🔗 Share this article

I have a few opinions about that remarks delivered by the sports network commentator a well-known announcer following the Serbian champion's victory over the American player during the New York major quarter-finals. Consider – Fritz is American, Fowler is from the US – and athletic competitions frequently lend themselves to patriotic sentiment. A little bit of letdown would have been appropriate. Instead, he brought up the continued drought of American men at the majors: none of them had lifted 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, myself included. But come on. Even if the American defeated Djokovic for the first time, phenomenal talent the Spanish star was looming in the following match, who he has yet to beat in an official match. And if he’d someway survived that, it would have been title holder Jannik Sinner, versus him the American had dropped 10 of the previous eleven sets. The two young stars had also divided the last seven major titles (plus the Spaniard went on to defeat a fatigued Djokovic in the subsequent match). Fritz said in press after the loss that he actually preferred his draw, because it presented the chance to beat the three best players in the world in succession. He is well within his right to aspire to the achievement; an athlete is meant to believe in themselves. But entering that Serbian last eight match what other person in their right mind had the drought of US winners on the brain?

The American star's second serve the sole barrier between her and consistent victories

The American, twenty-eight, is placed number four in the global rankings entering this week’s year-end championships and has secured his previous six matches over third-ranked Alexander Zverev with growing comfort. It's likely he could claim that position for himself in the coming years. But evidently 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 power on both front side and backhand are more than enough to defeat the majority of opponents on the professional circuit. When facing the select few once-in-a-lifetime players, however, he is often overmatched. The last several seasons has witnessed the curious rise of tall, gangly athletes who can nevertheless cover the court with the alarming quickness and fluidity of much shorter men. He is 6ft 5ins and appears that way. His movement is stiff, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his legs. So he’ll rarely steal a point that the opponent was controlling, and hitting a drop shot against him is typically a safe bet. That serves as a pretty severe restriction on his upside.

Fritz has made a several significant, improbable improvements over the years. At the beginning of the decade, he was circling the bottom of the top 30. Two years later, he was sniffing the elite ten. Last year, he suddenly surged up to No 4 – and held the position. But the next leap, competing against and defeating legendary figures like Alcaraz, Sinner, and even a aging Serbian, is the highest of all. What was the commentator thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to beat them all back-to-back? That it was worth mentioning the continuing drought of American men winning major titles when he had departed the US Open in the quarter-finals? The desperation is simply too much and the respect for the magnitude of the task too little.

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

The American's play in that exact quarter-final ought to have been sufficient of an sign. Djokovic won in four rounds, a victory that only seemed uncertain for brief periods towards the very end, when the American had survived a couple championship opportunities and had a chance to maintain serve for 5-5. The duo appeared evenly matched during the rallies, with Fritz 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 frustration. When he eventually did claim one of the chances at 5-5 in the second set, he promptly produced a terrible game to lose his own serve again; the Serbian had drawn him into a battle peripheral to the real battle and forced him to expend far too much energy to prevail. Down match points in the last game, Fritz’s first serve floated to the sky. He extended the match two times on his backup delivery, but finally committed two errors. It was not a collapse, in my opinion, just a result of needing to hit an excessive number of weaker deliveries.

The match was fairly ironclad proof that the American is insufficiently skilled to defeat any form of the Serbian, that was defeated by Alcaraz in the following match and never particularly appeared like he believed he could triumph. This is absolutely fine – the Serbian is the greatest of all time, and might not be at the peak of his physical powers now, but has acquired enough experience and strategic intelligence to make up for a significant portion of the drop-off. The problem is those who were anticipating Fritz to win, and putting pressure on him to achieve that, when he was had not accomplished anything that indicated he could.

Fritz is an asset to the circuit nonetheless. He’s a calm, reflective presence in press conferences, exceeding virtually everyone on the ATP aside from Daniil Medvedev, prepared to not only say how he feels or the strategy he believed decided a contest, but clarify it. That he should shoulder the majority of the responsibility for America failing to produce a male major champion since Andy Roddick seems unjust. (Since the fellow American is rubbing shoulders with him in the rankings, perhaps they can share that burden.)

ATP Finals: Singles Groups

American legend Division

• Carlos Alcaraz (Sp)
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• The Italian stylist

Bjorn Borg Group

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• The rising American
• The Canadian talent

“I’d probably think about it forever if I fail to accomplish it,” Fritz informed a journalist in the summer of winning a major. It is hoped he understands that he’s not a failure if he doesn’t fulfill that objective, that breaking through the Spanish and Italian's dominant, formidable empire is actually extremely unlikely for all other players. {