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I possess some opinions regarding that remarks made by ESPN broadcaster Chris Fowler after Novak Djokovic's win over Taylor Fritz in the US Open last eight. Consider – Fritz is American, Fowler is from the US – and sports frequently lend themselves to patriotic sentiment. Some disappointment was appropriate. Rather, he brought up the ongoing drought of US male players at grand slam tournaments: not one of them has won a trophy since Andy Roddick in 2003, and Fritz had been the last one standing in the tournament.

Everyone enjoy a narrative, me too. But come on. Even if the American defeated the legend for the initial occasion, phenomenal talent the Spanish star was waiting in the following match, whom he has never defeated in an competitive encounter. And if he’d someway survived that, it would have been defending champion Jannik Sinner, against whom the American had lost 10 of the previous eleven sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also split the last seven major titles (plus Alcaraz proceeded to defeat a tired Serbian in the next round). He stated in press after the loss that he in fact preferred his draw, because it presented the opportunity to defeat the three best players in the world back-to-back. He is more than within his right to aim for the achievement; an competitor is meant to believe in themselves. But going into that Djokovic last eight match who else sensibly had the lack of American champions in mind?

Coco Gauff’s second serve the sole barrier between her and consistent victories

Fritz, twenty-eight, is placed number four in the global rankings entering this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has secured his previous six matches over third-ranked the German with increasing ease. It's likely he might claim that position for himself in the coming years. But it’s clear that at present, that is as far as he can rise: The Italian and Spaniard sit a chasm of performance metrics away. Fritz’s top-class delivery and powerful strength on both forehand and reverse side are more than adequate to dispose of the majority of rivals on the ATP tour. Against the select few once-in-a-lifetime players, however, Fritz is frequently helpless. The last several seasons has seen the interesting rise of tall, gangly players who can nevertheless cover the court with the alarming quickness and grace of much shorter men. Fritz is 6ft 5ins and looks it. His footwork is stiff, as if he’s still getting used to his legs. So he seldom steal a point that the opponent was controlling, and playing a drop shot against him is typically a safe bet. That serves as a quite harsh limitation on his upside.

The American has made a several significant, unexpected improvements throughout his career. At the beginning of the decade, he was hovering around the lower end of the world's best thirty. 24 months later, he was sniffing the elite ten. The previous season, he unexpectedly exploded to No 4 – and held the spot. But the next leap, mixing it up with and beating all-time-greats like the young Spaniard, Sinner, and including a declining Djokovic, is the toughest of all. What could the commentator 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 slump of US male players lifting major titles when Fritz had exited the US Open in the quarter-finals? The thirst is simply too much and the appreciation for the magnitude of the challenge too little.

Taylor Fritz achieved a career-best advancement to the Wimbledon semi-finals in the summer.

Fritz’s play in that exact last eight match should have been enough of an indication. The Serbian won in four rounds, a victory that only felt uncertain for brief periods towards the conclusion, when Fritz had saved a few championship opportunities and had a chance to maintain serve for 5-5. The duo looked well-balanced during the rallies, with Fritz earning plenty of opportunities to win the opponent's serve. But Djokovic saved service break opportunity after break point, prolonging the run to the brink of agony. When he eventually did claim one of the chances at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he promptly produced a horrendous game to lose his own serve once more; the Serbian had drawn him into a skirmish peripheral to the real battle and forced him to use far too much energy to prevail. Facing match points in the final game, his first serve sailed to heaven. He prolonged the contest two times on his second serve, but finally double-faulted. It wasn’t a collapse, I didn’t think, only a result of having to hit too many weaker deliveries.

The match was fairly compelling proof that the American is insufficiently skilled to defeat any form of Djokovic, who lost to Alcaraz in the following match and never especially seem like he thought 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 strategic intelligence to make up for a significant portion of the drop-off. The problem is the individuals who were expecting Fritz to prevail, and pressuring him to do so, when he was yet to done anything that suggested he could.

Fritz is an valuable contributor to the circuit nonetheless. He’s a calm, thoughtful presence in media sessions, more so than almost anyone on the men's tour except for 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 shoulder the majority of the blame for America failing to produce a male major champion since the last American titlist feels unfair. (Now that the fellow American is rubbing shoulders with him in the rankings, perhaps they can divide that burden.)

Year-End Championships: Player Divisions

Jimmy Connors Group

• Carlos Alcaraz (Sp)
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• The Australian speedster
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Swedish icon Group

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• The German powerhouse
• Ben Shelton (US)
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I would likely think about it forever if I don’t do it,” the American told an interviewer in June of winning a grand slam. I hope he understands that he’s not a failure if he doesn’t fulfill that objective, that breaking through the Spanish and Italian's dominant, formidable reign is in fact highly improbable for everybody else. {