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I have some opinions regarding the comments made by the sports network commentator Chris Fowler following Novak Djokovic's victory over the American player during the US Open quarter-finals. Look – the athlete represents the United States, the commentator is from the US – and sports often encourage patriotic sentiment. A little bit of letdown would have been appropriate. Rather, Fowler invoked the continued drought of American men at the majors: none of them has won a trophy since Andy Roddick in 2003, and Fritz had been the final representative in the tournament.

Everyone enjoy a narrative, me too. But really. Suppose Fritz had beaten Djokovic for the initial occasion, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was looming in the following match, who Fritz has never defeated in an official match. And if he’d somehow gotten past that, it would have been title holder Jannik Sinner, against whom Fritz had dropped 10 of the last 11 sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also divided the last seven grand slams (and Alcaraz went on to thrash a fatigued Serbian in the subsequent match). He stated in press after the loss that he in fact liked his draw, because it offered the chance to beat the top three players in the world back-to-back. He is well within his right to aspire to the accomplishment; an competitor is supposed to have faith in themselves. But going into that Serbian quarter-final what other person in their right mind had the drought of US winners on the brain?

The American star's weaker delivery the only thing between her and consistent victories

The American, twenty-eight, is ranked fourth in the world entering the upcoming ATP World Tour Finals and has secured his last six matches over No 3 Alexander Zverev with growing comfort. It's likely he could take that spot for himself in the coming years. But it’s clear that right now, that is as high as he can rise: The Italian and Spaniard lie a vast gap of ranking points away. Fritz’s top-class serve and concussive strength on both forehand and reverse side are more than enough to dispose of most opponents on the ATP tour. When facing the select few once-in-a-lifetime players, though, he is often overmatched. The past few seasons has seen the curious emergence of lanky, towering athletes who can nonetheless cover the court with the surprising speed and fluidity of much shorter players. Fritz is six-foot-five and looks it. His movement is stiff, as if he’s still getting used to his limbs. So he seldom win a rally that the other player was controlling, and playing a drop shot against him is typically a reliable tactic. That serves as a pretty severe limitation on his upside.

Fritz has achieved a number of significant, improbable advancements throughout his career. At the beginning of the ten-year period, he was circling the lower end of the top 30. 24 months after, he was sniffing the top 10. Last year, he suddenly surged to fourth place – and held the position. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and defeating legendary figures like Alcaraz, the Italian, and even a declining Djokovic, is the highest of all. What could the commentator thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a serious threat to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was worth commenting on the continuing drought of US male players lifting grand slams when he had exited 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 career-best advancement to the Wimbledon last four in July.

Fritz’s play in that exact last eight match should have been sufficient of an indication. Djokovic triumphed in four sets, a win that only seemed uncertain for moments towards the conclusion, when the American had survived a couple championship opportunities and had a opportunity to maintain serve for 5-5. The pair looked well-balanced during the rallies, with Fritz earning plenty of chances to break. But the champion saved break point after service break opportunity, prolonging the streak to the point of agony. When he finally did convert a single of the opportunities at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he immediately produced a terrible game to lose his own serve once more; Djokovic had drawn him into a skirmish peripheral to the real battle and compelled him to use far too much effort to win it. Down set points in the last game, his first serve floated to the sky. He extended the match twice on his backup delivery, but finally double-faulted. It was not a collapse, in my opinion, only a consequence of having to hit an excessive number of weaker deliveries.

The contest was fairly ironclad evidence that the American is not good enough to beat any version of Djokovic, who was defeated by the Spaniard in the following match and did not especially appeared like he believed he could win. This is absolutely fine – Djokovic is the best player ever, and might not be at the peak of his physical powers now, but has developed enough knowledge and strategic intelligence to compensate for a significant portion of the decline. The problem is those who were expecting Fritz to win, and putting pressure on him to achieve that, when he was yet to done anything that suggested he would.

Fritz is an asset to the tour nonetheless. He’s a calm, thoughtful voice in media sessions, more so than almost everyone on the men's tour aside from Daniil Medvedev, willing to not just express his emotions or the strategy he felt decided a match, but explain it. That he should bear the brunt of the responsibility for America not produce a male major champion since Andy Roddick seems unjust. (Now that the fellow American is competing alongside him in the rankings, perhaps they can share that load.)

ATP Finals: Singles Groups

Jimmy Connors Division

• The Spanish phenom
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• The Australian speedster
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Swedish icon Division

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• The rising American
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I would likely dwell on it forever if I fail to do it,” Fritz told an interviewer in June of winning a grand slam. It is hoped he realizes that he’s not unsuccessful if he doesn’t achieve that objective, that overcoming the Spanish and Italian's dominant, formidable empire is actually highly unlikely for all other players. {