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I possess a few opinions about the comments made by the sports network broadcaster a well-known announcer after Novak Djokovic's victory over the American player during the US Open quarter-finals. Consider – Fritz is the United States, the commentator is American – and sports often encourage patriotic sentiment. A little bit of disappointment would have been understandable. Rather, Fowler brought up the continued drought of American men at the majors: none of them has won a title since Andy Roddick in 2003, and Fritz had been the last one standing in the competition.

We all love a storyline, me too. But come on. Suppose Fritz defeated the legend for the first time, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was waiting in the following match, who he has never defeated in an official match. And had he somehow gotten past that, it would have been title holder Jannik Sinner, against whom the American had lost 10 of the last 11 sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also split the last seven major titles (plus Alcaraz proceeded to thrash a tired Serbian in the subsequent match). He said in press following his defeat that he in fact preferred his draw, because it offered the chance to beat the three best competitors in the world back-to-back. Fritz is more than justified to aim for the achievement; an competitor is supposed to have faith in themselves. But entering that Djokovic last eight match who else sensibly had the drought of US winners in mind?

The American star's weaker delivery the only thing standing in her way and consistent victories

Fritz, 28, is ranked fourth in the world starting this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has secured his previous six matches over No 3 Alexander Zverev with increasing ease. It's likely he might claim that position for himself in the coming years. But evidently that at present, that’s as far as he can rise: The Italian and Spaniard sit a chasm of ranking points away. His top-class serve and concussive strength on each front side and reverse side are sufficiently enough to dispose of the majority of rivals on the ATP tour. Against the select few generational talents, though, Fritz is frequently overmatched. The past few seasons has witnessed the curious emergence of tall, gangly athletes who can nevertheless move around with the alarming speed and grace of much shorter players. Fritz is six-foot-five and appears that way. His movement is rigid, as if he’s still getting used to his legs. So he’ll rarely steal a point that the opponent was dictating, and hitting a drop shot versus him is typically a safe bet. That acts as a quite severe restriction on his upside.

The American has made a number of dramatic, improbable advancements throughout his career. Early on of the decade, he was hovering around the lower end of the top 30. Two years after, he was sniffing the top 10. The previous season, he unexpectedly exploded to fourth place – and maintained the position. But the subsequent step, competing against and defeating legendary figures like Alcaraz, the Italian, and including a aging Djokovic, is the toughest of all. What was Fowler have been thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a serious threat to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was worth commenting on the continuing slump of US male players lifting grand slams when he had departed the New York major in the quarter-finals? The desperation is simply too much and the respect for the difficulty of the challenge too little.

The American star achieved a career-best advancement to the All England Club semi-finals in July.

The American's play in that very last eight match should have been sufficient of an sign. Djokovic won in four rounds, a win that only seemed tenuous for brief periods towards the very end, when the American had survived a few match points and had a opportunity to maintain serve for 5-5. The pair looked well-balanced during the exchanges, with the American earning plenty of opportunities to break. But Djokovic saved service break opportunity after service break opportunity, extending the streak to the point of frustration. When he finally did claim one of the chances at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he immediately played a horrendous game to drop serve once more; Djokovic had lulled him into a skirmish peripheral to the real battle and compelled him to expend far too much effort to win it. Down set points in the final game, his first serve sailed to the sky. He extended the match two times on his second serve, but finally committed two errors. It wasn’t a collapse, in my opinion, just a consequence of having to hit an excessive number of weaker deliveries.

The contest was quite ironclad evidence that Fritz is insufficiently skilled to defeat any version of the Serbian, who was defeated by the Spaniard in the following match and did not especially appeared like he thought he could triumph. This is absolutely fine – Djokovic is the best player ever, and may not be at the peak of his athletic abilities now, but has developed enough knowledge and strategic intelligence to make up for quite a bit of the decline. The problem is the individuals who were expecting Fritz to win, and putting pressure on him to achieve that, when he was yet to done anything that indicated he could.

Fritz is an valuable contributor to the circuit regardless. He’s a patient, thoughtful presence in press conferences, exceeding virtually everyone on the ATP except for Daniil Medvedev, willing to not just say how he feels or the strategy he believed determined a match, but explain it. That he ought to bear the brunt of the blame for America failing to produce a male major champion since the last American titlist feels unfair. (Now that the fellow American is competing alongside him in the rankings, maybe they can share that burden.)

Year-End Championships: Player Divisions

American legend Group

• Carlos Alcaraz (Sp)
• The American contender
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Bjorn Borg Division

• The Italian champion
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• The rising American
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I would likely dwell on it indefinitely if I don’t do it,” Fritz informed an interviewer in the summer of claiming a grand slam. I hope he understands that he’s not unsuccessful if he doesn’t achieve that goal, that overcoming the Spanish and Italian's dominant, formidable empire is in fact highly improbable for everybody else. {