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I possess a few opinions regarding the comments made by ESPN commentator Chris Fowler after Novak Djokovic's victory over the American player during the US Open quarter-finals. Consider – Fritz is American, Fowler is from the US – and athletic competitions frequently encourage patriotic sentiment. Some disappointment would have been appropriate. Rather, Fowler brought up the continued absence of US male players at the majors: not one of them has won a title since the last American champion in 2003, and Fritz had been the final representative in the competition.

Everyone enjoy a narrative, myself included. But come on. Suppose the American had beaten Djokovic for the first time, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was looming in the next round, who he has never defeated in an competitive encounter. And had he somehow survived 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 divided the previous seven grand slams (plus Alcaraz went on to thrash a tired Serbian in the next round). He stated in post-match interviews following his defeat that he actually liked his path, because it offered the opportunity to beat the three best competitors in the world back-to-back. He is well justified to aim for the achievement; an athlete is meant to have faith in themselves. But entering that Djokovic quarter-final what other person sensibly had the lack of US winners on the brain?

Coco Gauff’s second serve the only thing standing in her way and sustained success

Fritz, twenty-eight, is placed fourth in the world entering this week’s year-end championships and has won his last six matches over third-ranked the German with growing comfort. It's likely he might claim that position for himself in the coming years. But evidently that right now, that is as far as he can climb: Sinner and Alcaraz sit a vast gap of performance metrics away. Fritz’s top-class serve and powerful power on both forehand and backhand are more than enough to dispose of most rivals on the ATP tour. Against the select few once-in-a-lifetime players, though, he is frequently overmatched. The last several years has witnessed the interesting emergence of lanky, towering players who can nonetheless move around with the alarming quickness and fluidity of smaller players. Fritz is 6ft 5ins and appears that way. His footwork is stiff, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his limbs. So he seldom win a rally that the other player was controlling, and hitting a drop shot versus him is usually a reliable tactic. That serves as a pretty harsh restriction on his upside.

Fritz has achieved a several significant, unexpected advancements over the years. Early on of the ten-year period, he was hovering around the bottom of the top 30. Two years later, he was approaching the elite ten. Last year, he unexpectedly exploded up to fourth place – and maintained the spot. But the next leap, mixing it up with and beating legendary figures like Alcaraz, the Italian, and even a declining Serbian, is the highest of all. What was the commentator thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to beat them all back-to-back? That it was worth commenting on the continuing drought of US male players winning major titles when he had exited the New York major in the quarter-finals? The desperation is simply too much and the respect for the difficulty of the task insufficient.

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

The American's play in that exact last eight match ought to have been sufficient of an sign. Djokovic won in four sets, a victory that only seemed uncertain for brief periods towards the conclusion, when the American had survived a couple match points and had a chance to hold for 5-5. The duo appeared evenly matched during the rallies, with the American creating numerous opportunities to win the opponent's serve. But the champion saved break point after break point, extending the streak to the brink of agony. When he finally did convert one of the chances at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he immediately produced a horrendous service game to drop serve again; the Serbian had drawn him into a battle peripheral to the main contest and forced him to use far too much effort to win it. Facing match points in the last game, his primary delivery floated to the sky. He prolonged the match twice on his backup delivery, but finally double-faulted. It wasn’t a collapse, in my opinion, just a consequence of needing to hit an excessive number of weaker deliveries.

The contest was quite compelling evidence that Fritz is insufficiently skilled to beat any version of Djokovic, who was defeated by Alcaraz in the following match and did not especially seem like he thought he could win. This is perfectly acceptable – Djokovic is the best player ever, and might not be at the height of his physical powers now, but has developed enough experience and strategic intelligence to compensate for quite a bit of the drop-off. The issue is those who were expecting the American to win, and putting pressure on him to do so, when he was had not accomplished anything that suggested he could.

The American is an valuable contributor to the circuit nonetheless. He’s a patient, reflective presence in press conferences, more so than almost everyone on the men's tour aside from the Russian star, prepared to not just say his emotions or the tactic he believed decided a contest, but clarify it. That he ought to bear the brunt of the blame for America failing to spawn a male major champion since the last American titlist seems unfair. (Since the fellow American is competing alongside him in the standings, maybe they can share that load.)

ATP Finals: Singles Groups

Jimmy Connors Group

• The Spanish phenom
• The American contender
• The Australian speedster
• The Italian stylist

Bjorn Borg Group

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• The rising American
• The Canadian talent

“I would likely think about it forever if I fail to accomplish it,” the American informed an interviewer in June of winning a grand slam. I hope he realizes that he’s not a failure if he doesn’t achieve that goal, that overcoming the Spanish and Italian's young, terrifying reign is actually extremely unlikely for everybody else. {