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I have a few thoughts regarding that remarks made by ESPN commentator Chris Fowler after Novak Djokovic's win over Taylor Fritz during the New York major last eight. Consider – Fritz is the United States, the commentator is American – and athletic competitions frequently lend themselves to patriotic sentiment. Some letdown would have been appropriate. Instead, Fowler invoked the continued absence of US male players at the majors: none of them had lifted a trophy since the last American champion in 2003, and he had been the final representative in the competition.

Everyone love a storyline, myself included. But come on. Even if Fritz defeated the legend for the first time, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was waiting in the following match, who Fritz has yet to beat in an official match. And if he’d someway survived that, it would have been defending champion Jannik Sinner, against whom Fritz had lost 10 of the last 11 sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also divided the previous seven grand slams (and the Spaniard went on to defeat a tired Serbian in the next round). He stated in post-match interviews after the loss that he actually liked his draw, because it presented the opportunity to beat the three best players in the sport back-to-back. 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 lack of American champions in mind?

Coco Gauff’s second serve the sole barrier between her and consistent victories

Fritz, twenty-eight, is placed number four in the world starting this week’s year-end championships and has secured his previous six matches over No 3 the German with growing comfort. It's likely he might claim that position for himself in the coming years. But evidently that at present, that is as high as he can climb: The Italian and Spaniard sit a vast gap of performance metrics away. His top-class delivery and concussive power on each forehand and reverse side are sufficiently adequate to dispose of most rivals on the professional circuit. Against the select few generational talents, however, he is frequently overmatched. The past few years has witnessed the interesting rise of lanky, towering players who can nevertheless move around with the surprising quickness and grace of smaller players. Fritz is 6ft 5ins and looks it. His footwork is stiff, as if he’s still getting used to his limbs. So he’ll rarely win a rally that the other player was controlling, and playing a soft shot against him is usually a reliable tactic. That acts as a pretty harsh limitation on his upside.

The American has achieved a number of significant, unexpected improvements over the years. Early on of the decade, he was circling the lower end of the world's best thirty. 24 months later, he was sniffing the top 10. The previous season, he suddenly surged to No 4 – and held the position. But the next leap, competing against and beating legendary figures like the young Spaniard, Sinner, and even a declining Djokovic, is the highest of all. What could Fowler have been thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to beat them all back-to-back? That it was worth mentioning the continuing drought of American men winning grand slams when Fritz had exited the US Open in the quarter-finals? The thirst is simply excessive and the appreciation for the magnitude of the challenge insufficient.

Taylor Fritz made a personal best run to the Wimbledon semi-finals in the summer.

Fritz’s play in that very quarter-final should have been sufficient of an indication. The Serbian triumphed in four rounds, a win that only felt uncertain for moments towards the conclusion, when the American had saved a few match points and had a chance to maintain serve for 5-5. The duo appeared well-balanced during the exchanges, with Fritz creating plenty of chances to break. But the champion rescued break point after break point, extending the run to the brink of agony. When Fritz eventually did convert a single of the opportunities at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he immediately produced a terrible service game to drop serve again; Djokovic had lulled him into a battle secondary to the real battle and forced him to expend excessive effort to prevail. Down set points in the final game, Fritz’s primary delivery 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, just a result of needing to hit too many second serves.

The contest was fairly ironclad proof that Fritz is insufficiently skilled to defeat any version of the Serbian, that was defeated by Alcaraz in the following match and did not particularly appeared like he believed he could win. This is perfectly fine – Djokovic is the greatest of all time, and may not be at the peak of his physical powers now, but has developed sufficient experience and tactical know-how to make up for quite a bit of the decline. The problem is the individuals who were expecting the American to prevail, and pressuring him to do so, when he was had not accomplished anything that indicated he would.

The American is an asset to the circuit regardless. He’s a patient, thoughtful presence in media sessions, more so than almost everyone on the men's tour aside from Daniil Medvedev, willing to not only say his emotions or the strategy he believed determined a match, but clarify it. That he should bear the brunt of the blame for America failing to spawn a male major champion since Andy Roddick seems unfair. (Now that the fellow American is competing alongside him in the rankings, perhaps they can divide that burden.)

ATP Finals: Singles Groups

Jimmy Connors Group

• Carlos Alcaraz (Sp)
• The American contender
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• The Italian stylist

Bjorn Borg Group

• The Italian champion
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• The rising American
• The Canadian talent

“I’d probably think about it forever if I fail to do it,” the American told a journalist in the summer of winning a grand slam. It is hoped he realizes that he’s not a failure if he doesn’t achieve that objective, that overcoming Alcaraz and Sinner’s dominant, formidable reign is actually extremely unlikely for everybody else. {