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I have some opinions regarding that remarks made by ESPN broadcaster Chris Fowler after the Serbian champion's win over Taylor Fritz during the US Open last eight. Look – Fritz is the United States, Fowler is from the US – and athletic competitions frequently encourage nationalism. Some letdown was understandable. Instead, he brought up the continued absence of US male players at grand slam tournaments: none of them had lifted a trophy since Andy Roddick in 2003, and Fritz had been the final representative in the tournament.

Everyone enjoy a storyline, me too. But come on. Even if Fritz had beaten Djokovic for the first time, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was looming in the next round, who Fritz has yet to beat in an official match. And if he’d someway gotten past that, it would have been defending champion 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 (and the Spaniard went on to thrash a tired Djokovic in the next round). Fritz said in post-match interviews after the loss that he in fact liked his draw, because it offered the chance to beat the top three players in the world in succession. Fritz is well justified 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 US winners on the brain?

Coco Gauff’s second serve the sole barrier standing in her way and sustained success

Fritz, twenty-eight, is placed fourth in the global rankings starting the upcoming ATP World Tour Finals and has secured his previous six encounters over No 3 Alexander Zverev with increasing ease. It's likely he might claim that position for himself in the coming years. But it’s clear that right now, that is as high as he can climb: Sinner and Alcaraz lie a chasm of performance metrics away. Fritz’s elite delivery and concussive strength on both forehand and backhand are sufficiently adequate to defeat the majority of rivals on the professional circuit. Against the handful of once-in-a-lifetime players, though, Fritz is frequently overmatched. The last several seasons has seen the interesting emergence of lanky, towering athletes who can nonetheless cover the court with the alarming quickness and fluidity of much shorter players. Fritz is 6ft 5ins and looks it. His footwork is rigid, as if he’s still getting used to his legs. So he’ll rarely steal a point that the other player was dictating, and playing a soft shot versus him is typically a reliable tactic. That acts as a quite harsh limitation on his potential.

Fritz has made a number of significant, improbable advancements throughout his career. At the beginning of the ten-year period, he was hovering around the lower end of the top 30. 24 months later, he was sniffing the top 10. The previous season, he suddenly exploded up to fourth place – and maintained the position. But the next leap, mixing it up with and beating all-time-greats like the young Spaniard, Sinner, and including a aging Djokovic, is the highest of all. What could the commentator have been thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to beat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate mentioning the continuing drought of American men winning major titles when he had exited the New York major in the quarter-finals? The desperation is just excessive and the appreciation for the difficulty of the task too little.

The American star achieved a personal best run to the Wimbledon last four in July.

The American's performance in that exact quarter-final ought to have been enough of an indication. The Serbian won in four sets, a victory that only seemed uncertain for brief periods towards the very end, when the American had saved a couple match points and had a opportunity to hold for 5-5. The pair looked well-balanced during the exchanges, with Fritz earning plenty of opportunities to break. But the champion rescued break point after service break opportunity, extending the run to the point of frustration. When he finally did claim one of the chances at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he promptly played a terrible game to drop serve once more; Djokovic had drawn him into a skirmish peripheral to the main contest and forced him to use far too much effort to win it. Facing set points in the final game, Fritz’s first serve floated to heaven. He prolonged the match twice on his backup delivery, but finally double-faulted. It wasn’t a choke, I didn’t think, just a consequence of needing to hit too many second serves.

The match was quite ironclad proof that Fritz is insufficiently skilled to beat any form of the Serbian, who lost to Alcaraz in the next round and never particularly appeared like he believed he could triumph. This is absolutely acceptable – the Serbian is the greatest of all time, and might not be at the height of his physical powers now, but has developed enough knowledge and strategic intelligence to make up for quite a bit of the drop-off. The problem is those who were anticipating the American to win, and putting pressure on him to achieve that, when he was had not done anything that indicated he would.

Fritz is an valuable contributor to the circuit nonetheless. He’s a patient, thoughtful presence in press conferences, exceeding almost everyone on the ATP aside from the Russian star, willing to not only say his emotions or the tactic he believed decided a match, but explain it. That he ought to bear the brunt of the responsibility for America not produce a male major champion since Andy Roddick seems unfair. (Since Ben Shelton is competing alongside him in the rankings, perhaps they can divide that burden.)

ATP Finals: Singles Groups

Jimmy Connors Division

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

Bjorn Borg Group

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• Ben Shelton (US)
• The Canadian talent

“I would likely dwell on it forever if I fail to accomplish it,” the American told a journalist in the summer of winning a grand slam. It is hoped he understands that he’s not unsuccessful if he doesn’t fulfill that objective, that breaking through Alcaraz and Sinner’s young, terrifying empire is in fact extremely unlikely for everybody else. {