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I have a few thoughts about that comments delivered by ESPN commentator Chris Fowler following Novak Djokovic's victory over the American player in the US Open quarter-finals. Look – Fritz is the United States, the commentator is American – and athletic competitions often encourage nationalism. Some disappointment would have been understandable. Rather, he brought up the continued drought of American men at the majors: not one of them has won a title since Andy Roddick in 2003, and Fritz had been the last one standing in the tournament.

We all love a storyline, me too. But come on. Suppose Fritz defeated Djokovic for the first time, phenomenal talent Carlos Alcaraz was looming in the following match, whom Fritz has never defeated in an official match. And if he’d someway gotten past that, it would have been defending champion Jannik Sinner, versus him the American had lost 10 of the previous eleven sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also divided the previous seven grand slams (and Alcaraz went on to thrash a tired Djokovic in the subsequent match). He said in post-match interviews following his defeat that he in fact preferred his draw, because it offered the opportunity to defeat the three best competitors in the world in succession. He is more than justified to aim for the accomplishment; an competitor is meant to believe in themselves. But entering that Serbian last eight match who else in their right mind had the lack of American champions in mind?

The American star's weaker delivery the only thing between her and consistent victories

Fritz, 28, is placed number four 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. It's likely he could take that spot for himself in the future. But it’s clear that right now, that’s as high as he can rise: Sinner and Alcaraz lie a chasm of performance metrics away. Fritz’s elite delivery and powerful power on both forehand and reverse side are sufficiently adequate to dispose of the majority of rivals on the ATP tour. When facing the handful of once-in-a-lifetime players, however, he is often overmatched. The past few seasons has witnessed the interesting emergence of tall, gangly athletes who can nevertheless move around with the alarming speed and fluidity of smaller men. Fritz is 6ft 5ins and appears that way. His movement is stiff, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his limbs. So he’ll rarely steal a point that the opponent was controlling, and playing a drop shot against him is usually a safe bet. That serves as a pretty severe limitation on his upside.

Fritz has made a number of significant, improbable improvements over the years. Early on of the ten-year period, he was hovering around the bottom of the top 30. Two years after, he was sniffing the top 10. The previous season, he suddenly surged to fourth place – and held the spot. But the next leap, mixing it up with and defeating all-time-greats like Alcaraz, Sinner, and including a declining Serbian, is the highest of all. What was the commentator have been thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a serious threat to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate mentioning the ongoing slump of US male players lifting major titles when he had departed the US Open in the quarter-finals? The desperation is simply too much and the appreciation for the difficulty of the task insufficient.

The American star made a personal best run to the Wimbledon semi-finals in the summer.

Fritz’s play in that exact last eight match should have been enough of an sign. Djokovic triumphed in four sets, a victory that only seemed tenuous for brief periods towards the very end, when the American had survived a few match points and had a opportunity to maintain serve for 5-5. The pair appeared evenly matched during the exchanges, with the American creating numerous chances to break. But the champion saved break point after break point, extending the run to the brink of frustration. When Fritz eventually did claim a single of the chances at 5-5 in the second set, he promptly produced a horrendous game to drop serve once more; Djokovic had drawn him into a battle secondary to the real battle and forced him to expend excessive effort to win it. Down set points in the last game, Fritz’s first serve floated to heaven. He prolonged the match twice on his backup delivery, but ultimately double-faulted. It was not a choke, I didn’t think, just a result of needing to hit too many second serves.

The match was fairly ironclad evidence that Fritz is not good enough to beat any version of Djokovic, who lost to the Spaniard in the following match and did not particularly appeared like he believed he could triumph. This is absolutely fine – Djokovic is the best player ever, and might not be at the peak of his physical powers anymore, but has developed enough experience and strategic intelligence to compensate for a significant portion of the drop-off. The issue is the individuals who were expecting Fritz to win, and pressuring him to do so, when he was had not accomplished anything that indicated he would.

Fritz is an valuable contributor to the circuit nonetheless. He’s a patient, reflective voice in media sessions, more so than virtually everyone on the men's tour except for the Russian star, prepared to not only express his emotions or the tactic he felt decided a match, but clarify it. That he should shoulder the majority of the responsibility for the United States failing to produce a men's grand slam winner since Andy Roddick seems unjust. (Now that the fellow American is competing alongside him in the standings, perhaps they can divide that burden.)

ATP Finals: Player Divisions

Jimmy Connors Division

• The Spanish phenom
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• The Australian speedster
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Bjorn Borg Division

• The Italian champion
• The German powerhouse
• The rising American
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I would likely think about it forever if I don’t accomplish it,” Fritz told an interviewer in the summer of winning a major. It is hoped he understands that he’s not unsuccessful if he does not achieve that goal, that breaking through Alcaraz and Sinner’s young, terrifying empire is in fact extremely unlikely for everybody else. {