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I possess some opinions about the comments made by the sports network commentator Chris Fowler following the Serbian champion's victory over Taylor Fritz in the New York major last eight. Consider – Fritz is American, Fowler is American – and athletic competitions often lend themselves to patriotic sentiment. Some disappointment would have been appropriate. Rather, he brought up the ongoing absence of American men at grand slam tournaments: none of them had lifted a title since the last American champion in 2003, and he had been the final representative in the competition.

We all love a narrative, me too. But really. Even if the American had beaten the legend for the first time, phenomenal talent Carlos Alcaraz was waiting in the following match, whom Fritz has yet to beat in an competitive encounter. And if he’d somehow survived that, it would have been defending champion Jannik Sinner, against whom Fritz had lost 10 of the previous eleven sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also divided the last seven major titles (and the Spaniard went on to thrash a fatigued Serbian in the next round). He stated in post-match interviews after the loss that he actually liked his path, because it presented the chance to defeat the top three competitors in the sport back-to-back. He is more than justified to aim for the accomplishment; an athlete is meant to believe in themselves. But entering that Serbian last eight match what other person in their right mind had the drought of American champions in mind?

Coco Gauff’s weaker delivery the sole barrier between her and sustained success

The American, twenty-eight, is ranked number four in the global rankings entering this week’s year-end championships and has won his last six encounters over third-ranked Alexander Zverev with growing comfort. It's likely he could take that spot for himself in the future. But it’s clear that at present, that is as far as he can climb: Sinner and Alcaraz sit a chasm of ranking points away. Fritz’s elite serve and concussive strength on both front side and reverse side are sufficiently adequate to dispose of the majority of opponents on the ATP tour. When facing the handful of once-in-a-lifetime players, however, he is often overmatched. The last several years has seen the curious rise of lanky, towering players who can nevertheless cover the court with the surprising speed and grace of smaller men. Fritz is 6ft 5ins and appears that way. 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 controlling, and playing a soft shot against him is usually a reliable tactic. That serves as a pretty harsh limitation on his potential.

The American has achieved a several dramatic, improbable advancements throughout his career. Early on of the ten-year period, he was circling the bottom of the world's best thirty. 24 months after, he was approaching the top 10. The previous season, he unexpectedly surged up to No 4 – and held the spot. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and defeating legendary figures like the young Spaniard, Sinner, and even a aging Serbian, is the toughest of all. What could the commentator thinking? That Fritz, 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 winning grand slams when Fritz had departed the New York major in the quarter-finals? The thirst is just excessive and the respect for the magnitude of the task too little.

Taylor Fritz made a career-best run to the Wimbledon last four in July.

The American's performance in that exact quarter-final should 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 match points and had a chance to hold for 5-5. The pair looked evenly matched during the exchanges, with Fritz creating numerous chances to win the opponent's serve. But the champion rescued break point after service break opportunity, prolonging the streak to the point of agony. When he finally did convert a single of the chances at 5-5 in the second set, he promptly played a terrible service game to drop serve again; the Serbian had lulled him into a battle peripheral to the real battle and compelled him to use far too much effort to win it. Facing set points in the final game, Fritz’s primary delivery floated to the sky. He prolonged the contest two times on his backup delivery, but finally committed two errors. It was not a collapse, I didn’t think, just a consequence of needing to hit an excessive number of weaker deliveries.

The match was quite compelling proof that the American is not good enough to defeat any version of the Serbian, that lost to the Spaniard in the next round and never particularly seem like he thought he could win. This is absolutely acceptable – Djokovic is the greatest of all time, and may not be at the peak of his athletic abilities anymore, but has acquired enough knowledge and tactical know-how to compensate for quite a bit of the drop-off. The problem is those who were expecting the American to win, and pressuring him to achieve that, when he was yet to accomplished anything that suggested he could.

The American is an valuable contributor to the tour regardless. He’s a calm, thoughtful voice in media sessions, more so than virtually anyone on the men's tour aside from Daniil Medvedev, prepared to not only express how he feels or the tactic he believed determined a match, but clarify it. That he ought to shoulder the majority of the responsibility for America not produce a men's grand slam winner since Andy Roddick feels unfair. (Now that Ben Shelton is competing alongside him in the standings, maybe they can divide that burden.)

ATP Finals: Player Divisions

American legend Division

• The Spanish phenom
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• The Italian stylist

Swedish icon Group

• The Italian champion
• The German powerhouse
• The rising American
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I’d probably think about it indefinitely if I don’t do it,” the American informed a journalist in June of winning a major. I hope he realizes that he’s not unsuccessful if he doesn’t achieve that objective, that overcoming Alcaraz and Sinner’s young, terrifying reign is in fact extremely unlikely for everybody else. {