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I possess some thoughts regarding the comments made by the sports network broadcaster Chris Fowler following Novak Djokovic's win over Taylor Fritz during the US Open last eight. Look – the athlete represents American, Fowler is American – and sports often encourage nationalism. A little bit of letdown would have been appropriate. Rather, he brought up the continued absence of US male players at grand slam tournaments: not one 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 enjoy a storyline, myself included. But come on. Even if the American defeated Djokovic for the first time, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was looming in the next round, whom Fritz has never defeated in an official match. And if he’d someway survived that, it would have been defending champion the Italian, against whom Fritz had lost 10 of the previous eleven sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also split the last seven grand slams (and Alcaraz went on to defeat a fatigued Serbian in the next round). Fritz stated in press after the loss that he in fact liked his draw, because it presented the opportunity to beat the top three competitors in the world back-to-back. He is more than justified to aim for the accomplishment; an athlete is supposed to have faith in themselves. But entering that Serbian last eight match who else in their right mind had the drought of US winners in mind?

Coco Gauff’s second serve the sole barrier standing in her way and sustained success

Fritz, twenty-eight, is ranked fourth in the world starting this week’s year-end championships and has won his last six encounters over third-ranked Alexander Zverev with growing comfort. It's likely he might take that spot for himself in the coming years. But it’s clear that right now, that’s as far as he can climb: Sinner and Alcaraz sit a chasm of performance metrics away. Fritz’s elite delivery and powerful strength on both forehand and backhand are more than enough to defeat most rivals on the professional circuit. Against the handful of once-in-a-lifetime players, however, Fritz is often helpless. The last several years has seen the curious rise of tall, gangly athletes who can nevertheless move around with the surprising speed and grace of smaller players. Fritz is six-foot-five and appears that way. His footwork is rigid, as if he’s still getting used to his legs. So he seldom win a rally that the opponent was dictating, and hitting a soft shot versus him is usually a reliable tactic. That serves as a quite severe restriction on his potential.

The American has made a several significant, unexpected advancements over the years. At the beginning of the decade, he was hovering around the lower end of the world's best thirty. Two years after, he was approaching the elite ten. Last year, he unexpectedly surged to No 4 – and held the spot. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and beating all-time-greats like Alcaraz, Sinner, and even a aging Djokovic, is the highest of all. What could Fowler thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate mentioning the continuing slump of American men lifting grand slams when he had exited the US Open in the quarter-finals? The desperation is simply too much and the appreciation for the difficulty of the challenge insufficient.

Taylor Fritz made a career-best advancement to the Wimbledon semi-finals in the summer.

The American's performance in that exact last eight match ought to have been sufficient of an indication. The Serbian won in four sets, a victory that only felt uncertain for moments towards the very end, when the American had survived a few championship opportunities and had a opportunity to maintain serve for 5-5. The pair appeared well-balanced during the rallies, with the American creating plenty of chances to break. But the champion saved break point after break point, prolonging the run to the point of frustration. When he eventually did convert one of the chances at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he promptly produced a terrible service game to lose his own serve again; the Serbian had drawn him into a skirmish secondary to the main contest and forced him to use excessive effort to prevail. Down set points in the last game, Fritz’s primary delivery sailed to the sky. He extended the match two times on his backup delivery, but finally double-faulted. It wasn’t a collapse, in my opinion, just a result of having to hit an excessive number of weaker deliveries.

The contest was fairly ironclad proof that Fritz is not good enough to beat any version of the Serbian, that lost to Alcaraz in the next round and did not especially appeared like he thought he could win. This is absolutely acceptable – Djokovic is the best player ever, and may not be at the height of his athletic abilities anymore, but has acquired enough experience and strategic intelligence to make up for quite a bit of the decline. The issue is the individuals who were expecting the American 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 tour nonetheless. He’s a calm, reflective presence in press conferences, more so than almost anyone on the men's tour aside from Daniil Medvedev, willing to not just express how he feels or the tactic he believed decided a match, but explain it. That he should shoulder the majority of the blame for America failing to spawn a men's grand slam winner since the last American titlist feels unfair. (Since Ben Shelton is competing alongside him in the standings, perhaps they can share that load.)

Year-End Championships: Singles Groups

Jimmy Connors Group

• Carlos Alcaraz (Sp)
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• The Australian speedster
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Bjorn Borg Group

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• The German powerhouse
• The rising American
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I’d probably think about it forever if I don’t accomplish it,” the American told a journalist in June of winning a major. I hope he realizes that he’s not a failure if he doesn’t fulfill that goal, that breaking through Alcaraz and Sinner’s young, terrifying empire is actually extremely improbable for everybody else. {