🔗 Share this article

I possess a few opinions about that comments delivered by the sports network broadcaster a well-known announcer after Novak Djokovic's victory over the American player during the US Open quarter-finals. Look – Fritz is American, Fowler is from the US – and sports frequently lend themselves to nationalism. Some letdown was appropriate. Instead, he brought up the continued drought of US male players at grand slam tournaments: none of them has won a trophy since Andy Roddick in 2003, and he had been the last one standing in the competition.

We all enjoy a storyline, me too. But really. Even if Fritz had beaten Djokovic for the initial occasion, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was waiting in the following match, who he has yet to beat in an competitive encounter. And had he somehow survived that, it would have been defending champion the Italian, versus him the American had lost 10 of the previous eleven sets. The two young stars had also split the last seven grand slams (and Alcaraz proceeded to thrash a tired Djokovic in the subsequent match). Fritz said in press following his defeat that he actually liked his path, because it presented the chance to beat the top three competitors in the world back-to-back. Fritz is more than within his right to aspire to the accomplishment; an competitor is supposed to believe in themselves. But entering that Djokovic quarter-final what other person in their right mind had the lack of US winners in mind?

The American star's second serve the only thing standing in her way and sustained success

Fritz, 28, is placed number four in the global rankings starting this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has won his previous six matches over third-ranked Alexander Zverev with increasing ease. Presumably he could take that spot for himself in the coming years. But it’s clear that right now, that is as far as he can rise: The Italian and Spaniard sit a vast gap of performance metrics away. His elite serve and concussive strength on each forehand and backhand are sufficiently adequate to defeat most rivals on the professional circuit. Against the handful of generational talents, however, he is often overmatched. The last several years has witnessed the curious emergence of tall, gangly athletes who can nevertheless move around with the alarming speed and fluidity of smaller players. He is six-foot-five and appears that way. His footwork is stiff, as if he’s still getting used to his legs. So he’ll rarely steal a point that the other player was dictating, and hitting a drop shot versus him is usually a reliable tactic. That serves as a pretty harsh restriction on his upside.

The American has achieved a number of dramatic, improbable improvements throughout his career. Early on of the decade, he was circling the bottom of the top 30. Two years after, he was sniffing the top 10. The previous season, he suddenly surged up to fourth place – and held the spot. But the next leap, mixing it up with and defeating legendary figures like the young Spaniard, Sinner, and even a aging Serbian, is the toughest of all. What was Fowler have been thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a serious threat to beat them all back-to-back? That it was worth mentioning the continuing drought of US male players winning major titles when he had departed the US Open in the quarter-finals? The thirst is just too much and the respect for the magnitude of the challenge too little.

The American star achieved a personal best run to the All England Club last four in July.

Fritz’s performance in that exact quarter-final ought to have been enough of an sign. The Serbian won in four sets, a victory that only felt uncertain for moments towards the conclusion, when the American had saved a few match points and had a chance to hold for 5-5. The duo looked well-balanced during the rallies, with Fritz creating plenty of opportunities to break. But the champion rescued service break opportunity after break point, prolonging the streak to the brink of frustration. When he eventually did claim one of the chances at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he immediately played a terrible service game to drop serve again; Djokovic had drawn him into a skirmish secondary to the main contest and compelled him to use far too much energy to prevail. Down set points in the last game, his first serve sailed to the sky. He prolonged the contest twice on his second serve, but finally double-faulted. It was not a choke, in my opinion, just a result of having to hit an excessive number of weaker deliveries.

The contest was quite ironclad proof that the American is insufficiently skilled to beat any version of the Serbian, that lost to Alcaraz in the following match and did not especially seem like he thought he could triumph. This is perfectly fine – Djokovic is the best player ever, and may not be at the peak of his athletic abilities now, but has acquired sufficient experience and strategic intelligence to compensate for a significant portion of the drop-off. The issue is the individuals who were expecting the American to win, and putting pressure on him to do so, when he was yet to accomplished anything that suggested he would.

Fritz is an asset to the circuit regardless. He’s a patient, thoughtful voice in press conferences, exceeding virtually anyone on the men's tour except for Daniil Medvedev, willing to not only express how he feels or the tactic he believed determined a match, but clarify it. That he ought to bear the brunt of the blame for the United States not produce a male major champion since the last American titlist seems unjust. (Now that Ben Shelton is rubbing shoulders with him in the standings, perhaps they can share that burden.)

Year-End Championships: Player Divisions

Jimmy Connors Division

• The Spanish phenom
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Bjorn Borg Division

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• The German powerhouse
• The rising American
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I’d probably think about it forever if I fail to do it,” Fritz informed an interviewer in June of winning a major. It is hoped he realizes that he’s not unsuccessful if he does not fulfill that goal, that breaking through Alcaraz and Sinner’s young, terrifying empire is in fact highly unlikely for everybody else. {