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I have some opinions about the comments delivered by ESPN broadcaster Chris Fowler following the Serbian champion's win over Taylor Fritz in the New York major quarter-finals. Consider – Fritz is American, the commentator is American – and sports often lend themselves to nationalism. A little bit of disappointment would have been appropriate. Rather, he invoked the continued absence of US male players at grand slam tournaments: not one of them had lifted a title since Andy Roddick in 2003, and Fritz had been the final representative in the competition.

We all enjoy a narrative, myself included. But come on. Even if the American defeated Djokovic for the first time, phenomenal talent Carlos Alcaraz was looming in the following match, who Fritz has yet to beat in an official match. And had he somehow 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 divided the previous seven grand slams (plus Alcaraz proceeded to defeat a fatigued Djokovic in the subsequent match). Fritz stated in press following his defeat that he actually liked his draw, because it offered the opportunity to defeat the three best players in the world in succession. He is well within his right to aim for the achievement; an competitor is supposed to believe in themselves. But going into that Serbian quarter-final who else in their right mind had the drought of American champions in mind?

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

Fritz, 28, is placed fourth in the global rankings starting the upcoming year-end championships and has secured his previous six encounters over No 3 Alexander Zverev with increasing ease. Presumably he might take that spot for himself in the coming years. But evidently that at present, that is as high as he can climb: Sinner and Alcaraz lie a chasm of ranking points away. His top-class serve and concussive strength on both forehand and reverse side are sufficiently adequate to dispose of the majority of opponents on the professional circuit. Against the handful of once-in-a-lifetime players, however, Fritz is often overmatched. The past few seasons has seen the interesting emergence of tall, gangly players who can nevertheless move around with the surprising speed and fluidity of smaller players. He is 6ft 5ins and looks it. His footwork is rigid, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his legs. So he seldom steal a point that the other player was controlling, and playing a drop shot versus him is typically a reliable tactic. That serves as a pretty severe limitation on his potential.

Fritz has made a several dramatic, improbable advancements over the years. At the beginning of the ten-year period, he was hovering around the lower end of the world's best thirty. 24 months later, he was sniffing the elite ten. Last year, he unexpectedly surged up to fourth place – and held the spot. But the subsequent step, competing against and beating legendary figures like the young Spaniard, the Italian, and including a declining Serbian, is the highest of all. What was Fowler have been thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was worth commenting on the continuing slump of US male players winning major titles when Fritz had exited the US Open in the quarter-finals? The thirst is simply too much and the respect for the difficulty of the task too little.

Taylor Fritz achieved a career-best run to the All England Club last four in July.

The American's play in that very quarter-final should have been sufficient of an sign. The Serbian won in four sets, a victory that only felt tenuous for brief periods towards the conclusion, when the American had survived a couple championship opportunities and had a opportunity to maintain serve for 5-5. The pair looked well-balanced during the rallies, with the American creating plenty of chances to break. But the champion rescued service break opportunity after service break opportunity, prolonging the run to the point of frustration. When Fritz eventually did convert a single of the chances at 5-5 in the second set, he immediately produced a horrendous service game to drop serve once more; the Serbian had lulled him into a skirmish peripheral to the main contest and forced him to expend excessive effort to win it. Facing match points in the final game, his first serve sailed to heaven. He prolonged the match twice on his backup delivery, but finally committed two errors. It was not a choke, in my opinion, just a consequence of needing to hit too many second serves.

The contest was fairly compelling evidence that the American is insufficiently skilled to beat any version of the Serbian, who was defeated by Alcaraz in the next round and did not particularly appeared like he thought he could win. This is absolutely fine – Djokovic is the best player ever, and might not be at the peak of his physical powers now, but has acquired sufficient knowledge and strategic intelligence to compensate for quite a bit of the drop-off. The issue is those who were expecting Fritz to prevail, and putting pressure on him to achieve that, when he was yet to accomplished anything that indicated he could.

Fritz is an asset to the tour nonetheless. He’s a patient, reflective presence in press conferences, exceeding virtually anyone on the ATP aside from Daniil Medvedev, prepared to not just express his emotions or the strategy he felt determined a contest, but explain it. That he ought to bear the brunt of the responsibility for the United States failing to produce a male major champion since Andy Roddick feels unfair. (Since the fellow American is competing alongside him in the standings, perhaps they can divide that load.)

ATP Finals: Player Divisions

Jimmy Connors Division

• Carlos Alcaraz (Sp)
• The American contender
• The Australian speedster
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Swedish icon Group

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

“I would likely think about it indefinitely if I fail to do it,” Fritz informed an interviewer in June of claiming a grand slam. I hope he understands that he’s not unsuccessful if he does not achieve that objective, that overcoming the Spanish and Italian's young, terrifying reign is in fact extremely unlikely for everybody else. {