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I possess a few thoughts about the remarks made by ESPN commentator a well-known announcer after Novak Djokovic's victory over Taylor Fritz during the New York major last eight. Look – the athlete represents American, Fowler is from the US – and sports frequently lend themselves to nationalism. Some disappointment would have been appropriate. Rather, he brought up the ongoing absence of American men at grand slam tournaments: 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, myself included. But really. Even if the American had beaten the legend for the first time, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was looming in the following match, whom Fritz has yet to beat in an competitive encounter. And had he someway gotten past that, it would have been defending champion Jannik Sinner, versus him the American had dropped 10 of the last 11 sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also divided the last seven grand slams (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 in fact preferred his draw, because it offered the opportunity to defeat the top three players in the sport in succession. Fritz is more than justified to aspire to the achievement; an athlete is supposed to believe in themselves. But going into that Serbian quarter-final what other person sensibly had the drought of American champions on the brain?

Coco Gauff’s second serve the sole barrier standing in her way and sustained success

Fritz, 28, is ranked fourth in the world starting this week’s year-end championships and has secured his previous six matches over No 3 the German with increasing ease. Presumably he could take that spot for himself in the coming years. But evidently that right now, that is as far as he can climb: The Italian and Spaniard sit a chasm of performance metrics away. Fritz’s top-class delivery and concussive strength on each front side and reverse side are more than enough to dispose of most opponents on the professional circuit. When facing the select few generational talents, however, Fritz is frequently helpless. The past few years has witnessed the interesting emergence of tall, gangly athletes who can nonetheless move around with the alarming speed and fluidity of smaller players. Fritz is six-foot-five and appears that way. His movement is rigid, as if he’s still getting used to his limbs. So he’ll rarely win a rally that the opponent was controlling, and playing a drop shot against him is typically a safe bet. That serves as a pretty severe restriction on his upside.

The American has made a several dramatic, unexpected improvements over the years. At the beginning of the decade, he was hovering around the bottom of the world's best thirty. Two years later, he was sniffing the top 10. Last year, he unexpectedly surged to fourth place – and maintained the spot. But the next leap, competing against and beating all-time-greats like the young Spaniard, Sinner, and even a aging Djokovic, is the toughest of all. What was the commentator have been thinking? That the American, 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 Fritz had exited the US Open in the quarter-finals? The thirst is just excessive and the appreciation for the difficulty of the task insufficient.

The American star made a career-best advancement to the Wimbledon last four in July.

The American's performance in that exact last eight match should have been enough of an sign. The Serbian triumphed in four sets, a win that only seemed uncertain for brief periods towards the conclusion, when the American had saved a couple match points and had a opportunity to maintain serve for 5-5. The duo appeared evenly matched during the rallies, with the American earning numerous opportunities to win the opponent's serve. But Djokovic saved break point after service break opportunity, extending the streak to the point of agony. When Fritz finally did convert one of the opportunities at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he immediately produced a terrible service game to lose his own serve once more; Djokovic had lulled him into a battle secondary to the main contest and forced him to expend far too much effort to prevail. Down match points in the final game, his first serve floated to the sky. He extended the contest twice on his backup delivery, but ultimately committed two errors. It wasn’t a choke, I didn’t think, only a result of having to hit an excessive number of second serves.

The contest was fairly ironclad evidence that Fritz is not good enough to beat any version of Djokovic, who was defeated by Alcaraz in the following match and never especially seem like he believed he could win. This is perfectly acceptable – Djokovic is the best player ever, and may not be at the height of his athletic abilities now, but has acquired sufficient experience and tactical know-how to compensate for a significant portion of the decline. The issue is the individuals who were anticipating the American to win, and putting pressure on him to achieve that, when he was had not done anything that suggested he would.

The American is an asset to the circuit nonetheless. He’s a calm, thoughtful voice in press conferences, more so than almost everyone on the men's tour except for Daniil Medvedev, prepared to not just say how he feels or the tactic he felt decided a match, but clarify it. That he should shoulder the majority of the responsibility for America not produce a male major champion since Andy Roddick seems unfair. (Now that Ben Shelton is rubbing shoulders with him in the rankings, maybe they can divide that load.)

ATP Finals: Player Divisions

American legend Group

• Carlos Alcaraz (Sp)
• The American contender
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• The Italian stylist

Bjorn Borg Group

• The Italian champion
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• The rising American
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I would likely think about it forever if I don’t accomplish it,” the American informed an interviewer in the summer of winning a grand slam. It is hoped he understands that he’s not a failure if he doesn’t achieve that objective, that overcoming the Spanish and Italian's young, terrifying reign is actually highly improbable for everybody else. {