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I possess a few opinions regarding the remarks delivered by ESPN commentator Chris Fowler following Novak Djokovic's victory over Taylor Fritz in the New York major last eight. Look – Fritz is American, the commentator is from the US – and athletic competitions frequently lend themselves to patriotic sentiment. Some disappointment was appropriate. Instead, he brought up the continued absence of US male players at grand slam tournaments: not one of them has won 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, me too. But really. Suppose Fritz defeated Djokovic for the initial occasion, force of nature the Spanish star was looming in the following match, whom he has yet to beat in an official match. And if he’d somehow survived that, it would have been title holder the Italian, versus him Fritz had lost 10 of the last 11 sets. The two young stars had also split the last seven grand slams (plus Alcaraz proceeded to thrash a fatigued Djokovic in the next round). Fritz said in post-match interviews after the loss that he actually liked his path, because it presented the chance to defeat the three best players in the world back-to-back. He is well justified to aspire to the achievement; an athlete is supposed to have faith in themselves. But entering that Serbian last eight match who else sensibly had the lack of US winners in mind?

Coco Gauff’s weaker delivery the sole barrier standing in her way and consistent victories

Fritz, twenty-eight, is placed number four in the world starting this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has secured his last six encounters over third-ranked Alexander Zverev with increasing ease. It's likely he could take that spot for himself in the future. But it’s clear that right now, that is as far as he can climb: The Italian and Spaniard lie a chasm of performance metrics away. Fritz’s elite delivery and concussive strength on each front side and reverse side are more than enough to dispose of the majority of opponents on the ATP tour. When facing the handful of generational talents, though, Fritz is often helpless. The last several years has seen the curious rise of lanky, towering players who can nonetheless cover the court with the surprising speed and grace of smaller men. He is 6ft 5ins and looks it. His footwork is stiff, as if he’s still getting used to his limbs. So he’ll rarely steal a point that the opponent was controlling, and playing a soft shot versus him is usually a reliable tactic. That serves as a quite harsh limitation on his potential.

The American has made a number of significant, improbable improvements over the years. At the beginning of the ten-year period, he was circling the lower end of the world's best thirty. Two years later, he was sniffing the elite ten. Last year, he unexpectedly surged up to No 4 – and maintained the position. But the next leap, competing against and beating legendary figures like Alcaraz, Sinner, and including a aging Serbian, is the toughest of all. What was the commentator thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a serious threat to beat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate commenting on the ongoing drought of American men winning major titles when Fritz had departed the US Open in the quarter-finals? The desperation is just excessive and the respect for the magnitude of the task insufficient.

Taylor Fritz achieved a career-best run to the Wimbledon semi-finals in the summer.

The American's play in that very last eight match ought to have been sufficient of an sign. The Serbian triumphed in four rounds, a victory that only seemed tenuous for brief periods towards the conclusion, when the American had saved a few championship opportunities and had a chance to hold for 5-5. The pair looked well-balanced during the rallies, with the American creating plenty of chances to break. But the champion rescued break point after service break opportunity, prolonging the streak to the brink of frustration. When Fritz eventually did claim a single of the chances at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he immediately played a terrible game to drop serve again; the Serbian had lulled him into a battle secondary to the main contest and compelled him to use excessive effort to prevail. Facing set points in the final game, Fritz’s first serve floated to the sky. He extended the contest two times on his backup delivery, but finally committed two errors. It was not a collapse, I didn’t think, just a consequence of having to hit too many second serves.

The contest was fairly ironclad evidence that the American is insufficiently skilled to beat any version of Djokovic, who was defeated by the Spaniard in the following match and never particularly seem like he thought he could triumph. This is absolutely acceptable – the Serbian is the best player ever, and may not be at the height of his physical powers now, but has developed enough experience and strategic intelligence to compensate for quite a bit of the drop-off. The problem is the individuals who were anticipating Fritz to prevail, and putting pressure on him to do so, when he was had not done anything that suggested he could.

The American is an asset to the circuit regardless. He’s a calm, reflective voice in press conferences, exceeding almost everyone on the ATP aside from Daniil Medvedev, prepared to not only express how he feels or the tactic he felt determined a match, but clarify it. That he should shoulder the majority of the responsibility for America failing to spawn a male major champion since the last American titlist seems unjust. (Now that the fellow American is rubbing shoulders with him in the rankings, maybe they can share that burden.)

Year-End Championships: Player Divisions

American legend Group

• The Spanish phenom
• The American contender
• The Australian speedster
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Swedish icon Division

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• Ben Shelton (US)
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I would likely think about it forever if I don’t accomplish it,” the American told a journalist in the summer of claiming a grand slam. I hope he understands that he’s not unsuccessful if he doesn’t achieve that goal, that breaking through the Spanish and Italian's young, terrifying empire is in fact extremely unlikely for all other players. {