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I have a few opinions regarding the remarks delivered by ESPN commentator Chris Fowler after the Serbian champion's victory over Taylor Fritz during the New York major last eight. Consider – Fritz is American, Fowler is from the US – and sports frequently lend themselves to patriotic sentiment. A little bit of letdown would have been appropriate. Rather, Fowler brought up the ongoing drought of US male players at the majors: none of them has won a title since Andy Roddick in 2003, and he had been the final representative in the tournament.

We all enjoy a narrative, myself included. But really. Suppose the American had beaten Djokovic for the initial occasion, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was waiting in the following match, who he has never defeated in an official match. And had he somehow gotten past that, it would have been defending champion Jannik Sinner, versus him Fritz had lost 10 of the previous eleven sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also split the previous seven major titles (plus Alcaraz went on to defeat a tired Serbian in the next round). He said in press following his defeat that he actually preferred his path, because it offered the chance to beat the top three competitors in the sport back-to-back. Fritz is well within his right to aspire to the accomplishment; an athlete is supposed to believe in themselves. But going into that Serbian quarter-final what other person in their right mind had the lack of American champions in mind?

Coco Gauff’s second serve the only thing standing in her way and sustained success

The American, 28, is placed number four in the global rankings starting this week’s year-end championships and has won his previous six encounters over No 3 the German with increasing ease. Presumably he could take that spot for himself in the future. But evidently that at present, that is as far as he can climb: Sinner and Alcaraz sit a chasm of performance metrics away. Fritz’s elite serve and concussive power on both front side and backhand are sufficiently enough to dispose of most rivals on the professional circuit. Against the handful of once-in-a-lifetime players, however, he is often helpless. The past few seasons has seen the interesting rise of lanky, towering players who can nevertheless move around with the surprising quickness and fluidity of much shorter players. Fritz is six-foot-five and appears that way. His movement is stiff, as if he’s still getting used to his legs. So he’ll rarely steal a point that the other player was controlling, and playing a drop shot versus him is usually a safe bet. That serves as a pretty harsh limitation on his upside.

The American has achieved a several dramatic, improbable advancements throughout his career. Early on of the ten-year period, he was circling the lower end of the world's best thirty. 24 months after, he was sniffing the top 10. The previous season, he unexpectedly exploded up to No 4 – and maintained the position. But the next leap, mixing it up with and beating all-time-greats like the young Spaniard, the Italian, and including a declining Serbian, is the highest of all. What was Fowler have been thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a serious threat to beat them all back-to-back? That it was worth mentioning the ongoing drought of US male players winning major titles when he had departed the New York major in the quarter-finals? The desperation is just excessive and the appreciation for the difficulty of the challenge insufficient.

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

The American's play in that exact quarter-final should have been enough of an indication. The Serbian won in four sets, a victory that only seemed tenuous for brief periods towards the conclusion, when Fritz had saved a few championship opportunities and had a opportunity to maintain serve for 5-5. The pair looked well-balanced during the exchanges, with Fritz earning numerous chances to win the opponent's serve. But the champion saved service break opportunity after service break opportunity, prolonging the streak to the brink of agony. When he eventually did claim one of the opportunities at 5-5 in the second set, he promptly played a terrible service game to lose his own serve once more; Djokovic had lulled him into a battle secondary to the real battle and compelled him to expend far too much energy to win it. Down set points in the final game, his primary delivery sailed to the sky. He prolonged the contest twice on his second serve, but ultimately double-faulted. It wasn’t a choke, I didn’t think, just a result of needing to hit an excessive number of second serves.

The match was fairly compelling evidence that Fritz is not good enough to defeat any form of Djokovic, who was defeated by Alcaraz in the following match and never especially appeared like he thought he could win. This is perfectly fine – Djokovic is the greatest of all time, and might not be at the height of his physical powers anymore, but has developed sufficient experience and strategic intelligence to make up for a significant portion of the drop-off. The issue is the individuals who were expecting the American to win, and putting pressure on him to do so, when he was had not done anything that suggested he would.

Fritz is an valuable contributor to the circuit regardless. He’s a patient, reflective voice in media sessions, more so than almost anyone on the ATP except for Daniil Medvedev, prepared to not just say how he feels or the strategy he believed determined a match, but clarify it. That he should bear the brunt of the responsibility for America not spawn a men's grand slam winner since Andy Roddick feels unjust. (Now that the fellow American is competing alongside him in the rankings, perhaps they can divide that burden.)

ATP Finals: Singles Groups

American legend Group

• Carlos Alcaraz (Sp)
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Bjorn Borg Group

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

“I would likely think about it forever if I don’t do it,” the American told an interviewer in June of winning a major. It is hoped he realizes that he’s not unsuccessful if he does not fulfill that objective, that overcoming Alcaraz and Sinner’s dominant, formidable reign is in fact highly improbable for all other players. {