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I have some thoughts about the comments made by the sports network commentator a well-known announcer following Novak Djokovic's win over Taylor Fritz during the New York major last eight. Consider – Fritz is American, the commentator is from the US – and athletic competitions frequently lend themselves to patriotic sentiment. Some letdown would have been appropriate. Instead, Fowler brought up the continued absence of American men at grand slam tournaments: not one of them has won a title since Andy Roddick in 2003, and he had been the final representative in the tournament.

Everyone love a narrative, myself included. But come on. Even if the American had beaten the legend for the first time, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was looming in the next round, who Fritz has yet to beat in an competitive encounter. And if he’d somehow gotten past that, it would have been title holder the Italian, versus him the American had lost 10 of the previous eleven sets. The two young stars had also divided the last seven major titles (and Alcaraz proceeded to thrash a fatigued Serbian in the next round). He said in press after the loss that he in fact preferred his path, because it offered the chance to beat the top three competitors in the sport in succession. Fritz is well justified to aspire to the accomplishment; an athlete is meant to have faith in themselves. But going into that Serbian quarter-final who else sensibly had the lack of US winners in mind?

The American star's weaker delivery the only thing standing in her way and sustained success

Fritz, twenty-eight, is placed fourth in the world entering this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has secured his last six encounters over No 3 Alexander Zverev with growing comfort. Presumably he might take that spot for himself in the coming years. But evidently that at present, that is as far as he can rise: The Italian and Spaniard lie a vast gap of performance metrics away. His elite serve and powerful strength on both front side and backhand are more than adequate to defeat the majority of rivals on the professional circuit. When facing the handful of generational talents, though, he is frequently overmatched. The past few years has seen the interesting rise of tall, gangly athletes who can nonetheless cover the court with the alarming speed and grace of much shorter men. He is six-foot-five and looks it. His movement is stiff, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his legs. So he seldom win a rally that the opponent was dictating, and playing a soft shot versus him is typically a safe bet. That acts as a pretty severe limitation on his upside.

The American has achieved a number of dramatic, improbable advancements throughout his career. Early on of the decade, he was circling the bottom of the world's best thirty. Two years after, he was approaching the top 10. The previous season, he suddenly exploded up to fourth place – and held the spot. But the next leap, mixing it up with and beating legendary figures like Alcaraz, Sinner, and even a declining Djokovic, is the highest of all. What was Fowler thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to beat them all back-to-back? That it was worth mentioning the ongoing drought of American men winning major titles when he had exited the New York major in the quarter-finals? The desperation is simply excessive and the respect for the magnitude of the task too little.

The American star achieved a career-best advancement to the All England Club semi-finals in July.

Fritz’s performance in that very last eight match ought to have been enough of an indication. The Serbian triumphed in four rounds, a win that only felt uncertain for brief periods towards the conclusion, when the American had saved a few match points 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 win the opponent's serve. But Djokovic rescued break point after service break opportunity, prolonging the streak to the point of agony. When Fritz finally did convert one of the opportunities at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he immediately produced a terrible service game to drop serve again; the Serbian had lulled him into a battle secondary to the main contest and forced him to expend far too much effort to prevail. Facing match points in the last game, Fritz’s primary delivery sailed to the sky. He extended the match two times on his second serve, but finally committed two errors. It wasn’t a collapse, I didn’t think, just a consequence of needing to hit too many weaker deliveries.

The contest was quite ironclad proof that the American is insufficiently skilled to beat any form of Djokovic, who lost to Alcaraz in the next round and never especially appeared like he believed he could triumph. This is absolutely acceptable – Djokovic is the best player ever, and might not be at the peak of his physical powers anymore, but has developed sufficient experience and strategic intelligence to compensate for quite a bit of the decline. The issue is those who were anticipating the American to win, and putting pressure on him to achieve that, when he was yet to accomplished anything that suggested he would.

The American is an valuable contributor to the circuit regardless. He’s a patient, reflective voice in media sessions, exceeding almost anyone on the ATP aside from the Russian star, prepared to not just express his emotions or the strategy he believed determined a match, but explain it. That he should bear the brunt of the blame for America not produce a male major champion since Andy Roddick seems unfair. (Since Ben Shelton is competing alongside him in the rankings, maybe they can divide that burden.)

ATP Finals: Singles Groups

American legend Division

• The Spanish phenom
• The American contender
• The Australian speedster
• The Italian stylist

Swedish icon Division

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• The German powerhouse
• Ben Shelton (US)
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I’d probably dwell on it forever if I fail to accomplish it,” the American informed an interviewer in June of winning a major. I hope he understands that he’s not a failure if he doesn’t fulfill that objective, that overcoming the Spanish and Italian's dominant, formidable empire is in fact extremely improbable for everybody else. {