🔗 Share this article

I have a few thoughts about the comments made by ESPN broadcaster Chris Fowler following Novak Djokovic's victory over the American player in the New York major last eight. Consider – the athlete represents American, Fowler is American – and sports frequently encourage patriotic sentiment. Some disappointment would have been appropriate. Instead, Fowler invoked the continued drought of American men at grand slam tournaments: none of them has won a title since Andy Roddick in 2003, and Fritz had been the last one standing in the tournament.

Everyone enjoy a narrative, me too. But come on. Even if Fritz had beaten Djokovic for the first time, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was waiting in the next round, whom Fritz has yet to beat in an competitive encounter. And if he’d someway survived that, it would have been title holder the Italian, versus him the American had dropped 10 of the previous eleven sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also split the last seven major titles (and Alcaraz proceeded to defeat a fatigued Serbian in the subsequent match). He said in post-match interviews after the loss that he actually preferred his draw, because it presented the opportunity to defeat the top three players in the world in succession. Fritz is more than justified to aspire to the achievement; an competitor is meant to believe in themselves. But entering that Djokovic last eight match what other person sensibly had the drought of American champions on the brain?

Coco Gauff’s second serve the sole barrier between her and sustained success

Fritz, twenty-eight, is placed fourth in the world starting this week’s year-end championships and has won his last six encounters over No 3 the German with growing comfort. It's likely he could take that spot for himself in the future. But evidently that right now, that’s as high as he can rise: Sinner and Alcaraz sit a chasm of performance metrics away. Fritz’s top-class serve and powerful strength on both front side and backhand are sufficiently adequate to dispose of the majority of opponents on the professional circuit. Against the handful of once-in-a-lifetime players, however, he is frequently helpless. The past few years has seen the interesting rise of lanky, towering players who can nonetheless move around with the alarming speed and fluidity of smaller men. Fritz is six-foot-five and looks it. His footwork is rigid, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his legs. So he’ll rarely win a rally that the other player was controlling, and playing a soft shot versus him is usually a reliable tactic. That acts as a pretty harsh restriction on his upside.

Fritz has made a number of significant, 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. Last year, he unexpectedly surged to fourth place – and held the position. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and beating all-time-greats like Alcaraz, Sinner, and including a declining Djokovic, is the toughest of all. What was Fowler have been thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was worth mentioning the continuing drought of American men lifting major titles when Fritz had exited the New York major in the quarter-finals? The desperation is just excessive and the respect for the magnitude of the task insufficient.

Taylor Fritz made a personal best advancement to the Wimbledon semi-finals in July.

The American's performance in that very quarter-final ought to have been sufficient of an indication. The Serbian triumphed in four rounds, a win that only seemed uncertain for brief periods towards the conclusion, when Fritz had saved a few championship opportunities and had a opportunity to maintain serve for 5-5. The pair looked evenly matched during the exchanges, with Fritz creating plenty of opportunities to win the opponent's serve. But Djokovic rescued service break opportunity after break point, extending the streak to the point of frustration. When Fritz finally did convert one of the opportunities at 5-5 in the second set, he promptly produced a horrendous service game to lose his own serve once more; the Serbian had lulled him into a skirmish secondary to the main contest and forced him to expend far too much effort to win it. Facing match points in the final game, Fritz’s primary delivery floated to heaven. He prolonged the contest twice on his backup delivery, but ultimately double-faulted. It wasn’t a choke, I didn’t think, only a consequence of having to hit too many second serves.

The contest was fairly compelling evidence that the American is not good enough to defeat any version of the Serbian, that was defeated by the Spaniard in the next round and never particularly seem like he thought he could win. This is absolutely fine – the Serbian is the greatest of all time, and may not be at the height of his athletic abilities anymore, but has acquired sufficient experience and strategic intelligence to make up for quite a bit of the drop-off. The problem is the individuals who were expecting Fritz to win, and putting pressure on him to do so, when he was yet to accomplished anything that suggested he would.

Fritz is an valuable contributor to the tour nonetheless. He’s a calm, reflective voice in media sessions, more so than virtually everyone on the ATP aside from Daniil Medvedev, willing to not just say his emotions or the tactic he believed determined a contest, but clarify it. That he should bear the brunt of the responsibility for the United States failing to produce a men's grand slam winner since the last American titlist seems unjust. (Now that Ben Shelton is competing alongside him in the rankings, perhaps they can divide that burden.)

Year-End Championships: Player Divisions

Jimmy Connors Group

• 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
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I’d probably dwell on it indefinitely if I fail to accomplish it,” the American informed an interviewer in the summer of claiming a grand slam. It is hoped he realizes that he’s not unsuccessful if he does not fulfill that goal, that breaking through Alcaraz and Sinner’s dominant, formidable reign is actually highly unlikely for all other players. {