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I have a few opinions regarding the remarks made by the sports network commentator Chris Fowler after Novak Djokovic's win over Taylor Fritz during the New York major last eight. Consider – Fritz is American, the commentator is from the US – and athletic competitions frequently lend themselves to nationalism. Some letdown would have been appropriate. Rather, Fowler brought up the ongoing drought of American men at grand slam tournaments: none of them had lifted a trophy since the last American champion in 2003, and he had been the final representative in the tournament.

We all enjoy a narrative, me too. But come on. Suppose Fritz had beaten Djokovic for the first time, phenomenal talent the Spanish star was waiting in the next round, who Fritz has never defeated in an official match. And if he’d someway survived that, it would have been title holder the Italian, against whom Fritz had dropped 10 of the previous eleven sets. The two young stars had also split the last seven grand slams (and Alcaraz proceeded to defeat a tired Serbian in the subsequent match). Fritz stated in post-match interviews following his defeat that he in fact liked his path, because it presented the opportunity to beat the top three competitors in the world back-to-back. He is more than justified to aspire to the achievement; an athlete is supposed to believe in themselves. But going into that Serbian quarter-final who else sensibly had the lack of US winners on the brain?

Coco Gauff’s second serve the only thing standing in her way and sustained success

The American, 28, is ranked fourth in the world entering this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has won his previous six encounters over No 3 Alexander Zverev with increasing ease. Presumably he might claim that position for himself in the coming years. But evidently that at present, that is as high as he can climb: Sinner and Alcaraz lie a vast gap of ranking points away. Fritz’s top-class serve and concussive power on each front side and reverse side are sufficiently enough to dispose of most opponents on the ATP tour. When facing the handful of once-in-a-lifetime players, though, Fritz is frequently helpless. The last several years has seen the curious rise of tall, gangly athletes who can nonetheless cover the court with the alarming speed and grace of much shorter players. Fritz is 6ft 5ins and looks it. His footwork is rigid, as if he’s still getting used to his limbs. So he’ll rarely win a rally that the other player was dictating, and hitting a drop shot versus him is typically a safe bet. That serves as a quite severe restriction on his potential.

Fritz has made a number of dramatic, improbable advancements over the years. At the beginning of the ten-year period, he was hovering around the lower end of the top 30. 24 months later, he was approaching the elite ten. The previous season, he suddenly surged up to fourth place – and maintained the position. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and defeating all-time-greats like the young Spaniard, the Italian, and even a aging Serbian, is the highest of all. What could Fowler thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was worth mentioning the ongoing drought of US male players winning major titles when he had exited the New York major in the quarter-finals? The desperation is just excessive and the respect for the magnitude of the task too little.

Taylor Fritz made a career-best advancement to the All England Club semi-finals in the summer.

Fritz’s performance in that very last eight match ought to have been enough of an sign. The Serbian won in four rounds, a win that only seemed tenuous for moments towards the conclusion, when the American had saved a couple match points and had a opportunity to hold for 5-5. The duo appeared well-balanced during the exchanges, with Fritz creating plenty of chances to break. But Djokovic rescued service break opportunity after service break opportunity, extending the streak to the point of agony. When he finally did convert a single of the opportunities at 5-5 in the second set, he promptly played a horrendous service game to lose his own serve once more; the Serbian had drawn him into a battle peripheral to the real battle and forced him to expend far too much effort to prevail. Facing set points in the final game, his first serve sailed to the sky. He prolonged the contest two times on his backup delivery, but finally committed two errors. It wasn’t a collapse, I didn’t think, only a result of having to hit too many second serves.

The contest was fairly compelling proof that the American is insufficiently skilled to defeat any form of Djokovic, who was defeated by the Spaniard in the next round and never particularly seem like he believed he could triumph. This is perfectly acceptable – the Serbian is the greatest of all time, and may not be at the peak of his physical powers now, but has acquired sufficient knowledge and strategic intelligence to make up for a significant portion of the drop-off. The issue is the individuals who were expecting Fritz to win, and putting pressure on him to do so, when he was had not accomplished anything that indicated he could.

The American is an valuable contributor to the circuit nonetheless. He’s a calm, thoughtful voice in media sessions, more so than almost everyone on the ATP aside from the Russian star, prepared to not just say his emotions or the tactic he felt decided a match, but explain it. That he should bear the brunt of the responsibility for the United States failing to produce a men's grand slam winner since the last American titlist seems unfair. (Now that the fellow American is rubbing shoulders with him in the rankings, maybe they can share that load.)

ATP Finals: Singles Groups

American legend Group

• The Spanish phenom
• The American contender
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Bjorn Borg Group

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• Ben Shelton (US)
• The Canadian talent

“I would likely think about it forever if I fail to do it,” the American informed a journalist in the summer of claiming a major. I hope he understands that he’s not unsuccessful if he doesn’t achieve that objective, that breaking through the Spanish and Italian's young, terrifying empire is actually highly unlikely for all other players. {