🔗 Share this article

I have some thoughts about the remarks delivered by ESPN commentator Chris Fowler following Novak Djokovic's victory over Taylor Fritz in the New York major last eight. Look – Fritz is American, the commentator is from the US – and sports often lend themselves to nationalism. Some disappointment was understandable. Rather, Fowler brought up the continued drought of American men at grand slam tournaments: none of them has won a trophy since Andy Roddick in 2003, and Fritz had been the final representative in the tournament.

We all enjoy a narrative, me too. But come on. Even if Fritz defeated the legend for the initial occasion, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was waiting in the next round, whom he has never defeated in an competitive encounter. And had he somehow survived that, it would have been defending champion the Italian, against whom the American had lost 10 of the last 11 sets. The two young stars had also split the previous seven major titles (plus Alcaraz proceeded to thrash a fatigued Djokovic in the next round). Fritz stated in press following his defeat that he actually liked his draw, because it offered the opportunity to defeat the three best players in the world back-to-back. Fritz is more than within his right to aim for the accomplishment; an athlete is meant to have faith in themselves. But going into that Serbian last eight match who else in their right mind had the drought of US winners in mind?

Coco Gauff’s weaker delivery the sole barrier between her and sustained success

The American, twenty-eight, is ranked fourth in the world starting this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has secured his previous six encounters over No 3 Alexander Zverev with growing comfort. Presumably he could claim that position for himself in the coming years. But it’s clear that right now, that is as high as he can rise: The Italian and Spaniard sit a vast gap of ranking points away. Fritz’s elite serve and powerful strength on both forehand and backhand are sufficiently adequate to defeat the majority of opponents on the ATP tour. When facing the select few generational talents, though, Fritz is often overmatched. The last several seasons has witnessed the interesting rise of lanky, towering athletes who can nonetheless move around with the alarming speed and fluidity of smaller men. Fritz is 6ft 5ins and looks it. His movement is rigid, as if he’s still getting used to his limbs. So he seldom steal a point that the opponent was controlling, and playing a drop shot versus him is usually a reliable tactic. That acts as a quite harsh limitation on his potential.

Fritz has achieved a number of dramatic, improbable improvements throughout his career. Early on of the ten-year period, he was hovering around the lower end of the world's best thirty. 24 months later, he was sniffing the top 10. The previous season, he suddenly surged up to fourth place – and held the spot. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and defeating all-time-greats like the young Spaniard, the Italian, and even a aging Serbian, is the toughest of all. What could the commentator have been thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a serious threat to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was worth commenting on the continuing slump of American men lifting grand slams when he had departed the US Open in the quarter-finals? The desperation is simply excessive and the respect for the difficulty of the challenge insufficient.

The American star achieved a personal best advancement to the Wimbledon semi-finals in July.

Fritz’s performance in that very quarter-final ought to have been enough of an indication. The Serbian triumphed in four rounds, a victory that only seemed tenuous for brief periods towards the very end, when Fritz had saved a few championship opportunities and had a opportunity to maintain serve for 5-5. The duo looked evenly matched during the rallies, with Fritz creating plenty of opportunities to break. But the champion rescued service break opportunity after break point, prolonging the streak to the brink of agony. When Fritz eventually did convert one of the chances at 5-5 in the second set, he immediately produced a terrible service game to lose his own serve again; the Serbian had lulled him into a battle peripheral to the main contest and forced him to expend far too much energy to win it. Facing match points in the last game, Fritz’s primary delivery sailed to the sky. He extended the contest twice on his backup delivery, but ultimately committed two errors. It was not a choke, in my opinion, just a consequence of needing to hit an excessive number of second serves.

The contest was fairly compelling proof that Fritz is not good enough to defeat any version of Djokovic, that lost to Alcaraz in the next round and never particularly appeared like he believed he could triumph. This is absolutely fine – Djokovic is the greatest of all time, and might not be at the height of his athletic abilities now, but has acquired enough knowledge and strategic intelligence to compensate for a significant portion of the drop-off. The problem is those who were expecting the American to win, and pressuring him to achieve that, when he was yet to done anything that indicated he could.

The American is an asset to the circuit nonetheless. He’s a calm, reflective voice in media sessions, more so than almost anyone on the ATP aside from Daniil Medvedev, willing to not only say how he feels or the strategy he believed determined a contest, but explain it. That he ought to shoulder the majority of the blame for the United States not spawn a men's grand slam winner since Andy Roddick feels unjust. (Now that Ben Shelton is rubbing shoulders with him in the rankings, maybe they can share that burden.)

ATP Finals: Player Divisions

American legend Division

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

Swedish icon Group

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

“I would likely dwell on it forever if I fail to accomplish it,” the American told a journalist in June of claiming a major. I hope he realizes that he’s not a failure if he does not achieve that goal, that overcoming the Spanish and Italian's young, terrifying empire is actually highly unlikely for all other players. {