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I have a few opinions about the remarks delivered by the sports network broadcaster a well-known announcer following the Serbian champion's win over Taylor Fritz during the US Open quarter-finals. Look – the athlete represents American, Fowler is from the US – and athletic competitions frequently encourage patriotic sentiment. Some disappointment was appropriate. Instead, he brought up the continued drought of American men at the majors: not one of them had lifted a trophy 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 really. Even if Fritz had beaten the legend for the initial occasion, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was waiting in the following match, who he has never defeated in an official match. And if he’d somehow gotten past that, it would have been defending champion Jannik Sinner, versus him the American had lost 10 of the last 11 sets. The two young stars had also divided the previous seven grand slams (plus the Spaniard went on to thrash a fatigued Djokovic in the subsequent match). He stated in post-match interviews following his defeat that he in fact preferred his path, because it offered the chance to beat the top three competitors in the sport in succession. Fritz is well within his right to aspire to the achievement; an athlete is meant to believe in themselves. But entering that Serbian quarter-final who else sensibly had the drought of American champions in mind?

Coco Gauff’s second serve the only thing between her and consistent victories

The American, twenty-eight, is ranked number four in the global rankings entering this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has secured his last six matches over third-ranked Alexander Zverev with growing comfort. It's likely he might claim that position for himself in the future. But evidently that right now, that’s as high as he can rise: Sinner and Alcaraz sit a vast gap of ranking points away. His top-class serve and powerful power on both forehand and reverse side are sufficiently adequate to dispose of the majority of rivals on the professional circuit. Against the handful of generational talents, though, Fritz is frequently helpless. The last several seasons has witnessed the interesting emergence of lanky, towering athletes who can nonetheless cover the court with the alarming speed and grace of smaller men. Fritz is 6ft 5ins and looks it. His footwork is rigid, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his limbs. So he’ll rarely steal a point that the opponent was dictating, and hitting a soft shot versus him is usually a reliable tactic. That serves as a pretty severe limitation on his potential.

The American has achieved a several significant, improbable improvements over the years. At the beginning of the ten-year period, he was hovering around the lower end of the world's best thirty. Two years after, he was sniffing the top 10. The previous season, he unexpectedly surged up to fourth place – and maintained the position. But the subsequent step, competing against and defeating all-time-greats like the young Spaniard, Sinner, and including a aging Djokovic, is the toughest of all. What was Fowler have been thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to beat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate mentioning the ongoing drought of American men lifting major titles when Fritz had departed the US Open in the quarter-finals? The thirst is just excessive and the appreciation for the difficulty of the task too little.

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

The American's performance in that exact last eight match ought to have been enough of an indication. Djokovic won in four rounds, a win that only seemed uncertain for brief periods towards the very end, when the American had saved a couple match points and had a chance to hold for 5-5. The duo looked well-balanced during the exchanges, with the American earning plenty of opportunities to win the opponent's serve. But Djokovic rescued break point after service break opportunity, extending the streak to the point of frustration. When he eventually did claim one of the opportunities at 5-5 in the second set, he immediately played a terrible game to drop serve again; the Serbian had drawn him into a battle peripheral to the main contest and compelled him to expend far too much energy to prevail. Down match points in the last game, Fritz’s first serve sailed to heaven. He prolonged the contest two times on his backup delivery, but finally double-faulted. It was not a choke, I didn’t think, only a consequence of needing to hit too many second serves.

The contest was fairly compelling evidence that the American is insufficiently skilled to beat any version of the Serbian, who was defeated by Alcaraz in the next round and did not especially appeared like he thought he could win. This is perfectly fine – Djokovic is the best player ever, and might not be at the height of his physical powers anymore, but has acquired sufficient knowledge and strategic intelligence to make up for quite a bit of the drop-off. The issue is the individuals who were anticipating Fritz to win, and pressuring him to achieve that, when he was had not accomplished anything that indicated he would.

The American is an valuable contributor to the circuit regardless. He’s a calm, reflective presence in media sessions, more so than almost everyone on the men's tour except for Daniil Medvedev, willing to not just express how he feels or the strategy he believed determined a match, but clarify it. That he should bear the brunt of the blame for the United States not produce a male major champion since Andy Roddick feels unjust. (Since the fellow American is competing alongside him in the standings, maybe they can share that burden.)

Year-End Championships: Singles Groups

American legend Division

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

Swedish icon Division

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• The German powerhouse
• Ben Shelton (US)
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I would likely dwell on it indefinitely if I fail to do it,” Fritz informed a journalist in the summer of claiming 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 empire is in fact extremely unlikely for all other players. {