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I possess a few opinions regarding that remarks made by ESPN broadcaster Chris Fowler after the Serbian champion's victory over Taylor Fritz in the US Open last eight. Look – the athlete represents the United States, Fowler is American – and sports often lend themselves to nationalism. A little bit of disappointment would have been understandable. Instead, he invoked the ongoing drought of US male players at the majors: none of them had lifted a title since the last American champion in 2003, and Fritz had been the final representative in the tournament.

We all love a storyline, myself included. But come on. Even if the American defeated the legend for the initial occasion, phenomenal talent Carlos Alcaraz was looming in the following match, who Fritz has never defeated in an competitive encounter. And had he someway survived that, it would have been title holder Jannik Sinner, versus him the American had lost 10 of the previous eleven sets. The two young stars had also split the previous seven major titles (and Alcaraz went on to thrash a tired Djokovic in the subsequent match). Fritz stated in press after the loss that he in fact preferred his draw, because it presented the chance to defeat the three best players in the world in succession. He is more than within his right to aspire to the accomplishment; an competitor 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 weaker delivery the sole barrier between her and sustained success

Fritz, 28, is ranked fourth in the global rankings starting the upcoming year-end championships and has won his previous six matches over No 3 Alexander Zverev with increasing ease. It's likely he might claim that position for himself in the future. But evidently that right now, that is as far as he can rise: The Italian and Spaniard sit a chasm of ranking points away. Fritz’s elite delivery and powerful strength on both forehand and reverse side are more than adequate to defeat most opponents on the ATP tour. Against the select few generational talents, however, Fritz is frequently overmatched. The past few seasons has witnessed the interesting emergence of lanky, towering players who can nonetheless move around with the surprising speed and fluidity of much shorter 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 seldom steal a point that the opponent was controlling, and hitting a drop shot against him is usually a reliable tactic. That acts as a quite harsh restriction on his upside.

The American has made a several significant, improbable advancements throughout his career. Early on of the decade, he was circling the lower end of the top 30. Two years after, he was sniffing the elite ten. The previous season, he unexpectedly exploded to fourth place – and maintained the position. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and defeating all-time-greats like Alcaraz, Sinner, and including a aging Serbian, is the toughest of all. What could Fowler have been thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a serious threat to beat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate mentioning the ongoing slump of American men lifting grand slams when he had exited the New York major in the quarter-finals? The thirst is just excessive and the respect for the difficulty of the challenge too little.

Taylor Fritz made a personal best run to the Wimbledon last four in the summer.

The American's play in that exact quarter-final ought to have been enough of an sign. Djokovic won in four sets, a win that only seemed uncertain for brief periods towards the very end, when the American had survived a couple match points and had a opportunity to hold for 5-5. The duo appeared well-balanced during the rallies, with Fritz creating plenty of opportunities to break. But the champion rescued service break opportunity after service break opportunity, prolonging the run to the brink of agony. When Fritz finally did convert a single of the opportunities at 5-5 in the second set, he promptly played a horrendous game to lose his own serve once more; Djokovic had lulled him into a skirmish peripheral to the main contest and compelled him to expend excessive energy to prevail. Facing set points in the last game, Fritz’s primary delivery sailed to heaven. He prolonged the match twice on his second serve, but ultimately double-faulted. It wasn’t a collapse, in my opinion, only a consequence of needing to hit too many weaker deliveries.

The contest was fairly ironclad evidence that Fritz is insufficiently skilled to defeat any version of Djokovic, who 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 may not be at the peak of his physical powers anymore, but has developed enough experience and strategic intelligence to compensate for quite a bit of the drop-off. The issue is those who were anticipating the American to win, and putting pressure on him to achieve that, when he was had not done anything that suggested he could.

Fritz is an valuable contributor to the circuit nonetheless. He’s a calm, reflective voice in press conferences, more so than almost anyone on the ATP except for Daniil Medvedev, prepared to not just say how he feels or the strategy he felt decided a match, but explain it. That he should shoulder the majority of the blame for America failing to spawn a men's grand slam winner since Andy Roddick feels unfair. (Since Ben Shelton is rubbing shoulders with him in the standings, perhaps they can share that burden.)

ATP Finals: Player Divisions

Jimmy Connors Group

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

Swedish icon Group

• The Italian champion
• The German powerhouse
• Ben Shelton (US)
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I’d probably think about it forever if I fail to accomplish it,” the American informed a journalist in June of winning a major. I hope he understands that he’s not a failure if he doesn’t fulfill that goal, that breaking through Alcaraz and Sinner’s young, terrifying empire is actually extremely improbable for all other players. {