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I have some thoughts about the remarks delivered by ESPN broadcaster a well-known announcer after Novak Djokovic's victory over Taylor Fritz in the New York major last eight. Look – the athlete represents the United States, the commentator is from the US – and sports frequently encourage nationalism. Some letdown would have been understandable. Instead, he brought up the ongoing absence of US male players at grand slam tournaments: none of them has won a title since the last American champion in 2003, and Fritz had been the final representative in the competition.

Everyone enjoy a narrative, me too. But come on. Suppose Fritz had beaten Djokovic for the first time, phenomenal talent the Spanish star was looming in the next round, who Fritz has yet to beat in an competitive encounter. And had he somehow survived that, it would have been defending champion Jannik Sinner, versus him Fritz had lost 10 of the previous eleven sets. The two young stars had also divided the previous seven grand slams (plus the Spaniard went on to defeat a fatigued Djokovic in the subsequent match). Fritz said in press following his defeat that he in fact preferred his draw, because it offered the opportunity to defeat the top three competitors in the sport back-to-back. Fritz is well within his right to aspire to the achievement; an athlete is supposed to have faith in themselves. But going into that Djokovic quarter-final what other person sensibly had the lack of American champions on the brain?

Coco Gauff’s weaker delivery the only thing between her and consistent victories

Fritz, twenty-eight, is placed number four in the world entering this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has won his previous six encounters over third-ranked the German with growing comfort. It's likely he could claim that position for himself in the future. But evidently that at present, that is as far as he can rise: The Italian and Spaniard lie a vast gap of performance metrics away. Fritz’s elite serve and concussive strength on each front side and reverse side are sufficiently adequate to dispose of the majority of rivals on the professional circuit. When facing the handful of generational talents, however, Fritz is frequently overmatched. The last several years has seen the interesting rise of lanky, towering athletes who can nevertheless move around with the surprising speed and fluidity of smaller players. Fritz is six-foot-five and appears that way. His footwork is rigid, as if he’s still getting used to his legs. So he’ll rarely steal a point that the opponent was dictating, and playing a soft shot versus him is typically a safe bet. That serves as a pretty harsh limitation on his potential.

Fritz has made a number of significant, unexpected improvements throughout his career. Early on of the decade, he was hovering around the bottom of the world's best thirty. 24 months later, he was sniffing the top 10. The previous season, he suddenly surged to No 4 – and held the position. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and beating legendary figures like the young Spaniard, the Italian, and even a declining Djokovic, is the highest of all. What was Fowler 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 drought of US male players winning major titles when he had exited the US Open in the quarter-finals? The thirst is simply excessive and the respect for the difficulty of the task insufficient.

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

The American's play in that very quarter-final should have been sufficient of an indication. The Serbian won in four rounds, a victory that only seemed tenuous for brief periods towards the very end, when the American had survived a few championship opportunities and had a opportunity to maintain serve for 5-5. The duo appeared evenly matched during the exchanges, with Fritz earning plenty of chances to break. But Djokovic saved service break opportunity after service break opportunity, prolonging the streak to the brink of agony. When he eventually did convert a single of the opportunities at 5-5 in the second set, he immediately produced a horrendous service game to lose his own serve once more; the Serbian had drawn him into a battle secondary to the main contest and compelled him to expend excessive effort to win it. Facing match points in the final game, his primary delivery floated to heaven. He prolonged the match twice on his second serve, but ultimately committed two errors. It was not a choke, I didn’t think, only a result of having to hit too many second serves.

The contest was fairly compelling proof that Fritz is not good enough to beat any form of the Serbian, who was defeated by the Spaniard in the next round and did not particularly seem like he thought he could win. This is absolutely acceptable – Djokovic is the best player ever, and might not be at the height of his athletic abilities anymore, but has developed sufficient experience and strategic intelligence to compensate for a significant portion of the drop-off. The problem is those who were expecting Fritz to prevail, and pressuring him to do so, when he was had not done anything that suggested he would.

Fritz is an valuable contributor to the tour regardless. He’s a calm, thoughtful presence in media sessions, more so than virtually anyone on the ATP aside from Daniil Medvedev, willing to not just say his emotions or the strategy he believed determined a match, but explain it. That he should shoulder the majority of the blame for the United States failing to produce a men's grand slam winner since Andy Roddick seems unfair. (Since Ben Shelton is competing alongside him in the rankings, maybe they can share that burden.)

ATP Finals: Player Divisions

American legend Group

• The Spanish phenom
• The American contender
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Bjorn Borg Division

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• The rising American
• The Canadian talent

“I would likely think about it forever if I don’t do it,” the American informed a journalist in the summer of claiming a major. I hope he realizes that he’s not a failure if he does not fulfill that objective, that breaking through the Spanish and Italian's young, terrifying empire is actually highly unlikely for all other players. {