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I have a few opinions about the comments delivered by ESPN commentator a well-known announcer after the Serbian champion's win over Taylor Fritz during the US Open quarter-finals. Consider – Fritz is American, the commentator is American – and athletic competitions frequently encourage patriotic sentiment. Some letdown would have been understandable. Rather, he brought up the continued absence of US male players at the majors: none of them has won a title since Andy Roddick in 2003, and he had been the last one standing in the competition.

We all enjoy a storyline, myself included. But really. Even if the American had beaten Djokovic for the initial occasion, phenomenal talent the Spanish star was waiting in the following match, who Fritz has never defeated in an competitive encounter. And if he’d somehow survived that, it would have been defending champion Jannik Sinner, against whom Fritz had dropped 10 of the previous eleven sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also split the previous seven major titles (plus Alcaraz proceeded to defeat a tired Serbian in the subsequent match). He said in press after the loss that he in fact liked his path, because it offered the chance to defeat the three best players in the sport in succession. He is more than justified to aim for the accomplishment; an athlete is meant to believe in themselves. But entering that Serbian last eight match what other person in their right mind had the lack of US winners in mind?

Coco Gauff’s weaker delivery the only thing between her and sustained success

The American, 28, is ranked number four in the world starting this week’s year-end championships and has won his previous six matches over No 3 Alexander Zverev with growing comfort. Presumably he might claim that position for himself in the future. But it’s clear that at present, that is as far as he can rise: The Italian and Spaniard lie a vast gap of ranking points away. Fritz’s elite delivery and concussive power on both front side and reverse side are sufficiently enough to defeat most rivals on the professional circuit. Against the select few once-in-a-lifetime players, though, he is frequently overmatched. The past few seasons has seen the curious emergence of tall, gangly players who can nonetheless move around with the surprising speed and grace of much shorter men. Fritz is 6ft 5ins and appears that way. His movement is stiff, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his legs. So he’ll rarely win a rally that the other player was controlling, and playing a drop shot against him is typically a reliable tactic. That serves as a quite harsh restriction on his potential.

Fritz has achieved a number of dramatic, unexpected advancements over the years. Early on of the ten-year period, he was hovering around the lower end of the world's best thirty. Two years after, he was approaching the top 10. Last year, he suddenly exploded to No 4 – and held the spot. But the subsequent step, competing against and beating legendary figures like Alcaraz, Sinner, and including a declining Djokovic, is the toughest of all. What could Fowler have been thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to beat them all back-to-back? That it was worth mentioning the continuing slump of American men winning major titles when Fritz had exited the US Open 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 Wimbledon last four in the summer.

Fritz’s performance in that very last eight match ought to have been enough of an sign. The Serbian triumphed in four rounds, a victory that only felt tenuous for moments towards the conclusion, when the American had saved a few championship opportunities and had a opportunity to maintain serve for 5-5. The duo looked evenly matched during the rallies, with the American earning plenty of chances to win the opponent's serve. But Djokovic saved break point after service break opportunity, prolonging the streak to the point of frustration. When Fritz eventually did convert a single of the chances at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he promptly produced a horrendous game to lose his own serve again; the Serbian had lulled him into a battle secondary to the real battle and compelled him to expend excessive energy to prevail. Facing match points in the last game, his primary delivery sailed to the sky. He extended the contest twice on his backup delivery, but ultimately double-faulted. It wasn’t a choke, I didn’t think, just a result of having to hit too many second serves.

The match was fairly ironclad proof that the American is insufficiently skilled to defeat any form of Djokovic, that lost to the Spaniard in the following match and never especially seem like he thought he could win. This is absolutely acceptable – the Serbian is the greatest of all time, and might not be at the peak of his athletic abilities anymore, but has acquired sufficient knowledge and strategic intelligence to make up for a significant portion of the decline. The problem is those who were anticipating the American to win, and putting pressure on him to achieve that, when he was yet to done anything that suggested he would.

Fritz is an asset to the tour regardless. He’s a patient, reflective voice in media sessions, more so than virtually anyone on the men's tour aside from Daniil Medvedev, willing to not just express his emotions or the strategy he believed determined a match, but clarify it. That he should bear the brunt of the responsibility for the United States not spawn a male major champion since the last American titlist feels unjust. (Since the fellow American is competing alongside him in the standings, perhaps they can share that load.)

ATP Finals: Singles Groups

American legend Group

• Carlos Alcaraz (Sp)
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• The Australian speedster
• The Italian stylist

Swedish icon Group

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• The German powerhouse
• The rising American
• The Canadian talent

“I’d probably think about it indefinitely if I don’t accomplish it,” Fritz told an interviewer in the summer of claiming a grand slam. I hope he understands that he’s not a failure if he doesn’t fulfill that goal, that overcoming the Spanish and Italian's young, terrifying empire is in fact highly improbable for everybody else. {