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I possess a few thoughts about the comments delivered by the sports network commentator a well-known announcer after the Serbian champion's win over Taylor Fritz during the US Open quarter-finals. Look – the athlete represents American, Fowler is American – and athletic competitions often encourage nationalism. A little bit of disappointment would have been understandable. Instead, he brought up the ongoing absence of American men at the majors: none of them had lifted a trophy since the last American champion in 2003, and Fritz had been the last one standing in the competition.

We all enjoy a storyline, myself included. But really. Suppose Fritz had beaten Djokovic for the first time, force of nature the Spanish star was waiting in the following match, who Fritz has yet to beat in an official match. And if he’d someway survived that, it would have been title holder Jannik Sinner, against whom Fritz had lost 10 of the last 11 sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also divided the previous seven major titles (plus the Spaniard went on to defeat a tired Djokovic in the subsequent match). He said in post-match interviews after the loss that he actually preferred his draw, because it offered the chance to beat the top three competitors in the world back-to-back. He is more than within his right to aspire to the achievement; an athlete is meant to have faith in themselves. But entering that Djokovic quarter-final what other person in their right mind had the lack of American champions on the brain?

Coco Gauff’s second serve the sole barrier between her and consistent victories

Fritz, twenty-eight, is ranked number four in the global rankings starting this week’s year-end championships and has secured his previous six encounters over third-ranked the German with growing comfort. Presumably he might take that spot for himself in the future. But evidently that right now, that is as far as he can climb: Sinner and Alcaraz sit a vast gap of ranking points away. His elite delivery and powerful strength on both front side and backhand are sufficiently adequate to defeat most opponents on the ATP tour. When facing the handful of once-in-a-lifetime players, however, he is frequently helpless. The last several seasons has seen the curious emergence of lanky, towering players who can nevertheless cover the court with the surprising quickness and fluidity of much shorter men. He is 6ft 5ins and looks it. His footwork is rigid, as if he’s still getting used to his limbs. So he’ll rarely steal a point that the other player was dictating, and hitting a soft shot versus him is typically a reliable tactic. That acts as a quite severe limitation on his upside.

The American 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 world's best thirty. Two years after, he was approaching the elite ten. Last year, he suddenly exploded to No 4 – and maintained the spot. But the next leap, competing against and beating all-time-greats like the young Spaniard, Sinner, and even a declining Djokovic, is the toughest of all. What was the commentator thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a serious threat to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate commenting on the ongoing drought of US male players winning grand slams when he had departed the US Open in the quarter-finals? The thirst is simply too much and the respect for the magnitude of the challenge insufficient.

Taylor Fritz made a personal best run to the Wimbledon last four in July.

The American's performance in that exact last eight match ought to have been enough of an sign. The Serbian triumphed in four rounds, a victory that only felt tenuous for brief periods towards the conclusion, when the American had saved a few championship opportunities and had a opportunity to hold for 5-5. The duo looked evenly matched during the rallies, with Fritz earning plenty of chances to win the opponent's serve. But Djokovic rescued service break opportunity after service break opportunity, prolonging the streak to the point of agony. When he eventually did claim a single of the opportunities at 5-5 in the second set, he immediately played a terrible game to lose his own serve once more; the Serbian had drawn him into a skirmish peripheral to the real battle and compelled him to expend far too much energy to prevail. Down set points in the last game, Fritz’s first serve floated to heaven. He extended the match twice on his backup delivery, but ultimately committed two errors. It was not a collapse, in my opinion, just a result of having to hit too many weaker deliveries.

The contest was quite ironclad proof that the American is insufficiently skilled to beat any version of Djokovic, who was defeated by Alcaraz in the next round and did not particularly seem like he believed he could win. This is perfectly fine – the Serbian is the greatest of all time, and may not be at the peak of his physical powers anymore, but has acquired sufficient knowledge and tactical know-how to compensate for quite a bit of the decline. The problem is the individuals who were expecting the American to prevail, and pressuring him to achieve that, when he was yet to accomplished anything that suggested he could.

The American is an valuable contributor to the tour nonetheless. He’s a patient, thoughtful presence in press conferences, exceeding virtually everyone on the men's tour except for Daniil Medvedev, willing to not only express his emotions or the tactic he believed decided a contest, but clarify it. That he ought to shoulder the majority of the blame for America failing to produce a male major champion since Andy Roddick feels unjust. (Since Ben Shelton is rubbing shoulders with him in the rankings, maybe they can share that burden.)

ATP Finals: Player Divisions

American legend Division

• Carlos Alcaraz (Sp)
• The American contender
• The Australian speedster
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Swedish icon Group

• The Italian champion
• The German powerhouse
• The rising American
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I’d probably think about it indefinitely if I fail to do it,” Fritz told a journalist in the summer of claiming a major. I hope he realizes that he’s not a failure if he does not achieve that objective, that overcoming the Spanish and Italian's young, terrifying empire is in fact extremely unlikely for everybody else. {