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I possess a few opinions regarding the remarks made by the sports network broadcaster Chris Fowler after Novak Djokovic's win over Taylor Fritz during the US Open last eight. Look – Fritz is the United States, the commentator is American – and athletic competitions often encourage patriotic sentiment. Some letdown would have been appropriate. Instead, Fowler brought up the continued absence of American men at the majors: none of them has won a trophy since the last American champion in 2003, and Fritz had been the last one standing in the tournament.

We all love a storyline, myself included. But come on. Even if the American had beaten Djokovic for the initial occasion, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was waiting in the following match, whom he has never defeated in an official match. And had he somehow gotten past that, it would have been defending champion the Italian, versus him the American had lost 10 of the previous eleven sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also split the previous seven grand slams (and Alcaraz went on to defeat a tired Djokovic in the subsequent match). He said in post-match interviews after the loss that he actually preferred his draw, because it offered the opportunity to defeat the three best players in the world back-to-back. He is more than within his right to aim for the accomplishment; an athlete is meant to have faith in themselves. But going into that Djokovic quarter-final what other person sensibly had the drought of American champions on the brain?

The American star's second serve the only thing between her and sustained success

Fritz, 28, is ranked fourth in the world starting this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has won his last six encounters over No 3 the German with growing comfort. Presumably he might take that spot for himself in the future. But evidently that at present, that’s as high as he can climb: The Italian and Spaniard sit a chasm of performance metrics away. Fritz’s elite serve and powerful power on each front side and reverse side are sufficiently adequate to defeat the majority of rivals on the ATP tour. Against the select few generational talents, however, he is often overmatched. The past few years has seen the curious rise of lanky, towering players who can nevertheless move around with the alarming quickness and fluidity of smaller men. He is 6ft 5ins and looks it. His movement is stiff, as if he’s still getting used to his limbs. So he’ll rarely steal a point that the other player was dictating, and playing a drop shot against him is usually a safe bet. That serves as a quite harsh limitation on his potential.

Fritz has made a several dramatic, improbable advancements throughout his career. At the beginning of the decade, he was hovering around the lower end of the top 30. 24 months after, he was approaching the elite ten. Last year, he unexpectedly surged to No 4 – and maintained the position. But the next leap, mixing it up with and defeating legendary figures like the young Spaniard, the Italian, and even a declining Djokovic, is the highest of all. What was the commentator have been thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a serious threat to beat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate mentioning the ongoing slump of US male players lifting grand slams when he had departed the US Open in the quarter-finals? The desperation is simply excessive and the respect for the difficulty of the challenge insufficient.

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

Fritz’s play in that very last eight match ought to have been sufficient of an sign. The Serbian won in four sets, a victory that only seemed tenuous for moments towards the conclusion, when the American had saved a few championship opportunities and had a chance to hold for 5-5. The pair appeared well-balanced during the rallies, with the American earning plenty of opportunities to win the opponent's serve. But Djokovic saved service break opportunity after break point, extending the streak to the brink of agony. When Fritz finally did claim one of the opportunities at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he immediately produced a horrendous game to lose his own serve again; Djokovic had drawn him into a battle peripheral to the real battle and forced him to expend far too much effort to prevail. Down set points in the last game, his first serve sailed to the sky. He prolonged the match twice on his second serve, but finally committed two errors. It was not a collapse, in my opinion, just a result of needing to hit an excessive number of weaker deliveries.

The contest was quite ironclad evidence that the American is insufficiently skilled to defeat any form of the Serbian, who was defeated by the Spaniard in the following match and did not particularly seem like he thought he could win. This is perfectly acceptable – Djokovic is the greatest of all time, and may not be at the peak of his physical powers anymore, but has developed sufficient experience and tactical know-how to compensate for quite a bit of the drop-off. The issue is those who were expecting Fritz to win, and putting pressure on him to achieve that, when he was yet to done anything that suggested he would.

Fritz is an asset to the circuit regardless. He’s a patient, thoughtful presence in press conferences, exceeding almost everyone on the ATP except for Daniil Medvedev, prepared to not only express his emotions or the tactic he believed determined a match, but explain it. That he should bear the brunt of the responsibility for the United States not produce a male major champion since the last American titlist seems unfair. (Since Ben Shelton is rubbing shoulders with him in the rankings, maybe they can divide that burden.)

Year-End Championships: Player Divisions

American legend Group

• The Spanish phenom
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• The Australian speedster
• The Italian stylist

Swedish icon Division

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• The German powerhouse
• Ben Shelton (US)
• The Canadian talent

“I’d probably think about it forever if I fail to do it,” the American informed an interviewer in the summer of claiming a grand slam. It is hoped he understands that he’s not unsuccessful if he does not fulfill that goal, that breaking through Alcaraz and Sinner’s dominant, formidable empire is in fact highly unlikely for everybody else. {