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I have some thoughts regarding the comments delivered by ESPN commentator Chris Fowler following Novak Djokovic's win over the American player in the New York major quarter-finals. Look – Fritz is American, the commentator is from the US – and sports often lend themselves to patriotic sentiment. A little bit of disappointment was understandable. Instead, Fowler invoked the ongoing drought of US male players at grand slam tournaments: not one of them had lifted a title since the last American champion in 2003, and he had been the final representative in the tournament.

Everyone love a storyline, me too. But really. Suppose Fritz had beaten Djokovic for the initial occasion, force of nature the Spanish star was waiting in the following match, whom Fritz has never defeated in an official match. And if he’d someway survived that, it would have been title holder Jannik Sinner, versus him Fritz had dropped 10 of the previous eleven sets. The two young stars had also split the last seven major titles (plus Alcaraz went on to thrash a fatigued Serbian in the next round). Fritz said in post-match interviews after the loss that he actually liked his draw, because it offered the opportunity to defeat the three best competitors in the world in succession. Fritz is well within his right to aim for the achievement; an athlete is supposed to believe in themselves. But going into that Djokovic last eight match who else sensibly had the lack of American champions on the brain?

Coco Gauff’s weaker delivery the only thing standing in her way and sustained success

The American, twenty-eight, is ranked fourth in the world entering the upcoming year-end championships and has won his last six encounters over third-ranked 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 climb: The Italian and Spaniard sit a vast gap of ranking points away. His elite delivery and powerful strength on each front side and backhand are sufficiently enough to defeat the majority of rivals on the professional circuit. When facing the handful of generational talents, however, Fritz is often overmatched. The past few seasons has seen the interesting emergence of lanky, towering athletes who can nonetheless move around with the surprising speed and grace of smaller players. He is 6ft 5ins and looks it. His movement is stiff, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his limbs. So he seldom steal a point that the opponent was dictating, and hitting a soft shot versus him is usually a safe bet. That acts as a quite severe restriction on his upside.

The American has made a number of dramatic, unexpected 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 unexpectedly surged to No 4 – and held the position. But the subsequent step, competing against and beating all-time-greats like the young Spaniard, Sinner, and including a declining Serbian, is the highest of all. What was Fowler have been thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to beat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate commenting on the ongoing slump of US male players lifting major titles when Fritz had exited the US Open in the quarter-finals? The thirst is simply excessive and the appreciation for the difficulty of the task insufficient.

The American star made a career-best run to the All England Club semi-finals in July.

Fritz’s performance in that very quarter-final should have been sufficient of an sign. Djokovic won in four rounds, a win that only felt tenuous for brief periods towards the very end, when Fritz had survived a few championship opportunities and had a opportunity to hold for 5-5. The duo appeared evenly matched during the exchanges, with Fritz earning plenty of chances to win the opponent's serve. But Djokovic saved service break opportunity after break point, extending the streak to the point of agony. When Fritz eventually did claim a single of the chances at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he immediately played a horrendous game to lose his own serve again; the Serbian had drawn him into a skirmish peripheral to the real battle and forced him to expend excessive energy to prevail. Facing set points in the last game, Fritz’s first serve floated to the sky. He extended the contest two times on his backup delivery, but finally committed two errors. It wasn’t a choke, in my opinion, only a result of needing to hit too many weaker deliveries.

The match was quite compelling evidence that the American is not good enough to defeat any form of the Serbian, that was defeated by Alcaraz in the next round and did not particularly appeared like he believed he could triumph. This is perfectly fine – Djokovic is the best player ever, and may not be at the height of his athletic abilities anymore, but has acquired enough experience and strategic intelligence to make up for quite a bit of the drop-off. The issue is those who were anticipating Fritz to prevail, and putting pressure on him to do so, when he was yet to accomplished anything that suggested he would.

The American is an asset to the circuit regardless. He’s a patient, thoughtful voice in press conferences, exceeding virtually anyone on the ATP except for Daniil Medvedev, willing to not only say how he feels or the strategy he felt determined a match, but explain it. That he should bear the brunt of the blame for America not spawn a men's grand slam winner since the last American titlist feels unfair. (Since Ben Shelton is competing alongside him in the rankings, maybe they can share that load.)

Year-End Championships: Player Divisions

Jimmy Connors Group

• Carlos Alcaraz (Sp)
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• The Australian speedster
• The Italian stylist

Swedish icon Division

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

“I’d probably dwell on it indefinitely if I fail to do it,” the American told an interviewer in June of claiming a major. It is hoped he realizes that he’s not a failure if he doesn’t fulfill that objective, that breaking through the Spanish and Italian's dominant, formidable reign is in fact extremely unlikely for all other players. {