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I have some thoughts regarding the remarks made by the sports network commentator Chris Fowler following the Serbian champion's victory over Taylor Fritz in the US Open quarter-finals. Consider – the athlete represents American, Fowler is from the US – and athletic competitions frequently encourage nationalism. Some letdown was appropriate. Instead, he invoked the continued absence of US male players at the majors: none 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 storyline, myself included. But come on. Suppose the American defeated the legend for the first time, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was looming in the following match, whom he has never defeated in an competitive encounter. And if he’d someway survived that, it would have been defending champion the Italian, versus him Fritz had dropped 10 of the last 11 sets. The two young stars had also split the last seven grand slams (plus Alcaraz went on to thrash a tired Djokovic in the next round). Fritz said in post-match interviews after the loss that he actually preferred his path, because it offered the opportunity to beat the three best competitors in the sport in succession. Fritz is well justified 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 American champions in mind?

Coco Gauff’s weaker delivery the only thing standing in her way and sustained success

The American, twenty-eight, is ranked number four in the global rankings starting this week’s year-end championships and has secured his previous six matches over No 3 the German with increasing ease. It's likely he could take that spot for himself in the future. But evidently that right now, that’s as far as he can rise: The Italian and Spaniard lie a vast gap of ranking points away. Fritz’s elite serve and concussive strength on each front side and reverse side are more than enough to defeat the majority of rivals on the professional circuit. When facing the handful of generational talents, however, he is often overmatched. The last several years has witnessed the interesting rise of tall, gangly athletes who can nevertheless cover the court with the surprising quickness and fluidity of much shorter players. He is 6ft 5ins and looks it. His footwork is stiff, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his limbs. So he’ll rarely win a rally that the other player was dictating, and hitting a drop shot against him is usually a safe bet. That serves as a pretty harsh limitation on his potential.

Fritz has achieved a several dramatic, improbable advancements over the years. At the beginning of the ten-year period, he was circling the bottom of the world's best thirty. Two years after, he was approaching the elite ten. The previous season, he suddenly exploded to No 4 – and held the spot. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and defeating all-time-greats like the young Spaniard, Sinner, and even a aging Serbian, is the highest of all. What could the commentator have been thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a serious threat to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was worth mentioning the continuing slump of US male players winning grand slams when he had departed the New York major in the quarter-finals? The desperation is just excessive and the respect for the difficulty of the task too little.

The American star achieved a personal best run to the Wimbledon semi-finals in July.

The American's play in that exact quarter-final should have been sufficient of an indication. The Serbian triumphed in four sets, a win that only seemed uncertain for brief periods towards the conclusion, when Fritz had survived a few match points and had a opportunity to hold for 5-5. The duo looked evenly matched during the exchanges, with the American creating numerous chances to win the opponent's serve. But the champion rescued service break opportunity after break point, extending the streak to the point of frustration. When he eventually did claim a single of the chances at 5-5 in the second set, he promptly played a terrible game to drop serve again; Djokovic had drawn him into a battle peripheral to the real battle and compelled him to expend excessive effort to win it. Down match points in the last game, his first serve floated to the sky. He prolonged the match two times on his second serve, but ultimately double-faulted. It was not a collapse, I didn’t think, just a consequence of having to hit an excessive number of weaker deliveries.

The contest was quite compelling evidence that the American is insufficiently skilled to beat any form of the Serbian, that was defeated by Alcaraz in the following match and did not especially seem like he believed he could win. This is perfectly fine – the Serbian is the greatest of all time, and may not be at the peak of his physical powers anymore, but has acquired enough knowledge and tactical know-how to make up for a significant portion of the drop-off. The problem is the individuals who were expecting Fritz to win, and putting pressure on him to achieve that, when he was yet to done anything that indicated he could.

Fritz is an valuable contributor to the tour nonetheless. He’s a patient, thoughtful voice in press conferences, exceeding virtually everyone on the men's tour aside from Daniil Medvedev, willing to not just express how he feels or the strategy he believed determined a match, but explain it. That he should bear the brunt of the blame for America not produce a male major champion since the last American titlist seems unjust. (Now that Ben Shelton is competing alongside him in the standings, perhaps they can share that load.)

ATP Finals: Player Divisions

Jimmy Connors Division

• Carlos Alcaraz (Sp)
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• The Italian stylist

Bjorn Borg Division

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

“I’d probably dwell on it indefinitely if I fail to accomplish it,” Fritz informed a journalist in June of claiming a grand slam. I hope he understands that he’s not a failure if he does not achieve that objective, that breaking through Alcaraz and Sinner’s young, terrifying reign is actually extremely unlikely for all other players. {