🔗 Share this article

I possess a few thoughts about that remarks delivered by ESPN broadcaster Chris Fowler following the Serbian champion's win over the American player in the New York major last eight. Consider – Fritz is the United States, Fowler is American – and athletic competitions often encourage nationalism. A little bit of disappointment was understandable. Rather, he brought up the continued drought of US male players at the majors: not one of them has won a trophy since the last American champion in 2003, and Fritz had been the last one standing in the tournament.

Everyone love a storyline, myself included. But come on. Suppose Fritz had beaten Djokovic for the initial occasion, force of nature the Spanish star was looming in the next round, whom he has yet to beat in an competitive encounter. And if he’d somehow gotten past that, it would have been title holder the Italian, versus him the American had dropped 10 of the previous eleven sets. The two young stars had also divided the previous seven major titles (plus the Spaniard proceeded to thrash a tired Serbian in the subsequent match). He stated in press following his defeat that he actually liked his path, because it offered the opportunity to beat the three best competitors in the world back-to-back. He is well within his right to aim for the achievement; an competitor is supposed to have faith in themselves. But going into that Serbian quarter-final what other person sensibly had the drought of US winners on the brain?

Coco Gauff’s weaker delivery the sole barrier standing in her way and consistent victories

Fritz, twenty-eight, is ranked fourth in the global rankings entering this week’s year-end championships and has secured his last six matches over No 3 Alexander Zverev with increasing ease. Presumably he might 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 lie a chasm of performance metrics away. His elite delivery and powerful strength on both front side and reverse side are sufficiently adequate to defeat the majority of rivals on the ATP tour. When facing the select few once-in-a-lifetime players, however, he is frequently helpless. The last several years has witnessed the interesting emergence of tall, gangly athletes who can nonetheless move around with the alarming speed and grace of much shorter players. He is six-foot-five and looks it. His movement is stiff, as if he’s still getting used to his legs. So he’ll rarely win a rally that the opponent was dictating, and hitting a drop shot versus him is usually a reliable tactic. That serves as a quite harsh limitation on his upside.

Fritz has achieved a number of significant, improbable improvements throughout his career. Early on of the ten-year period, he was circling the lower end of the world's best thirty. Two years after, he was sniffing the elite ten. The previous season, he unexpectedly surged to No 4 – and maintained the spot. But the subsequent step, competing against and beating legendary figures like Alcaraz, Sinner, and even a declining Serbian, is the highest of all. What was the commentator thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to beat them all back-to-back? That it was worth mentioning the continuing slump of American men lifting major titles when he had departed the New York major in the quarter-finals? The desperation is simply too much and the appreciation for the magnitude of the challenge too little.

The American star achieved a career-best advancement to the Wimbledon semi-finals in the summer.

The American's play in that exact quarter-final should have been enough of an sign. The Serbian won in four sets, a victory that only felt uncertain for moments towards the very end, when the American had saved a couple match points and had a chance to maintain serve for 5-5. The pair looked evenly matched during the rallies, with Fritz earning plenty of opportunities to break. But the champion saved break point after break point, extending the run to the brink of agony. When Fritz eventually did claim one of the chances at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he immediately played a terrible game to drop serve once more; Djokovic had lulled him into a skirmish peripheral to the main contest and forced him to expend excessive energy to prevail. Facing match points in the last game, his first serve floated to the sky. He extended the match twice on his backup delivery, but ultimately double-faulted. It wasn’t a choke, in my opinion, only a consequence of having to hit an excessive number of second serves.

The contest was fairly ironclad evidence that Fritz is not good enough to beat any form of the Serbian, that lost to the Spaniard in the next round and never particularly appeared like he thought he could win. This is absolutely fine – the Serbian is the best player ever, and may not be at the peak of his athletic abilities anymore, but has developed enough knowledge and tactical know-how to compensate for quite a bit of the drop-off. The problem is the individuals who were expecting Fritz to prevail, and putting pressure on him to do so, when he was had not done anything that indicated he would.

The American is an asset to the circuit regardless. He’s a patient, reflective presence in press conferences, more so than virtually everyone on the men's tour aside from the Russian star, willing to not only say his emotions or the tactic he believed determined a contest, but clarify it. That he should shoulder the majority of the responsibility for the United States not produce a men's grand slam winner since Andy Roddick feels unjust. (Now that the fellow American is competing alongside him in the standings, perhaps they can divide that load.)

Year-End Championships: Player Divisions

American legend Division

• The Spanish phenom
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• The Australian speedster
• The Italian stylist

Bjorn Borg Division

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• Ben Shelton (US)
• The Canadian talent

“I’d probably dwell on it forever if I don’t do it,” the American told an interviewer in the summer of claiming a grand slam. It is hoped he understands that he’s not a failure if he doesn’t fulfill that goal, that breaking through the Spanish and Italian's young, terrifying reign is in fact highly improbable for everybody else. {