🔗 Share this article

I have a few thoughts regarding the remarks delivered by the sports network broadcaster Chris Fowler after the Serbian champion's win over Taylor Fritz in the US Open last eight. Consider – Fritz is American, Fowler is from the US – and sports often lend themselves to nationalism. Some letdown was understandable. Instead, he invoked the ongoing drought of US male players at the majors: none of them has won a trophy since the last American champion in 2003, and he had been the final representative in the tournament.

We all enjoy a narrative, myself included. But come on. Even if Fritz had beaten the legend for the first time, phenomenal talent the Spanish star was looming in the next round, who Fritz has yet to beat in an official match. And if he’d someway 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 split the previous seven grand slams (and Alcaraz went on to thrash a fatigued Djokovic in the subsequent match). Fritz said in post-match interviews after the loss that he in fact liked his draw, because it presented the opportunity to defeat the top three players in the world in succession. He is more than justified to aim for the accomplishment; an athlete is meant to believe in themselves. But entering that Serbian last eight match what other person in their right mind had the lack of US winners on the brain?

Coco Gauff’s second serve the sole barrier standing in her way and consistent victories

The American, twenty-eight, is ranked number four in the global rankings entering this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has won his previous six encounters over No 3 Alexander Zverev with growing comfort. 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: Sinner and Alcaraz sit a vast gap of ranking points away. Fritz’s elite delivery and concussive power on both forehand and backhand are sufficiently enough to dispose of the majority of rivals on the ATP tour. Against the select few generational talents, however, Fritz 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 fluidity of much shorter men. Fritz is six-foot-five and looks it. His footwork is rigid, as if he’s still getting used to his limbs. So he seldom steal a point that the other player was dictating, and hitting a soft shot against him is typically a safe bet. That acts as a quite severe limitation on his potential.

Fritz has made a several dramatic, improbable advancements throughout his career. At the beginning of the ten-year period, he was hovering around the bottom of the world's best thirty. 24 months after, he was approaching the top 10. The previous season, he suddenly surged to No 4 – and held the position. But the next leap, mixing it up with and beating all-time-greats like the young Spaniard, Sinner, and including a declining Serbian, is the highest of all. What could Fowler have been thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to beat them all back-to-back? That it was worth mentioning the ongoing drought of US male players winning major titles when Fritz had departed the US Open in the quarter-finals? The desperation is just excessive and the respect for the difficulty of the challenge too little.

Taylor Fritz made a personal best run to the Wimbledon semi-finals in the summer.

Fritz’s play in that very last eight match ought to have been enough of an sign. The Serbian won in four rounds, a victory that only seemed tenuous for moments towards the very end, when Fritz had survived a couple championship opportunities and had a opportunity to maintain serve for 5-5. The pair appeared evenly matched during the rallies, with the American earning numerous opportunities to break. But Djokovic saved service break opportunity after service break opportunity, extending the run to the brink of agony. When he eventually did convert one of the chances at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he immediately played a horrendous service game to drop serve once more; Djokovic had drawn him into a skirmish secondary to the main contest and compelled him to expend far too much energy to win it. Down set points in the last game, his primary delivery sailed to heaven. He prolonged the contest two times on his second serve, but ultimately double-faulted. It was not a choke, I didn’t think, only a consequence of having to hit an excessive number of weaker deliveries.

The contest was quite compelling evidence that the American is insufficiently skilled to beat any form of the Serbian, that was defeated by Alcaraz in the next round and never particularly seem like he believed he could win. This is perfectly acceptable – the Serbian is the best player ever, and might not be at the peak of his physical powers anymore, but has developed sufficient knowledge and tactical know-how to compensate for quite a bit of the drop-off. The issue is those who were anticipating the American to win, and pressuring him to achieve that, when he was yet to done anything that suggested he would.

Fritz is an valuable contributor to the circuit regardless. He’s a patient, thoughtful presence in press conferences, more so than almost anyone on the men's tour except for the Russian star, prepared to not only express his emotions or the strategy he believed determined a match, but explain it. That he should shoulder the majority of the blame for the United States not spawn a male major champion since Andy Roddick seems unfair. (Now that the fellow American is rubbing shoulders with him in the rankings, perhaps they can share that burden.)

Year-End Championships: Player Divisions

Jimmy Connors Group

• Carlos Alcaraz (Sp)
• The American contender
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Swedish icon Group

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• The German powerhouse
• The rising American
• The Canadian talent

“I would likely think about it forever if I fail to accomplish it,” Fritz told an interviewer in June of claiming a major. I hope he realizes that he’s not a failure if he doesn’t achieve that goal, that overcoming the Spanish and Italian's dominant, formidable empire is in fact extremely improbable for all other players. {