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I possess a few thoughts about that comments delivered by ESPN broadcaster Chris Fowler after Novak Djokovic's win over the American player in the US Open last eight. Consider – Fritz is American, the commentator is American – and athletic competitions frequently encourage patriotic sentiment. A little bit of letdown would have been appropriate. Rather, he brought up the continued drought of US male players at grand slam tournaments: none of them has won a title since Andy Roddick in 2003, and he had been the final representative in the tournament.

We all love a storyline, myself included. But come on. Even if Fritz defeated the legend for the initial occasion, phenomenal talent the Spanish star was looming in the following match, whom Fritz has yet to beat in an official match. And if he’d someway survived that, it would have been defending champion Jannik Sinner, versus him the American had lost 10 of the last 11 sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also split the previous seven grand slams (plus Alcaraz proceeded to thrash a tired Serbian in the subsequent match). Fritz stated in post-match interviews after the loss that he in fact preferred his draw, because it presented the opportunity to defeat the top three competitors in the sport back-to-back. Fritz is more than within his right to aspire to the achievement; an competitor is meant to have faith in themselves. But entering that Djokovic last eight match what other person sensibly had the drought of US winners on the brain?

Coco Gauff’s weaker delivery the sole barrier between her and consistent victories

Fritz, twenty-eight, is placed fourth in the global rankings entering the upcoming ATP World Tour Finals and has won his previous six encounters over No 3 Alexander Zverev with growing comfort. It's likely he might take that spot for himself in the future. But it’s clear that at present, that is as high as he can rise: The Italian and Spaniard sit a vast gap of ranking points away. Fritz’s elite delivery and powerful strength on each forehand and backhand are more than adequate to dispose of the majority of rivals on the professional circuit. Against the handful of generational talents, however, Fritz is frequently helpless. The last several seasons has seen the interesting emergence of lanky, towering players who can nonetheless move around with the alarming speed and grace of much shorter men. Fritz is 6ft 5ins and looks it. His movement is rigid, as if he’s still getting used to his legs. So he seldom win a rally that the other player was controlling, and hitting a soft shot against him is usually a safe bet. That serves as a pretty severe limitation 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 top 30. Two years later, he was approaching the elite ten. The previous season, he unexpectedly surged to fourth place – and held the position. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and beating legendary figures like the young Spaniard, Sinner, and including a declining Serbian, is the highest of all. What could Fowler have been thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a serious threat to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate commenting on the ongoing slump of American men lifting grand slams when Fritz had departed the New York major in the quarter-finals? The thirst is simply too much and the appreciation for the difficulty of the challenge too little.

Taylor Fritz made a career-best advancement to the All England Club semi-finals in July.

Fritz’s play in that very last eight match ought to have been enough of an indication. The Serbian triumphed in four rounds, a victory that only seemed uncertain for moments towards the very end, when Fritz had saved a couple match points and had a chance to maintain serve for 5-5. The duo appeared evenly matched during the rallies, with Fritz earning numerous chances to break. But Djokovic saved break point after break point, prolonging the streak to the point of frustration. When Fritz eventually did convert one of the chances at 5-5 in the second set, he promptly produced a terrible service game to lose his own serve once more; Djokovic had lulled him into a skirmish peripheral to the real battle and forced him to expend far too much energy to win it. Facing match points in the last game, Fritz’s first serve floated to the sky. He extended the match twice on his backup delivery, but ultimately double-faulted. It wasn’t a choke, in my opinion, only a result of having to hit an excessive number of second serves.

The match was fairly compelling evidence that the American is not good enough to beat any form of the Serbian, that lost to Alcaraz in the next round and never especially seem like he thought he could win. This is absolutely fine – the Serbian is the greatest of all time, and might not be at the peak of his physical powers now, but has developed sufficient experience and strategic intelligence to compensate for quite a bit of the decline. The issue is the individuals who were anticipating the American to prevail, and pressuring him to achieve that, when he was yet to accomplished anything that indicated he would.

The American is an asset to the circuit nonetheless. He’s a patient, thoughtful voice in media sessions, more so than virtually everyone on the men's tour aside from Daniil Medvedev, willing to not just say his emotions or the tactic he believed determined a match, but explain it. That he should shoulder the majority of the responsibility for America not produce a men's grand slam winner since the last American titlist seems unfair. (Now that Ben Shelton is competing alongside him in the standings, maybe they can share that load.)

Year-End Championships: Player Divisions

American legend Division

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

Swedish icon Group

• The Italian champion
• The German powerhouse
• Ben Shelton (US)
• The Canadian talent

“I’d probably think about it indefinitely if I don’t do it,” Fritz informed an interviewer in June of claiming a major. I hope he realizes that he’s not a failure if he doesn’t achieve that goal, that breaking through Alcaraz and Sinner’s dominant, formidable reign is actually extremely improbable for all other players. {