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I have a few opinions regarding the comments made by the sports network broadcaster Chris Fowler after the Serbian champion's win over Taylor Fritz during the New York major last eight. Look – Fritz is the United States, the commentator is American – and athletic competitions often lend themselves to patriotic sentiment. Some disappointment would have been understandable. Rather, 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 Fritz had been the last one standing in the competition.

We all enjoy a narrative, me too. But really. Even if the American defeated Djokovic for the first time, phenomenal talent Carlos Alcaraz was looming in the following match, who he has never defeated in an competitive encounter. And if he’d somehow survived that, it would have been title holder Jannik Sinner, against whom Fritz had lost 10 of the last 11 sets. The two young stars had also split the last seven grand slams (and Alcaraz went on to defeat a fatigued Djokovic in the subsequent match). Fritz said in post-match interviews after the loss that he in fact liked his path, because it offered the chance to beat the top three competitors in the sport back-to-back. Fritz is well justified to aspire to the accomplishment; an competitor is meant to believe in themselves. But going into that Djokovic last eight match what other person in their right mind had the lack of American champions on the brain?

Coco Gauff’s weaker delivery the sole barrier standing in her way and sustained success

The American, 28, is ranked number four in the world entering this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has won his last six matches over No 3 Alexander Zverev with growing comfort. It's likely he could claim that position for himself in the coming years. But it’s clear that at present, that’s as high as he can climb: Sinner and Alcaraz lie a vast gap of ranking points away. Fritz’s top-class serve and concussive power on each forehand and reverse side are more than adequate to dispose of the majority of opponents on the professional circuit. Against the handful of generational talents, however, he is frequently overmatched. The last several years has witnessed the curious emergence of lanky, towering players who can nevertheless cover the court with the alarming speed and fluidity of much shorter men. Fritz is six-foot-five and looks it. His footwork is stiff, as if he’s still getting used to his limbs. So he seldom steal a point that the other player was controlling, and playing a drop shot against him is usually a safe bet. That serves as a pretty severe limitation on his upside.

The American has achieved a number of significant, unexpected improvements over the years. At the beginning of the ten-year period, he was circling the lower end of the top 30. Two years after, he was sniffing the top 10. The previous season, he unexpectedly exploded up to fourth place – and held the position. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and defeating legendary figures like Alcaraz, Sinner, and including a aging Djokovic, is the toughest of all. What was the commentator have been thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to beat them all back-to-back? That it was worth mentioning the ongoing drought of American men winning grand slams when he had exited the New York major in the quarter-finals? The thirst is simply excessive and the appreciation for the magnitude of the challenge insufficient.

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

Fritz’s play in that exact quarter-final should have been enough of an sign. Djokovic won in four sets, a win that only seemed tenuous for brief periods towards the conclusion, when the American had saved a couple championship opportunities and had a chance to hold for 5-5. The pair looked evenly matched during the exchanges, with Fritz earning plenty of chances to win the opponent's serve. But the champion saved service break opportunity after service break opportunity, prolonging the run to the brink of frustration. When Fritz eventually did convert one of the chances at 5-5 in the second set, he immediately played a terrible service game to lose his own serve again; Djokovic had lulled him into a battle secondary to the real battle and compelled him to expend far too much energy to win it. Facing set points in the final game, Fritz’s primary delivery floated to heaven. He extended the match twice on his second serve, but finally double-faulted. It was not a choke, in my opinion, only a result of having to hit too many second serves.

The contest was fairly ironclad proof that the American is not good enough to defeat any version of Djokovic, that lost to Alcaraz in the following match and never particularly seem like he thought he could triumph. This is perfectly acceptable – Djokovic is the best player ever, and may not be at the peak of his athletic abilities anymore, but has developed enough knowledge and strategic intelligence to compensate for quite a bit of the drop-off. The issue is the individuals who were anticipating the American to win, and pressuring him to achieve that, when he was yet to accomplished anything that indicated he would.

The American is an valuable contributor to the circuit nonetheless. He’s a calm, reflective presence in media sessions, more so than virtually anyone on the ATP aside from Daniil Medvedev, prepared to not just say how he feels or the tactic he felt decided a match, but clarify it. That he ought to bear the brunt of the responsibility for America not produce a male major champion since Andy Roddick seems unjust. (Now that Ben Shelton is competing alongside him in the rankings, perhaps they can divide that burden.)

Year-End Championships: Singles Groups

American legend Group

• Carlos Alcaraz (Sp)
• The American contender
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• The Italian stylist

Swedish icon Division

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

“I’d probably think about it forever if I fail to accomplish it,” Fritz informed an interviewer in June of winning a major. I hope he realizes that he’s not unsuccessful if he does not achieve that objective, that overcoming the Spanish and Italian's young, terrifying empire is in fact extremely unlikely for everybody else. {