🔗 Share this article

I have a few thoughts regarding the remarks made by ESPN commentator Chris Fowler following the Serbian champion's victory over Taylor Fritz in the US Open quarter-finals. Look – Fritz is American, Fowler is American – and sports frequently lend themselves to patriotic sentiment. Some letdown would have been understandable. Rather, he brought up the continued absence of US male players at grand slam tournaments: not one of them has won a title since the last American champion in 2003, and he had been the final representative in the competition.

We all enjoy a storyline, me too. But come on. Even if the American had beaten the legend for the initial occasion, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was looming in the following match, whom Fritz has never defeated in an competitive encounter. And had he somehow survived that, it would have been defending champion Jannik Sinner, versus him Fritz had dropped 10 of the previous eleven sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also split the previous seven grand slams (plus the Spaniard went on to defeat a fatigued Djokovic in the next round). He said in press after the loss that he actually preferred his path, because it presented the chance to beat the three best players in the world back-to-back. He is well justified to aim for the accomplishment; an competitor is supposed to have faith in themselves. But entering that Djokovic quarter-final who else in their right mind had the drought of American champions on the brain?

The American star's second serve the sole barrier between her and consistent victories

The American, twenty-eight, is placed number four in the world starting this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has won his previous six matches over No 3 Alexander Zverev with increasing ease. It's likely he could take that spot for himself in the future. But it’s clear that at present, that is as far as he can rise: Sinner and Alcaraz lie a chasm of performance metrics away. His top-class delivery and powerful strength on both forehand and backhand are more than enough to defeat the majority of opponents on the ATP tour. When facing the handful of generational talents, however, he is frequently helpless. The past few years has seen the interesting emergence of lanky, towering athletes who can nevertheless move around with the alarming quickness and fluidity of smaller players. Fritz is six-foot-five and looks it. His movement is stiff, as if he’s still getting used to his limbs. So he seldom steal a point that the other player was dictating, and playing a drop shot against him is typically a safe bet. That serves as a pretty harsh limitation on his upside.

The American has made a number of dramatic, unexpected improvements over the years. At the beginning of the decade, he was hovering around the lower end of the world's best thirty. 24 months after, he was approaching the elite ten. The previous season, he suddenly surged up to fourth place – and maintained the position. But the subsequent step, competing against and beating all-time-greats like the young Spaniard, the Italian, 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 worth commenting on the ongoing slump of American men lifting grand slams when Fritz had departed the New York major in the quarter-finals? The desperation is just too much and the respect for the difficulty of the task insufficient.

The American star achieved a career-best run to the All England Club semi-finals in the summer.

The American's performance in that very last eight match should have been enough of an indication. The Serbian won in four rounds, a victory that only seemed uncertain for moments towards the conclusion, when the American had survived a few championship opportunities and had a opportunity to maintain serve for 5-5. The duo looked evenly matched during the exchanges, with the American creating plenty of chances to win the opponent's serve. But the champion saved break point after break point, prolonging the streak to the point of agony. When he eventually did claim one of the opportunities at 5-5 in the second set, he immediately produced a terrible service game to drop serve again; Djokovic had lulled him into a skirmish secondary to the main contest and forced him to expend excessive effort to prevail. Facing match points in the final game, his first serve sailed to the sky. He prolonged the match two times on his backup delivery, but ultimately committed two errors. It wasn’t a choke, I didn’t think, just a result of having to hit too many weaker deliveries.

The match was quite compelling evidence that the American is insufficiently skilled to beat any version of Djokovic, who lost to the Spaniard in the next round and never especially appeared like he thought he could triumph. This is perfectly acceptable – the Serbian is the greatest of all time, and might not be at the height of his athletic abilities anymore, but has acquired sufficient knowledge and tactical know-how to compensate for quite a bit of the decline. The problem is the individuals who were expecting the American to win, and pressuring him to achieve that, when he was had not done anything that indicated he could.

The American is an asset to the circuit regardless. He’s a patient, thoughtful presence in media sessions, more so than virtually anyone on the men's tour aside from the Russian star, willing to not just express his emotions or the tactic he believed decided a match, but clarify it. That he should bear the brunt of the blame for the United States not spawn a male major champion since the last American titlist seems unjust. (Since the fellow American is competing alongside him in the standings, perhaps they can share that burden.)

Year-End Championships: Singles Groups

Jimmy Connors Group

• Carlos Alcaraz (Sp)
• The American contender
• The Australian speedster
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Swedish icon Group

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• The rising American
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I’d probably dwell on it indefinitely if I fail to do it,” Fritz told a journalist in the summer of claiming a major. It is hoped he understands that he’s not a failure if he does not achieve that goal, that overcoming the Spanish and Italian's dominant, formidable reign is actually highly improbable for all other players. {