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I have some thoughts regarding that comments delivered by the sports network commentator Chris Fowler after the Serbian champion's victory over the American player during the New York major last eight. Look – Fritz is American, Fowler is American – and sports often encourage patriotic sentiment. Some letdown was understandable. Rather, Fowler invoked the continued drought of American men at grand slam tournaments: not one of them had lifted a title since Andy Roddick 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 had beaten the legend for the first time, phenomenal talent the Spanish star was waiting in the following match, who he has never defeated in an official match. And if he’d somehow gotten past that, it would have been title holder the Italian, against whom Fritz had dropped 10 of the last 11 sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also divided the previous seven grand slams (plus Alcaraz proceeded to defeat a tired Djokovic in the next round). Fritz said in press after the loss that he actually preferred his path, because it presented the opportunity to beat the top three players in the sport in succession. Fritz is more than justified to aspire to the accomplishment; an competitor is meant to have faith in themselves. But entering that Serbian quarter-final who else sensibly had the lack of US winners on the brain?

The American star's weaker delivery the only thing standing in her way and consistent victories

The American, twenty-eight, is placed fourth in the global rankings starting the upcoming year-end championships and has won his previous six matches over third-ranked the German with growing comfort. It's likely he could take that spot for himself in the future. But evidently that right now, that’s as high as he can climb: The Italian and Spaniard sit a vast gap of performance metrics away. His elite serve and powerful strength on each front side and reverse side are more than adequate to dispose of the majority of opponents on the professional circuit. When facing the handful of once-in-a-lifetime players, though, he is often overmatched. The last several seasons has witnessed the interesting rise of lanky, towering athletes who can nonetheless move around with the surprising speed and fluidity of much shorter players. He is six-foot-five and looks it. His movement is rigid, as if he’s still getting used to his legs. So he’ll rarely win a rally that the other player was controlling, and hitting a drop shot versus him is typically a reliable tactic. That serves as a pretty harsh limitation on his potential.

The American has achieved a number of dramatic, unexpected improvements over the years. At the beginning of the ten-year period, he was hovering around the lower end of the world's best thirty. 24 months later, he was approaching the elite ten. The previous season, he unexpectedly surged up to fourth place – and maintained the spot. But the next leap, mixing it up with and beating all-time-greats like Alcaraz, Sinner, and even a declining Serbian, is the highest of all. What was 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 ongoing slump of US male players lifting major titles when he had departed the US Open in the quarter-finals? The thirst is just too much and the respect for the difficulty of the task too little.

The American star made a personal best advancement to the Wimbledon last four in July.

The American's performance in that exact last eight match ought to have been sufficient of an indication. Djokovic triumphed in four sets, a win that only seemed uncertain for moments towards the conclusion, when Fritz had saved a couple championship opportunities and had a chance to maintain serve for 5-5. The pair appeared evenly matched during the exchanges, with the American creating plenty of chances to break. But Djokovic saved break point after break point, prolonging the streak to the point of agony. When he finally did convert one of the chances at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he immediately played a horrendous game to lose his own serve once more; the Serbian had lulled him into a skirmish peripheral to the main contest and forced him to use excessive energy to win it. Facing match points in the last game, his first serve sailed to heaven. He extended the match twice on his second serve, but finally committed two errors. It was not a collapse, I didn’t think, just a result of needing to hit too many weaker deliveries.

The contest was quite ironclad proof that Fritz is not good enough to beat any form of the Serbian, who lost to the Spaniard in the next round and never particularly seem like he thought he could win. This is perfectly acceptable – Djokovic is the greatest of all time, and may not be at the peak of his physical powers anymore, but has developed enough knowledge and strategic intelligence to make up for quite a bit of the drop-off. The issue is those who were expecting Fritz to prevail, and pressuring him to achieve that, when he was yet to done anything that suggested he could.

The American is an valuable contributor to the tour regardless. He’s a calm, reflective voice in press conferences, more so than almost anyone on the ATP aside from Daniil Medvedev, prepared to not just say how he feels or the strategy he believed decided a match, but explain 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 standings, maybe they can divide that load.)

Year-End Championships: Singles Groups

American legend Group

• The Spanish phenom
• The American contender
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Swedish icon Group

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

“I’d probably think about it indefinitely if I don’t accomplish it,” the American informed a journalist in the summer of winning a grand slam. It is hoped he understands that he’s not a failure if he does not achieve that objective, that overcoming Alcaraz and Sinner’s dominant, formidable empire is in fact highly unlikely for all other players. {