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I have a few opinions about the comments made by ESPN broadcaster Chris Fowler following the Serbian champion's victory over the American player during the US Open last eight. Consider – Fritz is American, Fowler is from the US – and sports frequently encourage patriotic sentiment. A little bit of letdown would have been understandable. Instead, Fowler invoked the ongoing drought of US male players at the majors: none of them has won a title since Andy Roddick in 2003, and he had been the last one standing in the tournament.

Everyone enjoy a storyline, me too. But come on. Suppose the American defeated Djokovic for the initial occasion, phenomenal talent the Spanish star was looming in the next round, who Fritz has yet to beat in an competitive encounter. And had he someway gotten past that, it would have been title holder the Italian, against whom the American had lost 10 of the previous eleven sets. The two young stars had also divided the last seven major titles (plus the Spaniard went on to defeat a fatigued Djokovic in the subsequent match). He said in post-match interviews following his defeat that he actually preferred his draw, because it offered the opportunity to defeat the top three players in the sport back-to-back. He is well within his right to aspire to the achievement; an competitor is supposed to have faith in themselves. But entering that Serbian last eight match who else sensibly had the lack of US winners on the brain?

The American star's second serve the sole barrier standing in her way and sustained success

Fritz, twenty-eight, is ranked number four in the world starting this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has secured his last six matches over third-ranked the German with growing comfort. Presumably he could take that spot for himself in the coming years. But it’s clear that at present, that is as far as he can climb: Sinner and Alcaraz sit a vast gap of ranking points away. His elite serve and powerful strength on each forehand and reverse side are more than enough to defeat most rivals on the professional circuit. When facing the handful of generational talents, though, Fritz is often helpless. The past few years has witnessed the interesting rise of tall, gangly players who can nevertheless cover the court with the surprising quickness and fluidity of much shorter men. Fritz is six-foot-five and looks it. His movement is rigid, as if he’s still getting used to his legs. So he’ll rarely steal a point that the other player was controlling, and playing a soft shot against him is typically a safe bet. That acts as a quite severe restriction on his potential.

The American has achieved a number of dramatic, unexpected improvements throughout his career. At the beginning of the decade, he was circling the lower end of the world's best thirty. 24 months after, he was sniffing the elite ten. The previous season, he unexpectedly surged up to No 4 – and maintained the spot. But the next leap, mixing it up with and defeating all-time-greats like Alcaraz, Sinner, and even a aging Djokovic, is the toughest of all. What was Fowler thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was worth commenting on the continuing drought of US male players winning major titles when he had exited the New York major in the quarter-finals? The thirst is simply excessive and the appreciation for the magnitude of the challenge too little.

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

Fritz’s performance in that exact last eight match ought to have been enough of an sign. Djokovic won in four sets, a win that only seemed uncertain for brief periods towards the very end, when Fritz had survived a few match points and had a opportunity to hold for 5-5. The pair looked evenly matched during the rallies, with Fritz earning numerous opportunities to break. But Djokovic saved service break opportunity after service break opportunity, prolonging the run to the point of agony. When he finally did claim a single of the opportunities at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he immediately played a terrible game to lose his own serve again; the Serbian had drawn him into a battle peripheral to the main contest and forced him to use excessive energy to prevail. Down set points in the last game, his first serve sailed to the sky. He prolonged the contest twice on his backup delivery, but finally double-faulted. It was not a choke, in my opinion, only a consequence of needing to hit an excessive number of second serves.

The match was fairly compelling proof that Fritz is insufficiently skilled to beat any form of the Serbian, that lost to Alcaraz in the following match and did not particularly appeared like he thought he could triumph. This is absolutely fine – the Serbian is the greatest of all time, and may not be at the peak of his athletic abilities anymore, but has acquired sufficient experience and strategic intelligence to compensate for a significant portion 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 had not done anything that suggested he would.

Fritz is an asset to the circuit regardless. He’s a calm, reflective voice in media sessions, more so than almost anyone on the ATP except for Daniil Medvedev, prepared to not just express how he feels or the strategy he believed decided a match, but clarify it. That he should bear the brunt of the blame for the United States not produce a men's grand slam winner since Andy Roddick feels unfair. (Now that the fellow American is rubbing shoulders with him in the rankings, perhaps they can share that load.)

ATP Finals: Player Divisions

Jimmy Connors Group

• Carlos Alcaraz (Sp)
• The American contender
• The Australian speedster
• The Italian stylist

Bjorn Borg Division

• The Italian champion
• The German powerhouse
• The rising American
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I would likely think about it indefinitely if I don’t do it,” Fritz informed an interviewer in the summer of claiming a grand slam. I hope he realizes that he’s not a failure if he does not achieve that goal, that breaking through the Spanish and Italian's dominant, formidable reign is in fact highly unlikely for everybody else. {