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I have a few opinions about the comments made by ESPN commentator a well-known announcer after the Serbian champion's win over Taylor Fritz in the US Open quarter-finals. Look – Fritz is American, Fowler is from the US – and athletic competitions often lend themselves to nationalism. Some letdown would have been appropriate. Instead, he brought up the ongoing absence of US male players at grand slam tournaments: not one of them has won a trophy since the last American champion in 2003, and Fritz had been the final representative in the tournament.

Everyone love a storyline, me too. But really. Even if Fritz defeated Djokovic for the first time, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was waiting in the following match, whom he has yet to beat in an competitive encounter. And if he’d someway survived that, it would have been title holder Jannik Sinner, versus him Fritz had dropped 10 of the previous eleven sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also split the last seven grand slams (plus Alcaraz proceeded to thrash a tired Djokovic in the next round). He said in post-match interviews after the loss that he in fact liked his path, because it offered the chance to defeat the three best competitors in the sport back-to-back. Fritz is well within his right to aim for the accomplishment; an athlete is meant to believe in themselves. But entering that Djokovic quarter-final what other person sensibly had the drought of US winners on the brain?

Coco Gauff’s weaker delivery the sole barrier between her and sustained success

The American, 28, is ranked number four in the global rankings entering this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has secured his last six encounters over third-ranked the German with increasing ease. It's likely he could claim that position for himself in the future. But evidently that at present, that’s as high as he can rise: The Italian and Spaniard sit a chasm of performance metrics away. His elite delivery and powerful power on each front side and reverse side are sufficiently adequate to defeat most opponents on the professional circuit. When facing the handful of once-in-a-lifetime players, though, he is often helpless. The last several years has witnessed the curious emergence of lanky, towering players who can nonetheless cover the court with the surprising quickness and fluidity of smaller players. Fritz is 6ft 5ins and appears that way. His footwork is rigid, as if he’s still getting used to his legs. So he’ll rarely win a rally that the opponent was controlling, and hitting a soft 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 advancements throughout his career. At the beginning of the ten-year period, he was hovering around the bottom of the world's best thirty. Two years later, he was approaching the elite ten. Last year, he unexpectedly exploded to No 4 – and held the position. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and defeating legendary figures like the young Spaniard, Sinner, and even a aging Serbian, is the highest of all. What was the commentator thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a serious threat 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 desperation is just too much and the appreciation for the difficulty of the task too little.

The American star achieved a personal best advancement to the All England Club semi-finals in July.

Fritz’s performance in that exact last eight match ought to have been sufficient of an sign. The Serbian won in four rounds, a victory that only seemed uncertain for moments towards the very end, when the American had saved a few match points and had a opportunity to hold for 5-5. The pair appeared well-balanced during the rallies, with the American creating numerous chances to win the opponent's serve. But the champion saved service break opportunity after service break opportunity, prolonging the streak to the point of frustration. When Fritz eventually did claim a single of the chances at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he promptly produced a horrendous service game to drop serve once more; Djokovic had lulled him into a skirmish secondary to the main contest and compelled him to use far too much effort to prevail. Facing set points in the final game, his first serve floated to heaven. He prolonged the contest twice on his second serve, but ultimately committed two errors. It was not a choke, I didn’t think, only a consequence of needing to hit too many second serves.

The match was quite compelling proof that Fritz is insufficiently skilled to defeat any version of Djokovic, that lost to the Spaniard in the next round and did not especially appeared like he thought he could win. This is absolutely fine – Djokovic is the best player ever, and might not be at the height of his athletic abilities now, but has acquired sufficient knowledge and strategic intelligence to compensate for a significant portion of the drop-off. The problem is those who were expecting the American to win, and putting pressure on him to achieve that, when he was had not done anything that suggested he would.

Fritz is an asset to the tour nonetheless. He’s a calm, reflective voice in press conferences, more so than almost everyone on the men's tour except for the Russian star, prepared to not only say how he feels or the strategy he felt determined a contest, but explain it. That he ought to bear the brunt of the blame for America failing to spawn a men's grand slam winner since the last American titlist seems unjust. (Since the fellow American is rubbing shoulders with him in the standings, perhaps they can divide that burden.)

ATP Finals: Singles Groups

American legend Group

• The Spanish phenom
• The American contender
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• The Italian stylist

Bjorn Borg Group

• The Italian champion
• 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 a journalist in June of claiming a major. It is hoped he realizes that he’s not a failure if he doesn’t achieve that goal, that overcoming Alcaraz and Sinner’s dominant, formidable reign is actually highly unlikely for all other players. {