🔗 Share this article

I possess some opinions regarding the comments made by ESPN commentator Chris Fowler after Novak Djokovic's victory over Taylor Fritz during the US Open last eight. Look – Fritz is American, Fowler is American – and athletic competitions often lend themselves to nationalism. A little bit of disappointment would have been appropriate. Rather, he brought up the continued absence of US male players at grand slam tournaments: none of them has won a trophy since Andy Roddick in 2003, and he had been the final representative in the competition.

Everyone love a narrative, myself included. But really. Even if Fritz had beaten Djokovic for the first time, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was waiting in the next round, whom Fritz has never defeated in an official match. And if he’d someway survived that, it would have been defending champion the Italian, versus him Fritz had lost 10 of the previous eleven sets. The two young stars had also split the last seven grand slams (and the Spaniard proceeded to defeat a tired Djokovic in the next round). He said in post-match interviews following his defeat that he in fact preferred his path, because it offered the chance to defeat the top three players in the world in succession. He is more than justified to aim for the achievement; an athlete is meant to believe in themselves. But going into that Serbian last eight match who else in their right mind had the lack of US winners in mind?

Coco Gauff’s second serve the only thing between her and sustained success

Fritz, 28, is placed number four in the world starting this week’s year-end championships and has won his last six matches over third-ranked Alexander Zverev with growing comfort. Presumably he could claim that position for himself in the coming years. But it’s clear that at present, that’s as far as he can climb: The Italian and Spaniard lie a vast gap of ranking points away. His top-class serve and powerful power on each front side and reverse side are sufficiently enough to defeat the majority of opponents on the professional circuit. When facing the select few once-in-a-lifetime players, however, Fritz is often overmatched. The past few years has seen the interesting emergence of tall, gangly athletes who can nonetheless cover the court with the surprising quickness and grace of much shorter men. He is 6ft 5ins and appears that way. His movement is rigid, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his limbs. So he seldom win a rally that the other player was controlling, and hitting a drop shot against him is usually a reliable tactic. That acts as a pretty severe limitation on his upside.

Fritz has achieved a number of dramatic, unexpected advancements over the years. At the beginning of the decade, he was hovering around the lower end of the world's best thirty. Two years later, he was approaching the elite ten. Last year, he suddenly exploded to fourth place – and held the position. But the subsequent step, competing against and defeating legendary figures like Alcaraz, the Italian, and even a aging Serbian, is the highest of all. What was the commentator 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 US Open in the quarter-finals? The desperation is simply too much and the respect for the difficulty of the task too little.

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

The American's play in that very last eight match ought to have been sufficient of an indication. The Serbian triumphed in four sets, a victory that only felt tenuous 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 exchanges, with the American creating plenty of chances to break. But Djokovic saved service break opportunity after break point, extending the streak to the brink of frustration. When he finally did convert one of the chances at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he immediately produced a terrible game to lose his own serve once more; Djokovic had drawn him into a battle secondary to the real battle and forced him to expend far too much energy to win it. Facing match points in the final game, his primary delivery sailed to heaven. He prolonged the match twice on his second serve, but finally double-faulted. It wasn’t a collapse, I didn’t think, just a result of having to hit too many second serves.

The match was fairly compelling proof that the American is not good enough to beat any form of the Serbian, who lost to the Spaniard in the next round and never particularly appeared like he thought he could win. This is perfectly acceptable – Djokovic is the best player ever, and might not be at the peak of his physical powers now, but has acquired enough knowledge and tactical know-how to compensate for quite a bit of the drop-off. The problem is those who were expecting Fritz to prevail, and putting pressure on him to do so, when he was yet to accomplished anything that indicated he could.

Fritz is an asset to the tour nonetheless. He’s a calm, thoughtful voice in press conferences, more so than almost everyone on the ATP aside from the Russian star, prepared to not just express his emotions or the strategy he believed decided a contest, but explain it. That he should shoulder the majority of the blame for America not produce a men's grand slam winner since the last American titlist seems unfair. (Since Ben Shelton is rubbing shoulders with him in the rankings, perhaps they can divide that burden.)

ATP Finals: Singles Groups

American legend Division

• The Spanish phenom
• The American contender
• The Australian speedster
• The Italian stylist

Swedish icon Division

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• The rising American
• The Canadian talent

“I would likely think about it indefinitely if I fail to accomplish it,” Fritz told an interviewer in June of claiming a major. It is hoped he realizes that he’s not unsuccessful if he doesn’t achieve that objective, that breaking through the Spanish and Italian's young, terrifying empire is in fact highly improbable for everybody else. {