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I possess a few opinions about the remarks delivered by the sports network broadcaster Chris Fowler after Novak Djokovic's win over the American player in the US Open last eight. Look – Fritz is the United States, the commentator is from the US – and athletic competitions often lend themselves to patriotic sentiment. Some letdown was appropriate. Rather, he invoked the continued drought of US male players at the majors: none of them had lifted a title since the last American champion in 2003, and he had been the last one standing in the tournament.

Everyone love a storyline, myself included. But really. Even if the American had beaten the legend for the initial occasion, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was looming in the next round, whom Fritz has never defeated in an official match. And if he’d someway survived that, it would have been defending champion the Italian, against whom Fritz had dropped 10 of the previous eleven sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also divided the last seven grand slams (and Alcaraz proceeded to thrash a tired Serbian in the next round). Fritz stated in press after the loss that he in fact liked his path, because it offered the chance to defeat the three best competitors in the world in succession. He is well within his right to aspire to the achievement; an competitor is meant to believe in themselves. But entering that Serbian quarter-final who else in their right mind had the lack of American champions on the brain?

Coco Gauff’s weaker delivery the sole barrier between her and sustained success

Fritz, twenty-eight, is ranked fourth in the global rankings entering this week’s year-end championships and has won his last six encounters over third-ranked Alexander Zverev with growing comfort. It's likely he could take that spot for himself in the coming years. But it’s clear that right now, that is as high as he can climb: The Italian and Spaniard sit a chasm of performance metrics away. Fritz’s elite delivery and concussive strength on both front side and backhand are sufficiently enough to dispose of most rivals on the professional circuit. Against the handful of once-in-a-lifetime players, however, he is often helpless. The last several seasons has witnessed the curious rise of lanky, towering players who can nonetheless cover the court with the alarming speed and fluidity of much shorter players. Fritz is six-foot-five and looks it. His footwork is rigid, as if he’s still getting used to his limbs. So he’ll rarely steal a point that the opponent was controlling, and hitting a soft shot versus him is usually a safe bet. That acts as a pretty severe restriction on his potential.

Fritz has made a number of dramatic, improbable improvements throughout his career. Early on of the ten-year period, he was hovering around the bottom of the top 30. Two years after, he was approaching the elite ten. The previous season, he unexpectedly exploded up to fourth place – and held the spot. But the next leap, competing against and beating legendary figures like Alcaraz, the Italian, and including a aging Serbian, is the toughest of all. What was Fowler thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate mentioning the continuing slump of US male players winning grand slams when Fritz had departed the US Open in the quarter-finals? The desperation is simply excessive and the respect for the magnitude of the challenge too little.

The American star made a career-best advancement to the Wimbledon last four in July.

The American's performance in that exact last eight match should have been enough of an sign. Djokovic won in four rounds, a victory that only felt tenuous for moments towards the very end, when Fritz had saved a couple match points and had a opportunity to maintain serve for 5-5. The pair looked well-balanced during the exchanges, with Fritz creating numerous opportunities to break. But the champion saved service break opportunity after break point, extending the streak to the brink of agony. When he finally did convert a single of the opportunities at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he immediately produced a horrendous game to lose his own serve again; the Serbian had lulled him into a skirmish secondary to the main contest and compelled him to use excessive effort to prevail. Down set points in the final game, Fritz’s primary delivery floated to the sky. He extended the match twice on his second serve, but finally committed two errors. It was not a choke, in my opinion, just a result of having to hit too many weaker deliveries.

The match was quite ironclad proof that the American is not good enough to beat any form of Djokovic, that was defeated by Alcaraz in the following match and never especially appeared like he believed he could triumph. This is absolutely fine – Djokovic is the greatest of all time, and may not be at the peak of his physical powers now, but has acquired enough knowledge and strategic intelligence to make up for quite a bit of the drop-off. The problem is those who were expecting the American to prevail, and putting pressure on him to do so, when he was yet to done anything that indicated he could.

Fritz is an asset to the tour nonetheless. He’s a patient, reflective voice in media sessions, exceeding virtually everyone on the men's tour except for the Russian star, prepared to not only say how he feels or the tactic he believed decided a contest, but explain it. That he should bear the brunt of the blame for the United States failing to spawn a men's grand slam winner since Andy Roddick seems unjust. (Now that Ben Shelton is competing alongside him in the standings, perhaps they can divide that burden.)

ATP Finals: Singles Groups

Jimmy Connors Division

• The Spanish phenom
• The American contender
• The Australian speedster
• The Italian stylist

Swedish icon Division

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• Ben Shelton (US)
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I’d probably think about it forever if I don’t accomplish it,” the American informed an interviewer in June of winning a grand slam. It is hoped he understands that he’s not unsuccessful if he doesn’t achieve that objective, that breaking through Alcaraz and Sinner’s dominant, formidable reign is in fact highly unlikely for all other players. {