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I have some thoughts regarding that comments delivered by the sports network commentator Chris Fowler following Novak Djokovic's win over Taylor Fritz in the US Open quarter-finals. Consider – Fritz is the United States, the commentator is from the US – and sports frequently encourage nationalism. A little bit of disappointment would have been understandable. Rather, Fowler invoked the continued absence of US male players at the majors: none of them had lifted a trophy since the last American champion in 2003, and Fritz had been the final representative in the tournament.

Everyone love a storyline, myself included. But really. Suppose Fritz defeated the legend for the first time, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was waiting in the following match, whom Fritz has never defeated in an official match. And had he someway survived that, it would have been defending champion the Italian, against whom the American had dropped 10 of the last 11 sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also divided the previous seven grand slams (and Alcaraz proceeded to thrash a fatigued Djokovic in the subsequent match). Fritz said in post-match interviews following his defeat that he actually liked his path, because it offered the opportunity to beat the top three competitors in the sport in succession. He is well justified to aim for the achievement; an athlete is meant to believe in themselves. But entering that Serbian quarter-final who else sensibly had the drought of US winners on the brain?

Coco Gauff’s second serve the only thing between her and consistent victories

The American, twenty-eight, is placed number four in the world starting the upcoming year-end championships and has won his last six matches over No 3 Alexander Zverev with growing comfort. Presumably he could claim that position for himself in the coming years. But it’s clear that at present, that’s as high as he can climb: Sinner and Alcaraz lie a chasm of performance metrics away. Fritz’s elite delivery and concussive power on both front side and reverse side are more than enough to dispose of the majority of rivals on the ATP tour. When facing the handful of generational talents, though, he is frequently helpless. The past few years has witnessed the curious emergence of lanky, towering athletes who can nonetheless cover the court with the alarming speed and grace of much shorter players. He is 6ft 5ins and appears that way. His movement is rigid, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his legs. So he’ll rarely steal a point that the opponent was controlling, and playing a drop shot against him is usually a safe bet. That serves as a quite severe restriction on his upside.

Fritz has achieved a number of significant, unexpected advancements over the years. At the beginning of the decade, he was circling the lower end of the top 30. 24 months later, he was approaching the elite ten. The previous season, he unexpectedly surged up to No 4 – and maintained the position. But the next leap, mixing it up with and defeating all-time-greats like the young Spaniard, Sinner, and even a declining Serbian, is the toughest of all. What could the commentator thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was worth commenting on the continuing drought of US male players lifting major titles when Fritz had departed the US Open in the quarter-finals? The thirst is simply too much and the appreciation for the magnitude of the task insufficient.

Taylor Fritz achieved a personal best advancement to the All England Club last four in July.

Fritz’s play in that exact last eight match should have been enough of an indication. The Serbian triumphed in four sets, a win that only seemed tenuous for brief periods towards the conclusion, when Fritz 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 creating plenty of opportunities to break. But Djokovic rescued break point after service break opportunity, extending the streak to the brink of agony. When he finally did claim one of the opportunities at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he promptly played a terrible service game to drop serve again; the Serbian had drawn 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 final game, his first serve floated to the sky. 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 weaker deliveries.

The match was fairly compelling evidence that Fritz is insufficiently skilled to defeat any version of Djokovic, that was defeated by Alcaraz in the next round and did not particularly seem 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 anymore, but has acquired sufficient knowledge and strategic intelligence to make up for a significant portion of the drop-off. The issue is the individuals who were anticipating Fritz to win, and putting pressure on him to do so, when he was yet to done anything that indicated he would.

The American is an valuable contributor to the circuit regardless. He’s a calm, thoughtful voice in media sessions, more so than almost everyone on the men's tour aside from the Russian star, prepared to not just express how he feels or the strategy he felt decided a contest, but clarify it. That he ought to shoulder the majority of the blame for America failing to spawn a men's grand slam winner since Andy Roddick seems unfair. (Since the fellow American is competing alongside him in the rankings, perhaps they can share that burden.)

Year-End Championships: Singles Groups

American legend Division

• Carlos Alcaraz (Sp)
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Bjorn Borg Division

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

“I’d probably dwell on it forever if I don’t do it,” the American informed an interviewer in the summer of winning a grand slam. It is hoped he realizes that he’s not unsuccessful if he doesn’t achieve that objective, that breaking through Alcaraz and Sinner’s young, terrifying reign is in fact extremely unlikely for all other players. {