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I have a few thoughts about the comments delivered by ESPN commentator a well-known announcer after the Serbian champion's win over Taylor Fritz during the US Open last eight. Consider – Fritz is American, the commentator is from the US – and sports frequently lend themselves to nationalism. A little bit of disappointment would have been understandable. Rather, Fowler brought up the continued drought of American men at the majors: not one of them had lifted a trophy since Andy Roddick in 2003, and Fritz had been the final representative in the competition.

Everyone love a narrative, myself included. But come on. Even if Fritz had beaten the legend for the initial occasion, force of nature the Spanish star was waiting in the following match, whom he has never defeated in an competitive encounter. And had he someway 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 split the previous seven major titles (and the Spaniard proceeded to defeat a tired Serbian in the subsequent match). Fritz stated in post-match interviews following his defeat that he actually preferred his path, because it offered the chance to beat the three best players in the world in succession. He is well within his right to aim for the achievement; an competitor is meant to believe in themselves. But going into that Djokovic quarter-final what other person sensibly had the drought of US winners in mind?

The American star's weaker delivery the sole barrier standing in her way and sustained success

Fritz, 28, is placed fourth in the global rankings starting this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has secured his last six matches over third-ranked the German with growing comfort. Presumably he could take that spot for himself in the coming years. But evidently that at present, that is as high as he can rise: Sinner and Alcaraz sit a vast gap of performance metrics away. His elite delivery and powerful power on both forehand and reverse side are more than adequate to defeat the majority of opponents on the ATP tour. Against the select few generational talents, though, Fritz is often overmatched. The last several seasons has seen the interesting emergence of lanky, towering players who can nevertheless move around with the alarming speed and fluidity of much shorter men. Fritz is 6ft 5ins and appears that way. His footwork is stiff, as if he’s still getting used to his limbs. So he’ll rarely steal a point that the other player was dictating, and playing a soft shot versus him is typically a reliable tactic. That acts as a quite severe restriction on his potential.

Fritz has made a number of dramatic, improbable improvements throughout his career. At the beginning of the ten-year period, he was circling the bottom of the world's best thirty. Two years later, he was sniffing the top 10. The previous season, he unexpectedly exploded up to fourth place – and held the spot. But the subsequent step, competing against and beating legendary figures like the young Spaniard, Sinner, and including a declining Serbian, is the toughest of all. What was the commentator thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate mentioning the ongoing slump of US male players lifting major titles when Fritz had departed the US Open in the quarter-finals? The desperation is simply too much and the respect for the magnitude of the task insufficient.

The American star made a career-best run to the Wimbledon semi-finals in July.

Fritz’s play in that very last eight match ought to have been sufficient of an indication. Djokovic won 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 the American creating plenty of opportunities to win the opponent's serve. But Djokovic rescued service break opportunity after service break opportunity, prolonging the streak to the point of frustration. When he finally did convert one of the opportunities at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he promptly produced a terrible game to drop serve again; the Serbian had lulled him into a skirmish secondary to the main contest and compelled him to expend far too much energy to prevail. Down match points in the last game, his primary delivery floated to the sky. He prolonged the contest twice on his backup delivery, but ultimately double-faulted. It was not a collapse, I didn’t think, only a consequence of needing to hit too many second serves.

The match was fairly ironclad proof that the American is not good enough to defeat any version of the Serbian, that lost to Alcaraz in the next round and did not especially seem like he thought he could triumph. This is perfectly acceptable – Djokovic is the best player ever, and may not be at the peak of his athletic abilities now, but has acquired sufficient knowledge and tactical know-how to make up for a significant portion of the decline. The problem is those who were expecting Fritz to win, and putting pressure on him to do so, when he was had not accomplished anything that suggested he would.

Fritz is an asset to the circuit regardless. He’s a calm, reflective voice in media sessions, exceeding virtually anyone on the men's tour except for the Russian star, prepared to not just say his emotions or the strategy he believed determined a contest, but explain it. That he should bear the brunt of the responsibility for America not produce a male major champion since Andy Roddick seems unjust. (Since the fellow American is rubbing shoulders with him in the standings, perhaps they can share that load.)

Year-End Championships: Player Divisions

American legend Division

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

Swedish icon Division

• The Italian champion
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• Ben Shelton (US)
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I would likely dwell on it forever if I fail to accomplish it,” Fritz told a journalist in June of claiming a major. I hope he realizes that he’s not a failure if he does not fulfill that objective, that breaking through Alcaraz and Sinner’s dominant, formidable reign is in fact extremely unlikely for all other players. {