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I possess a few thoughts about the remarks delivered by the sports network commentator a well-known announcer following Novak Djokovic's victory over Taylor Fritz in the New York major last eight. Consider – the athlete represents American, Fowler is American – and athletic competitions often encourage patriotic sentiment. Some letdown would have been appropriate. Rather, Fowler invoked the ongoing absence of American men 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 tournament.

Everyone love a narrative, myself included. But come on. Even if the American defeated the legend for the first time, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was waiting in the following match, who he has yet to beat in an competitive encounter. And if he’d somehow survived that, it would have been defending champion the Italian, against whom the American had dropped 10 of the previous eleven sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also split the previous seven grand slams (plus Alcaraz proceeded to thrash a fatigued Serbian in the next round). Fritz said in press after the loss that he in fact preferred his path, because it offered the opportunity to defeat the three best competitors in the sport back-to-back. Fritz is well within his right to aspire to the accomplishment; an athlete is supposed to have faith in themselves. But going into that Djokovic quarter-final who else in their right mind had the drought of US winners on the brain?

Coco Gauff’s second serve the only thing between her and sustained success

The American, 28, is ranked number four in the world starting this week’s year-end championships and has won his last six matches over No 3 the German with growing comfort. It's likely he could take that spot for himself in the future. But it’s clear that right now, that’s as far as he can climb: The Italian and Spaniard sit a vast gap of ranking points away. His top-class serve and powerful strength on each front side and reverse side are more than enough to dispose of most opponents on the professional circuit. Against the handful of generational talents, though, he is often overmatched. The past few seasons has seen the interesting rise of lanky, towering athletes who can nevertheless move around with the alarming speed and fluidity of smaller players. He is six-foot-five and looks it. His footwork is stiff, as if he’s still getting used to his legs. So he seldom win a rally that the other player was dictating, and hitting a soft shot versus him is usually a safe bet. That serves as a pretty severe restriction on his upside.

Fritz has achieved a several significant, improbable advancements over the years. Early on of the ten-year period, he was hovering around the lower end of the top 30. 24 months after, he was sniffing the elite ten. Last year, he suddenly exploded to No 4 – and maintained the position. But the next leap, mixing it up with and beating all-time-greats like the young Spaniard, the Italian, and including a aging Serbian, is the highest of all. What could Fowler thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a serious threat to beat them all back-to-back? That it was worth mentioning the continuing slump of American men lifting grand slams when Fritz had departed the New York major in the quarter-finals? The thirst is just excessive and the appreciation for the difficulty of the task insufficient.

The American star achieved a career-best run to the Wimbledon semi-finals in the summer.

Fritz’s performance in that very last eight match ought to have been enough of an sign. Djokovic won in four sets, a victory that only seemed tenuous for brief periods towards the very end, when the American had survived a few championship opportunities and had a chance to hold for 5-5. The pair looked well-balanced during the rallies, with the American earning plenty of opportunities to break. But the champion saved break point after break point, prolonging the run to the brink of agony. When Fritz eventually did convert a single of the chances at 5-5 in the second set, he immediately produced a horrendous service game to lose his own serve again; the Serbian had lulled him into a battle peripheral to the real battle and forced him to expend far too much effort to prevail. Facing match points in the last game, Fritz’s primary delivery floated to the sky. He prolonged the contest two times on his backup delivery, but finally double-faulted. It was not a choke, I didn’t think, just a result of needing to hit an excessive number of second serves.

The contest was fairly compelling evidence that Fritz is insufficiently skilled to beat any version of the Serbian, who lost to Alcaraz in the following match and never especially appeared 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 anymore, but has developed sufficient knowledge and tactical know-how to make up for quite a bit of the drop-off. The issue is those who were anticipating Fritz to prevail, and putting pressure on him to achieve that, when he was had not accomplished anything that indicated he would.

The American is an asset to the circuit nonetheless. He’s a patient, thoughtful presence in media sessions, exceeding almost everyone on the men's tour aside from Daniil Medvedev, willing to not only express how he feels or the tactic he felt decided a contest, but clarify it. That he should shoulder the majority of the responsibility for the United States not spawn a men's grand slam winner since the last American titlist seems unfair. (Since Ben Shelton is competing alongside him in the standings, perhaps they can share that burden.)

Year-End Championships: Player Divisions

American legend Division

• The Spanish phenom
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• The Australian speedster
• The Italian stylist

Swedish icon Group

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• The German powerhouse
• The rising American
• The Canadian talent

“I would likely think about it indefinitely if I don’t accomplish it,” Fritz told an interviewer in June of winning a grand slam. I hope he realizes that he’s not a failure if he does not achieve that objective, that breaking through the Spanish and Italian's dominant, formidable reign is actually extremely unlikely for all other players. {