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I have some thoughts about that comments made by the sports network broadcaster a well-known announcer following Novak Djokovic's victory over Taylor Fritz during the US Open last eight. Consider – the athlete represents American, Fowler is American – and sports frequently encourage patriotic sentiment. Some letdown would have been understandable. Rather, Fowler brought up the ongoing absence of American men at grand slam tournaments: not one of them has won a trophy since the last American champion in 2003, and Fritz had been the final representative in the competition.

We all enjoy a narrative, me too. But come on. Suppose the American had beaten Djokovic for the first time, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was looming in the next round, whom he has yet to beat in an official match. And if he’d somehow gotten past that, it would have been title holder Jannik Sinner, against whom Fritz had dropped 10 of the last 11 sets. The two young stars had also divided the last seven grand slams (and Alcaraz went on to defeat a tired Djokovic in the next round). Fritz said in press after the loss that he in fact liked his draw, because it presented the opportunity to beat the three best competitors in the world in succession. Fritz is well within his right to aspire to the achievement; an athlete is meant to believe in themselves. But entering that Djokovic quarter-final what other person sensibly had the drought of American champions in mind?

The American star's weaker delivery the only thing between her and consistent victories

Fritz, twenty-eight, is ranked fourth in the world starting the upcoming ATP World Tour Finals and has secured his previous six matches over third-ranked Alexander Zverev with growing comfort. Presumably he might claim that position for himself in the coming years. But evidently that right now, that’s as far as he can rise: Sinner and Alcaraz sit a vast gap of ranking points away. Fritz’s top-class serve and concussive strength on both front side and reverse side are more than adequate to defeat most rivals on the ATP tour. When facing the handful of generational talents, though, Fritz is frequently helpless. The past few years has witnessed the interesting rise of lanky, towering players who can nonetheless move around with the surprising quickness and fluidity of much shorter players. He is 6ft 5ins and appears that way. His footwork is rigid, as if he’s still getting used to his limbs. So he seldom steal a point that the opponent was controlling, and hitting a drop shot versus him is usually a reliable tactic. That serves as a quite harsh restriction on his upside.

The American has achieved a several dramatic, improbable advancements throughout his career. At the beginning of the decade, he was circling the lower end of the world's best thirty. Two years after, he was sniffing the top 10. The previous season, he unexpectedly exploded up to fourth place – and maintained the position. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and beating legendary figures like the young Spaniard, the Italian, and including a declining Djokovic, is the highest of all. What could the commentator thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to beat them all back-to-back? That it was worth commenting on the ongoing drought of US male players winning grand slams when he had departed the New York major in the quarter-finals? The desperation is simply excessive and the respect for the magnitude of the task insufficient.

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

The American's play in that very quarter-final should have been sufficient of an sign. The Serbian won in four rounds, a win that only seemed tenuous for brief periods towards the very end, when Fritz had survived a couple championship opportunities and had a chance to hold for 5-5. The pair appeared well-balanced during the rallies, with Fritz earning numerous opportunities to win the opponent's serve. But the champion saved service break opportunity after service break opportunity, extending the streak to the brink of frustration. When he eventually did claim a single of the opportunities at 5-5 in the second set, he promptly played a horrendous game to lose his own serve again; the Serbian had drawn him into a skirmish secondary to the real battle and compelled him to expend excessive effort to win it. Down set points in the last game, Fritz’s primary delivery floated to the sky. He extended the match two times on his backup delivery, but finally double-faulted. It was not a collapse, in my opinion, only a result of needing to hit an excessive number of weaker deliveries.

The match was fairly ironclad evidence that the American is insufficiently skilled to defeat any version of the Serbian, that was defeated by the Spaniard in the following match and did not particularly appeared like he believed he could triumph. This is absolutely fine – the Serbian is the best player ever, and might not be at the peak of his physical powers now, but has acquired enough experience and strategic intelligence to make up for quite a bit of the decline. The issue is those who were expecting Fritz to prevail, and pressuring him to do so, when he was had not accomplished anything that indicated he could.

The American is an valuable contributor to the circuit nonetheless. He’s a patient, thoughtful voice in media sessions, more so than almost everyone on the ATP except for Daniil Medvedev, prepared to not just say how he feels or the tactic he believed decided a contest, but explain it. That he ought to shoulder the majority of the blame for America failing to produce a men's grand slam winner since the last American titlist feels unfair. (Now that the fellow American is rubbing shoulders with him in the standings, perhaps they can divide that burden.)

ATP Finals: Player Divisions

American legend Division

• The Spanish phenom
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Bjorn Borg Division

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

“I would likely think about it indefinitely if I fail to do it,” Fritz told an interviewer in the summer of claiming a grand slam. It is hoped he understands that he’s not a failure if he does not achieve that objective, that overcoming the Spanish and Italian's young, terrifying empire is actually highly unlikely for all other players. {