alcaraz proceeded to thrash a tired Serbian in the next round). He said in press following his defeat that he in fact preferred his draw, because it presented the chance to defeat the three best players in the world back-to-back. He is well within his right to aim for the accomplishment; an competitor is supposed to believe in themselves. But entering that Serbian quarter-final what other person in their right mind had the drought of US winners on the brain?

The American star's second serve the only thing between her and sustained success

Fritz, twenty-eight, is placed fourth in the global rankings starting this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has secured his last six matches over third-ranked Alexander Zverev with growing comfort. It's likely he could take that spot 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. Fritz’s top-class delivery and concussive strength on each front side and backhand are more than enough to dispose of most rivals on the ATP tour. When facing the select few once-in-a-lifetime players, however, he is often overmatched. The last several years has witnessed the interesting emergence of lanky, towering players who can nonetheless move around with the surprising speed and fluidity of much shorter players. Fritz is six-foot-five and appears that way. His movement is stiff, as if he’s still getting used to his legs. So he’ll rarely win a rally that the opponent was controlling, and playing a drop shot versus him is usually a safe bet. That serves as a pretty severe limitation on his potential.

Fritz has achieved a several significant, improbable improvements over the years. At the beginning of the decade, he was hovering around the lower end of the world's best thirty. 24 months later, he was approaching the elite ten. The previous season, he suddenly exploded to fourth place – and maintained the position. But the next leap, competing against and defeating all-time-greats like Alcaraz, the Italian, and including a declining Djokovic, is the highest of all. What could Fowler have been thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a serious threat to beat them all back-to-back? That it was worth commenting on the continuing drought of American men winning major titles when Fritz had exited the US Open in the quarter-finals? The desperation is just too much and the respect for the difficulty of the task insufficient.

The American star made a personal best advancement to the All England Club semi-finals in the summer.

The American's performance in that very last eight match should have been sufficient of an indication. The Serbian won in four sets, a victory that only felt tenuous for moments towards the very end, when the American had saved a few championship opportunities and had a opportunity to hold for 5-5. The pair appeared evenly matched during the exchanges, with Fritz earning plenty of opportunities to break. But the champion saved service break opportunity after break point, prolonging the streak to the brink of agony. When he eventually did claim one of the opportunities at 5-5 in the second set, he promptly played a terrible game to lose his own serve again; Djokovic had drawn him into a battle peripheral to the main contest and forced him to expend far too much effort to prevail. Facing set points in the last game, Fritz’s first serve sailed to the sky. He prolonged the match two times on his backup delivery, but finally committed two errors. It wasn’t a collapse, in my opinion, just a result of having to hit too many second serves.

The contest was quite compelling proof that Fritz is insufficiently skilled to beat any form of the Serbian, who was defeated by Alcaraz in the next round and did not especially appeared like he believed he could triumph. This is perfectly acceptable – the Serbian is the best player ever, and may not be at the height of his athletic abilities anymore, but has developed sufficient experience and tactical know-how to compensate for quite a bit of the decline. The issue is the individuals who were expecting Fritz to prevail, and putting pressure on him to do so, when he was had not done anything that indicated he could.

The American is an asset to the circuit regardless. He’s a calm, thoughtful presence in media sessions, exceeding almost everyone on the ATP except for Daniil Medvedev, prepared to not just say how he feels or the strategy he felt decided a match, but clarify it. That he should bear the brunt of the responsibility for the United States failing to spawn a men's grand slam winner since the last American titlist feels unjust. (Since the fellow American is competing alongside him in the rankings, perhaps they can share that load.)

Year-End Championships: Singles Groups

Jimmy Connors Division

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

Swedish icon Division

• The Italian champion
• The German powerhouse
• Ben Shelton (US)
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I would likely think about it forever if I fail to accomplish it,” the American told a journalist in June of winning a major. I hope he realizes that he’s not a failure if he doesn’t fulfill that goal, that breaking through Alcaraz and Sinner’s young, terrifying reign is in fact highly improbable for everybody else. {