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I have a few opinions about the remarks made by ESPN commentator Chris Fowler after Novak Djokovic's victory over Taylor Fritz during the US Open quarter-finals. Consider – Fritz is American, the commentator is American – and sports frequently encourage nationalism. Some disappointment would have been understandable. Instead, he brought up the continued drought of US male players at grand slam tournaments: not one of them had lifted a title since Andy Roddick in 2003, and he had been the final representative in the tournament.

Everyone enjoy a storyline, me too. But really. Even if the American had beaten the legend for the first time, force of nature the Spanish star was waiting in the following match, whom he has never defeated in an competitive encounter. And had he somehow gotten past that, it would have been title holder Jannik Sinner, against whom Fritz had dropped 10 of the previous eleven sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also divided the last seven major titles (plus Alcaraz went on to thrash a fatigued Djokovic in the subsequent match). Fritz stated in press following his defeat that he actually liked his path, because it offered the chance to beat the top three players in the sport in succession. He is more than justified to aspire to the achievement; an competitor is supposed to have faith in themselves. But entering that Djokovic quarter-final who else sensibly had the lack of US winners in mind?

Coco Gauff’s second serve the only thing between her and consistent victories

Fritz, twenty-eight, is ranked fourth in the world starting the upcoming year-end championships and has secured his last six matches over No 3 Alexander Zverev with increasing ease. It's likely he might take that spot for himself in the coming years. But evidently that right now, that’s as high as he can rise: The Italian and Spaniard sit a chasm of ranking points away. Fritz’s elite delivery and concussive strength on each front side and backhand are sufficiently adequate to defeat most rivals on the ATP tour. When facing the select few once-in-a-lifetime players, though, Fritz is frequently helpless. The last several years has seen the interesting emergence of lanky, towering players who can nevertheless cover the court with the surprising quickness and grace of smaller players. Fritz is 6ft 5ins and looks it. His movement is rigid, 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 typically a safe bet. That serves as a pretty harsh restriction on his potential.

Fritz has achieved a number of dramatic, improbable improvements over the years. At the beginning of the decade, he was hovering around the bottom of the world's best thirty. 24 months later, he was sniffing the elite ten. Last year, he unexpectedly exploded to fourth place – and maintained the spot. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and beating legendary figures like the young Spaniard, the Italian, and including a aging Djokovic, is the toughest of all. What could Fowler thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to beat them all back-to-back? That it was worth commenting on the ongoing drought of US male players 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.

The American star achieved a personal best run to the All England Club last four in the summer.

Fritz’s play in that exact quarter-final should have been sufficient of an sign. The Serbian won in four sets, a win that only seemed uncertain for brief periods towards the very end, when the American had survived a couple championship opportunities and had a opportunity to hold for 5-5. The pair looked evenly matched during the exchanges, with Fritz earning numerous opportunities to break. But Djokovic saved service break opportunity after service break opportunity, prolonging the streak to the brink of frustration. When he finally did convert a single of the opportunities at 5-5 in the second set, he immediately produced a horrendous game to drop serve once more; Djokovic had drawn him into a skirmish peripheral to the real battle and compelled him to use excessive energy to prevail. Down match points in the final game, Fritz’s first serve sailed to heaven. He prolonged the contest twice on his backup delivery, but ultimately committed two errors. It wasn’t a collapse, in my opinion, just a result of needing to hit too many second serves.

The contest was quite ironclad proof that Fritz is not good enough to beat any form of Djokovic, who was defeated by Alcaraz in the following match and did not especially appeared like he thought he could win. This is perfectly fine – the Serbian is the best player ever, and might not be at the peak of his athletic abilities now, but has acquired sufficient knowledge and tactical know-how to compensate for quite a bit of the decline. The issue is the individuals who were anticipating Fritz to prevail, and putting pressure on him to achieve that, when he was had not done anything that indicated he could.

Fritz is an asset to the tour nonetheless. He’s a calm, reflective voice in press conferences, more so than virtually anyone on the men's tour aside from Daniil Medvedev, willing to not only say his emotions or the strategy he believed determined a contest, but explain it. That he should shoulder the majority of the responsibility for America failing to produce a male major champion since Andy Roddick feels unfair. (Since the fellow American is competing alongside him in the standings, maybe they can share that load.)

Year-End Championships: Player Divisions

American legend Group

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

Bjorn Borg Group

• The Italian champion
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• The rising American
• The Canadian talent

“I’d probably dwell on it forever if I fail to accomplish it,” the American informed a journalist in June of claiming a grand slam. I hope he realizes that he’s not a failure if he doesn’t fulfill that goal, that overcoming the Spanish and Italian's young, terrifying reign is actually extremely improbable for all other players. {