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I possess a few opinions regarding that comments delivered by the sports network commentator a well-known announcer after Novak Djokovic's win over Taylor Fritz in the New York major quarter-finals. Look – the athlete represents the United States, Fowler is American – and athletic competitions often encourage nationalism. Some disappointment would have been appropriate. Rather, he brought up the continued drought of American men at grand slam tournaments: not one of them had lifted a title since the last American champion in 2003, and he had been the final representative in the tournament.

Everyone enjoy a storyline, myself included. But really. Even if the American defeated Djokovic for the first time, phenomenal talent Carlos Alcaraz was waiting in the following match, who he has never defeated in an official match. And if he’d somehow gotten past that, it would have been defending champion the Italian, versus him Fritz had dropped 10 of the last 11 sets. The two young stars had also divided the previous seven grand slams (and the Spaniard proceeded to thrash a fatigued Djokovic in the subsequent match). Fritz said in post-match interviews following his defeat that he in fact preferred his draw, because it presented the chance to beat the top three players in the sport back-to-back. He is well justified to aspire to the achievement; an athlete is supposed to believe in themselves. But entering that Djokovic last eight match who else in their right mind had the drought of American champions on the brain?

Coco Gauff’s second serve the sole barrier standing in her way and consistent victories

The American, 28, is ranked number four in the global rankings starting the upcoming year-end championships and has secured his last six matches over No 3 the German with growing comfort. It's likely he might take that spot for himself in the coming years. But it’s clear that at present, that is as far as he can climb: The Italian and Spaniard sit a vast gap of performance metrics away. His elite serve and powerful strength on each front side and reverse side are sufficiently enough to defeat most rivals on the professional circuit. When facing the handful of generational talents, though, Fritz is frequently overmatched. The last several years has seen the interesting emergence of lanky, towering players who can nevertheless move around with the alarming quickness and fluidity of much shorter players. He is six-foot-five and appears that way. His movement is stiff, as if he’s still getting used to his legs. So he’ll rarely steal a point that the opponent was controlling, and playing a drop shot versus him is typically a reliable tactic. That acts as a quite severe limitation on his upside.

The American has achieved a number of significant, improbable improvements throughout his career. At the beginning of the ten-year period, he was hovering around the lower end of the top 30. Two years later, he was approaching the elite ten. The previous season, he suddenly surged up to fourth place – and maintained the spot. But the subsequent step, competing against and defeating all-time-greats like Alcaraz, Sinner, and including a aging Serbian, is the highest of all. What could Fowler thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was worth mentioning the ongoing drought of American men winning major titles when he had departed the New York major in the quarter-finals? The thirst is simply excessive and the respect for the difficulty of the task too little.

The American star achieved a career-best advancement to the Wimbledon 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 sets, a win that only seemed tenuous for moments towards the very end, when the American had saved a few match points and had a chance to maintain serve for 5-5. The pair looked evenly matched during the rallies, with the American creating numerous chances to win the opponent's serve. But Djokovic saved service break opportunity after service break opportunity, extending the streak to the point of frustration. When he finally did convert a single of the opportunities at 5-5 in the second set, he immediately produced a terrible game to drop serve again; Djokovic had lulled him into a battle peripheral to the real battle and compelled him to use excessive effort to win it. Down match points in the last game, Fritz’s primary delivery floated to the sky. He extended the match two times on his backup delivery, but ultimately double-faulted. It was not a choke, I didn’t think, just a result of needing to hit an excessive number of second serves.

The match was fairly compelling evidence that the American is insufficiently skilled to beat any form of the Serbian, that lost to Alcaraz in the following match and did not especially seem like he thought he could triumph. This is perfectly acceptable – Djokovic is the greatest of all time, and might not be at the height of his athletic abilities now, but has developed sufficient knowledge and tactical know-how to compensate for quite a bit of the decline. The problem is the individuals who were anticipating Fritz to win, and putting pressure on him to do so, when he was yet to done anything that suggested he could.

Fritz is an valuable contributor to the tour nonetheless. He’s a patient, reflective presence in press conferences, more so than virtually anyone on the ATP aside from Daniil Medvedev, prepared to not just say how he feels or the tactic he believed determined a contest, but explain it. That he ought to bear the brunt of the responsibility for the United States failing to produce a men's grand slam winner since Andy Roddick seems unjust. (Since Ben Shelton is competing alongside him in the rankings, perhaps they can share that burden.)

ATP Finals: Player Divisions

Jimmy Connors Division

• Carlos Alcaraz (Sp)
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• The Australian speedster
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Swedish icon Division

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

“I’d probably dwell on it forever if I fail to accomplish it,” the American told a journalist in the summer of claiming a major. It is hoped he realizes that he’s not unsuccessful if he does not achieve that goal, that overcoming the Spanish and Italian's dominant, formidable reign is actually extremely improbable for all other players. {