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I possess a few opinions about that comments made by the sports network commentator a well-known announcer following Novak Djokovic's win over Taylor Fritz in the New York major last eight. Look – Fritz is American, Fowler is American – and sports frequently encourage patriotic sentiment. Some letdown was appropriate. Rather, he brought up the continued absence of American men at grand slam tournaments: none of them has won a title since the last American champion in 2003, and he had been the final representative in the tournament.

We all love a narrative, myself included. But really. Even if Fritz had beaten the legend for the initial occasion, force of nature the Spanish star was looming in the following match, who he has yet to beat in an competitive encounter. And if he’d somehow gotten past that, it would have been title holder the Italian, versus him the American had lost 10 of the previous eleven sets. The two young stars had also divided the previous seven major titles (and the Spaniard went on to defeat a tired Serbian in the next round). Fritz stated in post-match interviews following his defeat that he actually preferred his path, because it offered the opportunity to beat the top three players in the sport in succession. He is more than justified to aspire to the accomplishment; an athlete is supposed to have faith in themselves. But going into that Djokovic last eight match what other person in their right mind had the lack of American champions in mind?

The American star's weaker delivery the only thing between her and sustained success

The American, 28, is ranked fourth in the world entering this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has won his previous six matches over third-ranked the German with increasing ease. It's likely he might take that spot for himself in the coming years. But it’s clear that right now, that’s as far as he can rise: The Italian and Spaniard sit a vast gap of ranking points away. Fritz’s elite serve and powerful strength on each forehand and backhand are sufficiently adequate to dispose of most rivals on the ATP tour. Against the handful of generational talents, though, he is often overmatched. The last several years has witnessed the interesting rise of tall, gangly athletes who can nonetheless move around with the alarming speed and fluidity of much shorter players. Fritz is six-foot-five and looks it. His footwork is rigid, as if he’s still getting used to his limbs. So he seldom win a rally that the other player was controlling, and playing a drop shot against him is usually a reliable tactic. That acts as a pretty severe limitation on his potential.

Fritz has achieved a number of significant, improbable advancements over the years. Early on of the decade, he was circling the bottom of the top 30. Two years later, he was approaching the elite ten. The previous season, he suddenly surged up to No 4 – and held the spot. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and beating all-time-greats like Alcaraz, the Italian, and including a aging Djokovic, is the highest of all. What was Fowler thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was worth mentioning the ongoing drought of American men lifting grand slams when he had departed the New York major in the quarter-finals? The thirst is simply excessive and the appreciation for the difficulty of the task insufficient.

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

The American's performance in that very quarter-final ought to have been enough of an indication. Djokovic won in four rounds, a win that only seemed uncertain for moments towards the very end, when Fritz had saved a couple match points and had a opportunity to hold for 5-5. The pair appeared evenly matched during the rallies, with the American earning numerous opportunities to break. But the champion saved break point after service break opportunity, extending the streak to the point of frustration. When he finally did convert a single of the opportunities at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he promptly produced a terrible service game to drop serve once more; Djokovic had lulled him into a battle secondary to the real battle and forced him to use excessive energy to prevail. Down set points in the last game, Fritz’s primary delivery sailed to the sky. He extended the contest two times on his second serve, but finally committed two errors. It was not a collapse, in my opinion, just 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 form of the Serbian, that lost to Alcaraz in the next round and did not especially 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 athletic abilities anymore, but has developed sufficient knowledge and strategic intelligence to compensate for quite a bit of the drop-off. The issue is those who were anticipating the American to prevail, and putting pressure on him to do so, when he was had not done anything that suggested he could.

The American is an asset to the circuit regardless. He’s a calm, thoughtful presence in media sessions, exceeding almost anyone on the men's tour except for Daniil Medvedev, willing to not just express how he feels or the tactic he felt determined a match, but explain 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 the fellow American is competing alongside him in the rankings, perhaps they can divide that load.)

ATP Finals: Singles Groups

Jimmy Connors Group

• The Spanish phenom
• The American contender
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• The Italian stylist

Swedish icon Group

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• The German powerhouse
• Ben Shelton (US)
• The Canadian talent

“I’d probably think about it indefinitely if I don’t accomplish it,” the American told a journalist in June of claiming a grand slam. I hope he realizes that he’s not a failure if he doesn’t achieve that goal, that overcoming Alcaraz and Sinner’s young, terrifying empire is actually extremely unlikely for everybody else. {