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I possess some thoughts regarding that comments made by the sports network commentator Chris Fowler after Novak Djokovic's victory over Taylor Fritz in the US Open last eight. Consider – Fritz is the United States, the commentator is American – and sports often encourage patriotic sentiment. A little bit of disappointment was appropriate. Instead, he brought up the continued drought of American men at grand slam tournaments: not one of them has won a title since the last American champion in 2003, and Fritz had been the last one standing in the tournament.

Everyone love a narrative, me too. But really. Even if Fritz had beaten Djokovic for the initial occasion, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was waiting in the next round, who Fritz has never defeated in an competitive encounter. And if he’d somehow survived that, it would have been defending champion the Italian, versus him Fritz had lost 10 of the previous eleven sets. The two young stars had also split the previous seven grand slams (and Alcaraz proceeded to thrash a fatigued Serbian in the subsequent match). Fritz said in press after the loss that he in fact preferred his draw, because it presented the opportunity to beat the three best players in the world in succession. He is well within his right to aspire to the accomplishment; an athlete is supposed to have faith in themselves. But going into that Serbian last eight match who else in their right mind had the lack of American champions on the brain?

Coco Gauff’s weaker delivery the sole barrier standing in her way and sustained success

Fritz, 28, is ranked fourth in the global rankings starting the upcoming ATP World Tour Finals and has won his last six encounters over No 3 the German with increasing ease. Presumably he might claim that position for himself in the coming years. But it’s clear that right now, that is as high as he can rise: The Italian and Spaniard lie a vast gap of performance metrics away. His top-class serve and powerful strength on both forehand and backhand are sufficiently enough to defeat the majority of opponents on the ATP tour. Against the handful of once-in-a-lifetime players, however, Fritz is frequently helpless. The last several years has seen the interesting rise of lanky, towering players who can nonetheless move around with the alarming quickness and grace of smaller players. Fritz is 6ft 5ins and looks it. His footwork is rigid, as if he’s still getting used to his legs. So he seldom steal a point that the opponent was dictating, and hitting a drop shot against him is usually a safe bet. That serves as a quite harsh restriction on his potential.

Fritz has achieved a number of significant, improbable improvements throughout his career. At the beginning of the ten-year period, he was hovering around the lower end of the top 30. 24 months after, he was sniffing the elite ten. The previous season, he suddenly surged up to fourth place – and held the position. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and defeating legendary figures like the young Spaniard, the Italian, and including a aging Djokovic, is the highest of all. What could Fowler thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a serious threat to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was worth mentioning the continuing drought of US male players lifting major titles when he had exited the New York major in the quarter-finals? The desperation is just too much and the appreciation for the magnitude of the task insufficient.

The American star made a personal best run to the All England Club last four in July.

Fritz’s performance in that very quarter-final should have been sufficient of an sign. Djokovic triumphed in four rounds, a victory that only seemed uncertain for brief periods towards the conclusion, when the American had saved a couple championship opportunities and had a chance to hold for 5-5. The pair looked evenly matched during the exchanges, with Fritz earning plenty of opportunities to win the opponent's serve. But the champion saved break point after service break opportunity, prolonging the streak to the point of agony. When he finally did claim one of the chances at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he promptly played a horrendous service game to drop serve again; Djokovic had lulled him into a skirmish peripheral to the real battle and compelled him to expend far too much effort to prevail. Down set points in the final game, his first serve sailed to the sky. He prolonged the match twice on his backup delivery, but ultimately committed two errors. It was not a choke, in my opinion, only a consequence of having to hit too many second serves.

The contest was quite compelling evidence that the American is insufficiently skilled to defeat any form of Djokovic, that lost to Alcaraz in the next round and never especially seem like he thought he could win. This is perfectly fine – the Serbian is the best player ever, and may not be at the height of his physical powers anymore, but has acquired enough knowledge and tactical know-how to make up for quite a bit of the drop-off. The problem is the individuals who were anticipating Fritz to win, and putting pressure on him to achieve that, when he was yet to accomplished anything that indicated he could.

The American is an asset to the circuit regardless. He’s a calm, thoughtful presence in press conferences, exceeding almost anyone on the ATP aside from the Russian star, prepared to not just express his emotions or the tactic he felt decided a contest, but clarify it. That he should bear the brunt of the responsibility for the United States not spawn a men's grand slam winner since the last American titlist feels unfair. (Now that Ben Shelton is competing alongside him in the rankings, perhaps they can divide that burden.)

ATP Finals: Singles Groups

Jimmy Connors Group

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

Swedish icon Group

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

“I’d probably think about it forever if I don’t do it,” the American informed an interviewer 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 breaking through Alcaraz and Sinner’s young, terrifying empire is in fact highly unlikely for all other players. {