🔗 Share this article

I have a few thoughts about the comments delivered by ESPN commentator Chris Fowler after Novak Djokovic's victory over the American player during the US Open last eight. Look – Fritz is American, the commentator is American – and sports frequently encourage patriotic sentiment. A little bit of disappointment was appropriate. Rather, Fowler brought up the continued absence of American men at the majors: none of them has won a title since Andy Roddick in 2003, and Fritz had been the last one standing in the tournament.

We all enjoy a storyline, me too. But really. Suppose the American had beaten the legend for the first time, force of nature the Spanish star was waiting in the following match, who Fritz has yet to beat in an official match. And if he’d someway gotten past that, it would have been title holder Jannik Sinner, versus him the American had dropped 10 of the previous eleven sets. The two young stars had also split the last seven major titles (plus Alcaraz went on to thrash a tired Djokovic in the subsequent match). He stated in post-match interviews following his defeat that he in fact liked his path, because it offered the opportunity to defeat the top three players in the sport back-to-back. Fritz is more than justified to aspire to the achievement; an competitor is supposed to believe in themselves. But entering that Djokovic last eight match what other person in their right mind had the drought of American champions in mind?

The American star's second serve the sole barrier between her and sustained success

The American, 28, is ranked number four in the global rankings entering this week’s year-end championships and has secured 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 at present, that’s as far as he can climb: The Italian and Spaniard lie a chasm of performance metrics away. Fritz’s top-class delivery and powerful strength on each forehand and backhand are sufficiently enough to defeat the majority of opponents on the ATP tour. Against the handful of generational talents, however, Fritz is often overmatched. The past few years has witnessed the curious rise of tall, gangly athletes who can nevertheless cover the court with the surprising quickness and fluidity of much shorter men. He is six-foot-five and looks it. His movement is stiff, as if he’s still getting used to his legs. So he seldom steal a point that the opponent was controlling, and hitting a drop shot against him is typically a safe bet. That acts as a quite severe limitation on his upside.

Fritz has made a number of dramatic, unexpected improvements throughout his career. At the beginning of the ten-year period, he was circling the lower end of the world's best thirty. Two years after, he was sniffing the top 10. The previous season, he unexpectedly surged up to fourth place – and maintained the spot. But the next leap, competing against and beating legendary figures like Alcaraz, the Italian, and including a aging Djokovic, is the toughest of all. What could Fowler thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to beat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate commenting on the ongoing slump of US male players lifting major titles when Fritz had departed the New York major in the quarter-finals? The thirst is just excessive and the appreciation for the difficulty of the challenge insufficient.

Taylor Fritz achieved a personal best run to the Wimbledon last four in the summer.

Fritz’s performance in that exact last eight match ought to have been enough of an sign. The Serbian won in four sets, a victory that only seemed tenuous for moments towards the very end, when the American had survived a couple match points and had a opportunity to hold for 5-5. The duo looked well-balanced during the exchanges, with the American creating numerous chances to win the opponent's serve. But the champion rescued break point after service break opportunity, extending the run to the brink of frustration. When Fritz finally did claim one of the chances at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he promptly produced a terrible service game to lose his own serve again; Djokovic had drawn him into a skirmish secondary to the main contest and forced him to expend far too much energy to win it. Facing set points in the final game, his primary delivery sailed to heaven. He extended the match two times on his backup delivery, but ultimately committed two errors. It wasn’t a choke, in my opinion, just a consequence of needing to hit too many second serves.

The contest was quite ironclad evidence that Fritz is not good enough to defeat any version of the Serbian, that lost to the Spaniard in the following match and never particularly seem like he thought he could triumph. This is absolutely fine – Djokovic is the greatest of all time, and may not be at the height of his athletic abilities now, but has developed sufficient experience and tactical know-how to compensate for quite a bit of the decline. The issue is those who were anticipating the American to win, and putting pressure on him to do so, when he was yet to done anything that suggested he could.

The American is an valuable contributor to the circuit nonetheless. He’s a calm, reflective voice in press conferences, exceeding almost everyone on the ATP aside from Daniil Medvedev, willing to not just say how he feels or the tactic he believed decided a contest, but clarify it. That he should bear the brunt of the blame for the United States failing to produce a men's grand slam winner since Andy Roddick feels unjust. (Now that Ben Shelton is competing alongside him in the rankings, maybe they can share that load.)

ATP Finals: Player Divisions

American legend Group

• Carlos Alcaraz (Sp)
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• The Australian speedster
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Bjorn Borg Group

• The Italian champion
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• The rising American
• The Canadian talent

“I would likely think about it indefinitely if I fail to accomplish it,” the American told a journalist in June of winning a major. I hope he realizes that he’s not a failure if he does not achieve that objective, that overcoming the Spanish and Italian's dominant, formidable reign is in fact highly improbable for everybody else. {