🔗 Share this article

I have some opinions about the remarks delivered by ESPN broadcaster Chris Fowler after Novak Djokovic's win over the American player in the US Open last eight. Consider – Fritz is the United States, Fowler is American – and athletic competitions often encourage nationalism. Some disappointment was understandable. Rather, he brought up the ongoing absence of American men at grand slam tournaments: none of them had lifted a trophy since Andy Roddick in 2003, and he had been the final representative in the competition.

Everyone enjoy a narrative, me too. But really. Even if Fritz defeated Djokovic for the first time, phenomenal talent Carlos Alcaraz was waiting in the following match, who Fritz has never defeated in an official match. And if he’d somehow survived that, it would have been title holder Jannik Sinner, versus him Fritz had dropped 10 of the previous eleven sets. The two young stars had also divided the previous seven major titles (plus the Spaniard proceeded to defeat a fatigued Serbian in the subsequent match). He said in post-match interviews after the loss that he in fact preferred his draw, because it offered the chance to beat the top three competitors in the sport in succession. Fritz is more than justified to aim for the accomplishment; an competitor is meant to have faith in themselves. But entering that Serbian quarter-final who else sensibly had the lack of US winners on the brain?

The American star's weaker delivery the only thing standing in her way and consistent victories

Fritz, twenty-eight, is placed fourth in the global rankings starting this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has won his last six matches over third-ranked Alexander Zverev with growing comfort. It's likely he could take that spot 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 chasm of ranking points away. His elite serve and powerful strength on both front side and reverse side are sufficiently enough to dispose of the majority of opponents on the professional circuit. When facing the handful of generational talents, though, he is often overmatched. The last several seasons has seen the curious rise of tall, gangly athletes who can nevertheless move around with the surprising quickness and grace of much shorter players. He is six-foot-five and looks it. His footwork is stiff, as if he’s still getting used to his legs. So he’ll rarely win a rally that the other player was dictating, and playing a drop shot against him is typically a safe bet. That acts as a quite severe limitation on his potential.

Fritz has made a several dramatic, improbable improvements throughout his career. Early on of the decade, he was hovering around the lower end of the world's best thirty. Two years after, he was sniffing the elite ten. Last year, he unexpectedly surged to No 4 – and held the spot. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and defeating all-time-greats like Alcaraz, Sinner, and including a aging Serbian, is the toughest of all. What could Fowler have been thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate commenting on the continuing slump of US male players winning grand slams when Fritz had departed the New York major in the quarter-finals? The desperation is simply too much and the respect for the magnitude of the task insufficient.

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

Fritz’s performance in that very quarter-final should have been enough of an sign. Djokovic triumphed in four sets, a win that only seemed tenuous for moments towards the very end, when the American had survived a couple championship opportunities and had a chance to maintain serve for 5-5. The duo appeared well-balanced during the rallies, with the American earning plenty of chances to break. But the champion saved service break opportunity after service break opportunity, prolonging the run to the point of agony. When he eventually did claim a single of the opportunities at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he immediately played a terrible game to lose his own serve again; the Serbian had lulled him into a battle peripheral to the real battle and compelled him to expend excessive effort to prevail. Down match points in the last game, his first serve sailed to heaven. He extended the match twice on his second serve, but finally committed two errors. It was not a collapse, in my opinion, only a consequence of needing to hit too many weaker deliveries.

The match was fairly compelling evidence that the American is insufficiently skilled to beat any version of the Serbian, that lost to Alcaraz in the next round and did not especially appeared like he believed he could win. This is absolutely acceptable – Djokovic is the greatest of all time, and may not be at the height of his athletic abilities now, but has acquired enough knowledge and strategic intelligence to compensate for quite a bit of the decline. The problem is the individuals who were expecting Fritz to win, and pressuring him to achieve that, when he was yet to done anything that suggested he would.

The American is an asset to the circuit nonetheless. He’s a calm, reflective voice in media sessions, more so than virtually anyone on the men's tour except for the Russian star, willing to not only express his emotions or the strategy he felt determined a contest, but clarify it. That he ought to bear the brunt of the responsibility for the United States not produce a male major champion since Andy Roddick seems unfair. (Since the fellow American is rubbing shoulders with him in the standings, perhaps they can share that burden.)

ATP Finals: Singles Groups

Jimmy Connors Group

• Carlos Alcaraz (Sp)
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• The Australian speedster
• The Italian stylist

Bjorn Borg Group

• The Italian champion
• The German powerhouse
• The rising American
• The Canadian talent

“I would likely dwell on it forever if I fail to accomplish it,” the American told a journalist in the summer of winning a grand slam. I hope he understands that he’s not unsuccessful if he does not achieve that goal, that overcoming the Spanish and Italian's dominant, formidable reign is in fact highly improbable for all other players. {