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I have a few opinions regarding that remarks delivered by ESPN commentator Chris Fowler after Novak Djokovic's win over Taylor Fritz during the US Open quarter-finals. Consider – Fritz is American, Fowler is American – and sports often encourage nationalism. Some letdown would have been appropriate. Rather, Fowler invoked the continued drought of American men at the majors: none of them had lifted a title since Andy Roddick in 2003, and Fritz had been the last one standing in the competition.

Everyone love a storyline, me too. But come on. Suppose Fritz defeated Djokovic for the initial occasion, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was waiting in the following match, who Fritz has never defeated in an official match. And had he somehow gotten past that, it would have been title holder Jannik Sinner, versus him Fritz had dropped 10 of the last 11 sets. The two young stars had also divided the last seven major titles (plus the Spaniard went on to defeat a fatigued Serbian in the subsequent match). He said in post-match interviews following his defeat that he actually liked his path, because it presented the opportunity to defeat the three best competitors in the world in succession. Fritz is well justified to aim for the achievement; an competitor is supposed to have faith in themselves. But going into that Serbian last eight match what other person sensibly had the drought of American champions on the brain?

The American star's weaker delivery the only thing between her and consistent victories

Fritz, 28, is placed number four in the world starting the upcoming year-end championships and has secured his previous six encounters over No 3 Alexander Zverev with growing comfort. Presumably he could take that spot for himself in the coming years. But it’s clear that right now, that’s as high as he can climb: The Italian and Spaniard sit a chasm of performance metrics away. Fritz’s elite delivery and concussive strength on each front side and reverse side are more than adequate to dispose of the majority of opponents on the professional circuit. Against the handful of generational talents, though, Fritz is frequently overmatched. The last several seasons has witnessed the curious emergence of tall, gangly athletes who can nevertheless cover the court with the surprising speed and grace of much shorter players. Fritz is 6ft 5ins and appears that way. His movement is rigid, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his limbs. So he’ll rarely win a rally that the other player was dictating, and playing a drop shot against him is usually a safe bet. That serves as a quite severe restriction on his upside.

Fritz has made a number of dramatic, improbable advancements over the years. Early on of the decade, he was circling the bottom of the world's best thirty. Two years after, he was approaching the top 10. The previous season, he suddenly surged up to fourth place – and held the position. But the next leap, competing against and defeating all-time-greats like the young Spaniard, the Italian, and including a declining Djokovic, is the highest of all. What was Fowler thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate commenting on the ongoing slump of American men lifting major titles when he had departed the US Open in the quarter-finals? The desperation is simply too much and the respect for the difficulty of the challenge insufficient.

Taylor Fritz made a personal best advancement to the Wimbledon last four in July.

The American's performance in that exact quarter-final ought to have been sufficient of an indication. The Serbian won in four rounds, a win that only felt uncertain for moments towards the conclusion, when the American had saved a couple championship opportunities and had a chance to maintain serve for 5-5. The pair appeared evenly matched during the rallies, with Fritz creating numerous opportunities to win the opponent's serve. But Djokovic rescued break point after service break opportunity, extending the streak to the brink of agony. When he finally did convert one of the opportunities at 5-5 in the second set, he promptly played a horrendous game to lose his own serve again; Djokovic had drawn him into a battle secondary to the main contest and compelled him to use excessive effort to win it. Down set points in the final game, his primary delivery floated to heaven. He prolonged the match twice on his backup delivery, but finally committed two errors. It was not a collapse, I didn’t think, only a result of needing to hit too many weaker deliveries.

The contest was fairly compelling proof that Fritz is insufficiently skilled to beat any version of the Serbian, who lost to the Spaniard in the next round and did not especially appeared like he believed he could win. This is absolutely fine – Djokovic is the greatest of all time, and may not be at the peak of his athletic abilities anymore, but has developed enough experience and strategic intelligence to make up for quite a bit of the drop-off. The issue is the individuals who were anticipating Fritz to prevail, and pressuring him to achieve that, when he was yet to accomplished anything that indicated he would.

Fritz is an valuable contributor to the circuit nonetheless. He’s a patient, thoughtful voice in media sessions, more so than almost everyone on the ATP aside from the Russian star, willing to not just express his emotions or the tactic he believed decided a contest, but explain it. That he should shoulder the majority of the blame for America not spawn a men's grand slam winner since Andy Roddick feels unfair. (Now that Ben Shelton is rubbing shoulders with him in the rankings, maybe they can share that burden.)

ATP Finals: Singles Groups

Jimmy Connors Group

• The Spanish phenom
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Swedish icon Division

• The Italian champion
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• The rising American
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I’d probably dwell on it forever if I don’t do it,” Fritz told a journalist in the summer of winning a major. I hope he understands that he’s not a failure if he doesn’t fulfill that goal, that breaking through Alcaraz and Sinner’s dominant, formidable reign is actually highly unlikely for all other players. {