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I have a few thoughts regarding the comments made by the sports network commentator Chris Fowler after Novak Djokovic's win over Taylor Fritz in the US Open last eight. Look – the athlete represents American, the commentator is from the US – and sports often lend themselves to nationalism. A little bit of letdown would have been appropriate. Rather, Fowler brought up the continued drought of American men at the majors: not one of them had lifted a trophy since Andy Roddick in 2003, and Fritz had been the final representative in the competition.

Everyone enjoy a storyline, me too. But come on. Suppose Fritz had beaten the legend for the first time, force of nature the Spanish star was looming in the following match, who he has never defeated in an competitive encounter. And if he’d somehow gotten past that, it would have been defending champion Jannik Sinner, against whom Fritz had dropped 10 of the last 11 sets. The two young stars had also divided the previous seven major titles (and Alcaraz went on to defeat a fatigued Djokovic in the subsequent match). He stated in press following his defeat that he actually preferred his path, because it offered the chance to beat the three best players in the sport in succession. Fritz is more than within his right to aim for the achievement; an athlete is supposed to have faith in themselves. But entering that Djokovic quarter-final who else in their right mind had the drought of American champions in mind?

Coco Gauff’s weaker delivery the only thing between her and consistent victories

Fritz, 28, is placed number four in the world starting the upcoming ATP World Tour Finals and has secured his last six encounters over third-ranked the German with growing comfort. Presumably he might take that spot 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 sit a chasm of ranking points away. His top-class serve and powerful power on both forehand and reverse side are more than adequate to defeat the majority of opponents on the ATP tour. Against the handful of generational talents, however, he is often overmatched. The last several seasons has seen the curious emergence of tall, gangly athletes who can nonetheless move around with the surprising quickness and grace of smaller players. He is 6ft 5ins and looks it. His movement is rigid, 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 drop shot against him is typically a safe bet. That serves as a pretty severe restriction on his potential.

The American has achieved a number of dramatic, improbable advancements throughout his career. At the beginning of the decade, he was hovering around the lower end of the world's best thirty. Two years later, he was sniffing the top 10. Last year, he suddenly surged to No 4 – and held the spot. But the subsequent step, competing against and beating all-time-greats like Alcaraz, Sinner, and including a aging Djokovic, is the highest of all. What was the commentator have been thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a serious threat to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate commenting on the continuing slump of US male players winning major titles when Fritz had exited the New York major in the quarter-finals? The desperation is simply excessive and the appreciation for the difficulty of the challenge insufficient.

The American star made a personal best run to the Wimbledon semi-finals in the summer.

Fritz’s play in that very last eight match should have been sufficient of an indication. Djokovic triumphed in four sets, a victory that only seemed tenuous for moments towards the very end, when the American had survived a few championship opportunities and had a chance to maintain serve for 5-5. The duo looked evenly matched during the rallies, with the American creating numerous opportunities to win the opponent's serve. But the champion saved break point after service break opportunity, prolonging the streak to the point of agony. When he eventually did claim one of the chances at 5-5 in the second set, he promptly produced a terrible service game to drop serve again; Djokovic had lulled him into a skirmish secondary to the real battle and compelled him to expend excessive effort to prevail. Down match points in the last game, his primary delivery floated to heaven. He prolonged the contest two times on his backup delivery, but ultimately committed two errors. It wasn’t a choke, in my opinion, just a result of needing to hit an excessive number of second serves.

The match was fairly compelling proof that Fritz is not good enough to beat any form of the Serbian, that was defeated by the Spaniard in the next round and did not especially appeared like he believed he could win. This is absolutely acceptable – the Serbian is the greatest of all time, and may not be at the peak of his athletic abilities now, but has acquired sufficient experience and strategic intelligence to compensate for a significant portion of the drop-off. The issue is those who were expecting the American to prevail, and putting pressure on him to achieve that, when he was had not done anything that suggested he could.

Fritz is an asset to the tour regardless. He’s a patient, thoughtful voice in press conferences, more so than virtually anyone on the men's tour aside from Daniil Medvedev, willing to not just express how he feels or the tactic he felt decided a contest, but clarify it. That he should shoulder the majority of the blame for America failing to spawn a men's grand slam winner since Andy Roddick seems unfair. (Since Ben Shelton is competing alongside him in the standings, perhaps they can divide that burden.)

ATP Finals: Singles Groups

Jimmy Connors Group

• The Spanish phenom
• The American contender
• The Australian speedster
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Bjorn Borg Division

• The Italian champion
• The German powerhouse
• Ben Shelton (US)
• The Canadian talent

“I’d probably dwell on it indefinitely if I fail to do it,” Fritz informed an interviewer in the summer of winning a major. I hope he understands that he’s not unsuccessful if he does not fulfill that objective, that overcoming Alcaraz and Sinner’s dominant, formidable reign is actually highly improbable for everybody else. {