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I have some thoughts regarding that remarks made by the sports network broadcaster Chris Fowler after the Serbian champion's win over the American player during the New York major quarter-finals. Look – the athlete represents American, Fowler is American – and athletic competitions often lend themselves to patriotic sentiment. A little bit of letdown was appropriate. Rather, he invoked the ongoing absence of US male players at the majors: none of them had lifted a trophy since the last American champion in 2003, and Fritz had been the final representative in the competition.

We all enjoy a narrative, me too. But come on. Suppose the American defeated Djokovic for the first time, phenomenal talent Carlos Alcaraz was waiting in the next round, whom he has yet to beat in an competitive encounter. And if he’d somehow survived that, it would have been defending champion the Italian, against whom the American had dropped 10 of the last 11 sets. The two young stars had also split the previous seven major titles (plus Alcaraz proceeded to thrash a tired Serbian in the next round). He said in post-match interviews after the loss that he actually preferred his draw, because it presented the chance to beat the top three competitors in the sport back-to-back. He is well within his right to aspire to the achievement; an athlete is supposed to believe in themselves. But going into that Serbian quarter-final who else sensibly had the lack of US winners in mind?

The American star's weaker delivery the only thing standing in her way and sustained success

Fritz, 28, is placed fourth in the global rankings starting this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has secured his last six encounters over No 3 Alexander Zverev with growing comfort. It's likely he might claim that position for himself in the future. But evidently that right now, that is as far as he can climb: The Italian and Spaniard sit a vast gap of performance metrics away. Fritz’s elite delivery and powerful strength on both forehand and reverse side are sufficiently adequate to defeat most rivals on the professional circuit. When facing the select few once-in-a-lifetime players, however, he is frequently helpless. The past few years has witnessed the interesting emergence of lanky, towering players who can nevertheless move around with the surprising speed and fluidity of much shorter players. Fritz is six-foot-five and looks it. His footwork is rigid, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his limbs. So he seldom win a rally that the other player was dictating, and hitting a soft shot against him is typically a reliable tactic. That acts as a pretty harsh limitation on his upside.

The American has achieved a number of significant, improbable advancements throughout his career. Early on of the decade, he was circling the lower end of the top 30. Two years later, he was sniffing the elite ten. The previous season, he suddenly exploded up to No 4 – and held the position. But the subsequent step, competing against and defeating all-time-greats 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 beat them all back-to-back? That it was worth commenting on the ongoing drought of US male players winning grand slams when Fritz had exited the US Open in the quarter-finals? The desperation is simply too much and the respect for the magnitude of the task too little.

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

Fritz’s play in that very quarter-final ought to have been sufficient of an sign. Djokovic won in four rounds, a victory that only seemed tenuous for brief periods towards the conclusion, when the American had survived a few championship opportunities and had a chance to hold for 5-5. The pair appeared well-balanced during the rallies, with the American earning plenty of chances to break. But the champion rescued break point after service break opportunity, extending the streak to the point of agony. When he finally did claim one of the chances at 5-5 in the second set, he immediately played a horrendous service game to lose his own serve once more; the Serbian had lulled him into a skirmish peripheral to the real battle and forced him to expend excessive energy to win it. Facing set points in the final game, his first serve floated to the sky. He prolonged the match two times on his second serve, but finally double-faulted. It wasn’t a collapse, in my opinion, only a result of having to hit an excessive number of weaker deliveries.

The contest was quite ironclad proof that Fritz is not good enough to defeat any form of the Serbian, who lost to Alcaraz in the next round and never 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 issue is the individuals who were expecting the American to win, and pressuring him to do so, when he was had not accomplished anything that suggested he could.

The American is an asset to the tour regardless. He’s a calm, thoughtful voice in press conferences, more so than virtually everyone on the ATP aside from Daniil Medvedev, willing to not just express his emotions or the strategy he felt determined a match, but clarify it. That he should shoulder the majority of the blame for America not produce a men's grand slam winner since Andy Roddick feels unjust. (Since the fellow American is rubbing shoulders with him in the rankings, perhaps they can share that burden.)

ATP Finals: Singles Groups

Jimmy Connors Group

• Carlos Alcaraz (Sp)
• The American contender
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Swedish icon Group

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• The German powerhouse
• The rising American
• The Canadian talent

“I would likely think about it forever if I don’t do it,” the American told a journalist in June of claiming a major. It is hoped he understands that he’s not a failure if he does not fulfill that objective, that overcoming the Spanish and Italian's young, terrifying reign is in fact highly unlikely for everybody else. {