🔗 Share this article

I possess a few thoughts about that remarks made by ESPN broadcaster a well-known announcer following Novak Djokovic's win over the American player during the US Open last eight. Consider – Fritz is the United States, Fowler is from the US – and sports often encourage nationalism. Some letdown would have been understandable. Instead, he invoked the continued drought of American men at the majors: not one of them has won a title since the last American champion in 2003, and Fritz had been the last one standing in the competition.

We all love a narrative, 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 yet to beat 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 last 11 sets. The two young stars had also divided the previous seven grand slams (plus the Spaniard proceeded to defeat a fatigued Serbian in the next round). Fritz stated in post-match interviews following his defeat that he actually preferred his draw, because it offered the opportunity to beat the top three competitors in the sport back-to-back. Fritz is well within his right to aspire to the achievement; an athlete is supposed to have faith in themselves. But going into that Serbian quarter-final what other person sensibly had the drought of American champions on the brain?

The American star's weaker delivery the sole barrier between her and sustained success

Fritz, 28, is ranked fourth in the global rankings entering this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has secured his last six matches over third-ranked the German with growing comfort. It's likely he might claim that position for himself in the coming years. But it’s clear that right now, that is as far as he can climb: Sinner and Alcaraz sit a vast gap of ranking points away. Fritz’s elite delivery and powerful strength on each forehand and reverse side are more than adequate to defeat most rivals on the professional circuit. Against the handful of generational talents, though, he is often overmatched. The last several years has witnessed the interesting rise of tall, gangly players who can nevertheless cover the court with the alarming quickness and fluidity of much shorter men. Fritz is six-foot-five and appears that way. His footwork is stiff, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his limbs. So he seldom steal a point that the other player was controlling, and playing a soft shot against him is usually a reliable tactic. That serves as a quite harsh limitation on his potential.

Fritz has made a number of significant, unexpected improvements over the years. At the beginning of the ten-year period, he was hovering around the lower end of the top 30. Two years later, he was sniffing the top 10. Last year, he suddenly exploded up to fourth place – and held the position. But the subsequent step, competing against and beating all-time-greats like Alcaraz, the Italian, and including a aging Serbian, 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 worth commenting on the continuing slump of US male players winning grand slams when he had exited the New York major in the quarter-finals? The desperation is simply too much and the respect for the difficulty of the task too little.

Taylor Fritz made a career-best run to the Wimbledon last four in July.

The American's play in that exact last eight match ought to have been sufficient of an indication. The Serbian won in four sets, a win that only felt tenuous for brief periods towards the very end, when the American had survived a few championship opportunities and had a opportunity to hold for 5-5. The duo looked well-balanced during the rallies, with the American earning plenty of chances to break. But the champion saved break point after service break opportunity, extending the run to the brink of agony. When he finally did convert a single of the chances at 5-5 in the second set, he promptly produced a horrendous service game to drop serve again; Djokovic had drawn him into a skirmish peripheral to the real battle and forced him to expend far too much effort to prevail. Facing match points in the last game, his primary delivery sailed to the sky. He extended the match twice on his second serve, but finally committed two errors. It wasn’t a collapse, I didn’t think, just a result of needing to hit an excessive number of second serves.

The contest was quite ironclad proof that Fritz is insufficiently skilled to defeat any version of the Serbian, who lost to Alcaraz in the next round and did not particularly appeared like he thought he could win. This is perfectly fine – Djokovic is the greatest of all time, and may not be at the height of his athletic abilities anymore, but has developed sufficient knowledge and strategic intelligence to compensate for a significant portion of the drop-off. The problem is those who were expecting the American to prevail, and pressuring him to do so, when he was had not accomplished anything that suggested he would.

Fritz is an asset to the circuit regardless. He’s a calm, thoughtful presence in press conferences, more so than virtually everyone on the ATP aside from Daniil Medvedev, willing to not only say his emotions or the tactic he believed determined a match, but explain it. That he ought to shoulder the majority of the responsibility for America failing to spawn a men's grand slam winner since Andy Roddick seems unfair. (Now that Ben Shelton is competing alongside him in the rankings, maybe they can share that load.)

Year-End Championships: Singles Groups

Jimmy Connors Division

• The Spanish phenom
• The American contender
• The Australian speedster
• The Italian stylist

Bjorn Borg Group

• The Italian champion
• The German powerhouse
• Ben Shelton (US)
• The Canadian talent

“I’d probably dwell on it forever if I fail to do it,” Fritz told a journalist in the summer of claiming a major. I hope he realizes that he’s not a failure if he doesn’t achieve that objective, that breaking through Alcaraz and Sinner’s dominant, formidable reign is in fact extremely improbable for everybody else. {