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I possess a few opinions about the remarks made by ESPN commentator Chris Fowler following the Serbian champion's victory over Taylor Fritz during the US Open quarter-finals. Look – Fritz is American, the commentator is American – and sports often lend themselves to patriotic sentiment. Some disappointment was appropriate. Instead, he brought up the continued drought of American men at the majors: none of them has won a trophy since the last American champion in 2003, and he had been the last one standing in the competition.

We all enjoy a narrative, me too. But come on. Suppose Fritz defeated Djokovic for the initial occasion, force of nature the Spanish star was waiting in the next round, whom Fritz has yet to beat in an competitive encounter. And if he’d somehow gotten past that, it would have been title holder the Italian, versus him the American had lost 10 of the previous eleven sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also split the previous seven grand slams (and Alcaraz proceeded to thrash a tired Serbian in the next round). Fritz stated in press following his defeat that he in fact liked his path, because it presented the chance to beat the three best players in the sport back-to-back. Fritz is more than justified to aim for the accomplishment; an competitor is meant to have faith in themselves. But entering that Djokovic quarter-final what other person in their right mind had the lack of US winners in mind?

Coco Gauff’s weaker delivery the sole barrier standing in her way and sustained success

Fritz, twenty-eight, is placed fourth in the global rankings entering the upcoming year-end championships and has won his previous six encounters over third-ranked the German with increasing ease. It's likely he might take that spot for himself in the coming years. But evidently that at present, that is as high as he can rise: Sinner and Alcaraz sit a vast gap of performance metrics away. Fritz’s elite serve and powerful power on each front side and reverse side are sufficiently enough to defeat most rivals on the professional circuit. When facing the select few once-in-a-lifetime players, however, he is often overmatched. The last several years has witnessed the curious rise of lanky, towering players who can nevertheless move around with the alarming quickness and fluidity of smaller men. Fritz is six-foot-five and looks it. His movement is stiff, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his limbs. So he’ll rarely steal a point that the opponent was dictating, and playing a soft shot against him is typically a safe bet. That acts as a pretty severe restriction on his upside.

Fritz has made a number of dramatic, improbable advancements throughout his career. Early on of the ten-year period, he was circling the bottom of the world's best thirty. 24 months later, he was sniffing the elite ten. The previous season, he unexpectedly exploded to fourth place – and held the position. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and beating all-time-greats like Alcaraz, the Italian, and including a aging Serbian, is the toughest of all. What was the commentator thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a serious threat to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate commenting on the ongoing drought of American men winning major titles when Fritz had exited the New York major in the quarter-finals? The desperation is just excessive and the appreciation for the difficulty of the task too little.

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

The American's performance in that exact quarter-final should have been enough of an indication. Djokovic triumphed in four rounds, a victory that only felt tenuous for brief periods towards the conclusion, when the American had survived a couple championship opportunities and had a opportunity to maintain serve for 5-5. The pair looked evenly matched during the rallies, with the American earning plenty of chances to win the opponent's serve. But the champion saved break point after service break opportunity, prolonging the run to the brink of agony. When he eventually did convert a single of the chances at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he promptly produced a terrible game to drop serve once more; Djokovic had lulled him into a battle secondary to the main contest and forced him to expend excessive effort to win it. Facing match points in the final game, his first serve sailed to the sky. He extended the match twice on his backup delivery, but finally double-faulted. It was not a collapse, in my opinion, only a result of having to hit an excessive number of second serves.

The contest was fairly compelling evidence that the American is not good enough to defeat any version of the Serbian, that lost to the Spaniard in the next round and did not particularly seem like he believed he could win. This is absolutely fine – Djokovic is the best player ever, and may not be at the height of his physical powers now, but has developed enough experience and strategic intelligence to make up for a significant portion of the decline. The issue is those who were expecting the American to win, and pressuring him to do so, when he was had not accomplished anything that indicated he could.

Fritz is an asset to the circuit regardless. He’s a calm, reflective presence in media sessions, more so than virtually everyone on the men's tour aside from the Russian star, willing to not only express how he feels or the strategy he believed decided a match, but clarify it. That he should bear the brunt of the responsibility for America failing to produce a men's grand slam winner since Andy Roddick seems unjust. (Now that the fellow American is competing alongside him in the standings, maybe they can share that burden.)

Year-End Championships: Player Divisions

American legend Division

• The Spanish phenom
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• The Australian speedster
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Bjorn Borg Division

• The Italian champion
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• The rising American
• The Canadian talent

“I’d probably think about it indefinitely if I don’t do it,” Fritz informed a journalist in the summer of claiming a grand slam. I hope he understands that he’s not unsuccessful if he does not achieve that goal, that overcoming Alcaraz and Sinner’s dominant, formidable reign is actually extremely improbable for everybody else. {