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I have a few thoughts about the remarks delivered by the sports network commentator Chris Fowler after Novak Djokovic's victory over Taylor Fritz in the New York major last eight. Look – Fritz is American, the commentator is American – and sports frequently lend themselves to patriotic sentiment. Some letdown would have been understandable. Instead, he invoked 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 last one standing in the tournament.

Everyone enjoy a narrative, myself included. But really. Suppose the American had beaten the legend for the initial occasion, phenomenal talent Carlos Alcaraz was waiting in the following match, whom Fritz has never defeated in an official match. And had he somehow gotten past that, it would have been defending champion Jannik Sinner, against whom the American had dropped 10 of the previous eleven sets. The two young stars had also divided the last seven major titles (plus Alcaraz went on to thrash a tired Serbian in the subsequent match). Fritz said in post-match interviews after the loss that he in fact preferred his path, because it presented the chance to beat the three best competitors in the sport in succession. Fritz is more than within his right to aim for the achievement; an competitor is supposed to believe in themselves. But going into that Djokovic quarter-final who else sensibly had the lack of American champions in mind?

Coco Gauff’s weaker delivery the only thing between her and sustained success

Fritz, twenty-eight, is ranked number four in the global rankings starting the upcoming ATP World Tour Finals and has secured his previous six matches over third-ranked the German with increasing ease. It's likely he might claim that position for himself in the future. But it’s clear that at present, that’s as high as he can climb: Sinner and Alcaraz lie a chasm of ranking points away. Fritz’s top-class serve and concussive power on both front side and reverse side are more than enough to dispose of most rivals on the ATP tour. Against the handful of once-in-a-lifetime players, though, Fritz is often overmatched. The last several seasons has seen the curious rise of tall, gangly athletes who can nevertheless move around with the surprising speed and grace of smaller players. He is 6ft 5ins and looks it. His footwork is stiff, as if he’s still getting used to his limbs. So he’ll rarely win a rally that the other player was dictating, and playing a soft shot against him is typically a safe bet. That serves as a quite severe restriction on his upside.

Fritz has achieved a number of significant, improbable advancements over the years. Early on of the ten-year period, he was hovering around the bottom of the world's best thirty. 24 months after, he was approaching the elite ten. The previous season, he suddenly surged up to fourth place – and held the position. But the next leap, mixing it up with and beating legendary figures like the young Spaniard, the Italian, and even a aging Serbian, is the toughest of all. What was the commentator 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 US male players lifting grand slams when Fritz had departed the US Open in the quarter-finals? The thirst is simply too much and the respect for the difficulty of the challenge too little.

Taylor Fritz achieved a personal best advancement to the Wimbledon semi-finals in July.

Fritz’s play in that exact quarter-final ought to have been enough of an sign. The Serbian won in four sets, a victory that only seemed tenuous for moments towards the conclusion, when Fritz had saved a couple match points and had a opportunity to hold for 5-5. The pair appeared well-balanced during the rallies, with the American creating numerous chances to win the opponent's serve. But the champion saved service break opportunity after service break opportunity, extending the streak to the point of agony. When he finally did claim one of the chances at 5-5 in the second set, he promptly played a terrible game to drop serve again; the Serbian had lulled him into a skirmish peripheral to the real battle and compelled him to use far too much energy to win it. Facing match points in the final game, his first serve floated to the sky. He prolonged the contest two times on his second serve, but finally double-faulted. It was not a choke, in my opinion, only a result of needing to hit too many second serves.

The match was quite compelling proof that Fritz is insufficiently skilled to defeat any form of the Serbian, that lost to the Spaniard in the following match and did not especially seem like he thought he could win. This is absolutely acceptable – the Serbian is the best player ever, and might not be at the height of his athletic abilities anymore, but has developed enough experience and strategic intelligence to compensate for a significant portion of the drop-off. The problem is the individuals who were expecting Fritz to win, and putting pressure on him to do so, when he was yet to accomplished anything that suggested he would.

The American is an valuable contributor to the circuit nonetheless. He’s a calm, thoughtful voice in press conferences, exceeding almost everyone on the ATP except for Daniil Medvedev, willing to not just say how he feels or the strategy he felt determined a match, but clarify it. That he ought to bear the brunt of the blame for America not spawn a men's grand slam winner since the last American titlist feels unfair. (Now that Ben Shelton is rubbing shoulders with him in the rankings, perhaps they can share that burden.)

ATP Finals: Player Divisions

American legend Division

• Carlos Alcaraz (Sp)
• The American contender
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Swedish icon Group

• The Italian champion
• The German powerhouse
• Ben Shelton (US)
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I would likely think about it indefinitely if I don’t accomplish it,” Fritz told an interviewer in June of claiming a grand slam. It is hoped he realizes that he’s not a failure if he doesn’t achieve that objective, that breaking through the Spanish and Italian's dominant, formidable empire is actually highly unlikely for all other players. {