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I have some thoughts regarding the comments delivered by the sports network commentator a well-known announcer after the Serbian champion's victory over Taylor Fritz during the New York major quarter-finals. Look – Fritz is the United States, the commentator is American – and athletic competitions frequently encourage patriotic sentiment. Some disappointment would have been understandable. Rather, he brought up the continued absence of US male players at the majors: not one of them has won a title since the last American champion in 2003, and he had been the last one standing in the tournament.

Everyone love a narrative, myself included. But come on. Suppose Fritz had beaten the legend for the initial occasion, phenomenal talent Carlos Alcaraz was waiting in the next round, whom Fritz has yet to beat in an competitive encounter. And had he somehow survived that, it would have been defending champion the Italian, against whom the American had lost 10 of the previous eleven sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also split the last seven grand slams (plus Alcaraz went on to defeat a tired Serbian in the next round). He stated in press after the loss that he actually liked his draw, because it offered the chance to defeat the three best players in the sport back-to-back. He is more than within his right to aim for the accomplishment; an athlete is meant to believe in themselves. But entering that Djokovic last eight match what other person in their right mind had the lack of American champions in mind?

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

Fritz, 28, is ranked fourth in the world starting this week’s year-end championships and has won his last six matches over third-ranked the German with growing comfort. It's likely he might take that spot for himself in the future. But it’s clear that at present, that’s as far as he can climb: The Italian and Spaniard sit a vast gap of ranking points away. His elite serve and concussive strength on both front side and backhand are more than enough to defeat most opponents on the ATP tour. When facing the handful of once-in-a-lifetime players, however, Fritz is frequently helpless. The past few years has seen the interesting rise of lanky, towering players who can nonetheless move around with the alarming quickness and grace of smaller players. He is six-foot-five and appears that way. His movement is rigid, as if he’s still getting used to his legs. So he’ll rarely win a rally that the other player was dictating, and hitting a drop shot versus him is typically a reliable tactic. That acts as a quite severe limitation on his potential.

Fritz has made a number of dramatic, unexpected improvements over the years. At the beginning of the decade, he was hovering around the bottom of the world's best thirty. 24 months later, he was approaching the top 10. Last year, he unexpectedly surged up to fourth place – and held the spot. But the next leap, mixing it up with and beating all-time-greats like Alcaraz, the Italian, and even 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 appropriate commenting on the ongoing drought of US male players winning grand slams 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 challenge insufficient.

The American star achieved a career-best run to the Wimbledon semi-finals in the summer.

Fritz’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 felt tenuous for brief periods towards the conclusion, when Fritz had survived a few match points and had a opportunity to maintain serve for 5-5. The duo appeared evenly matched during the exchanges, with the American earning plenty of opportunities to win the opponent's serve. But the champion rescued service break opportunity after break point, prolonging the run to the point of agony. When he eventually did convert a single of the chances at 5-5 in the second set, he promptly played a horrendous service game to lose his own serve once more; the Serbian had drawn him into a battle secondary to the real battle and forced him to expend far too much effort to win it. Facing set points in the last game, his first serve sailed to the sky. He extended the match twice on his second serve, but ultimately double-faulted. It wasn’t a collapse, I didn’t think, only a consequence of having to hit an excessive number of weaker deliveries.

The contest was fairly ironclad proof that the American is insufficiently skilled to beat any form of the Serbian, that was defeated by the Spaniard in the following match and never especially appeared like he thought he could triumph. This is perfectly fine – Djokovic is the greatest of all time, and might not be at the height of his athletic abilities now, but has developed sufficient knowledge and tactical know-how to make up for a significant portion of the decline. The issue is those who were anticipating Fritz to win, and putting pressure on him to achieve that, when he was yet to accomplished anything that indicated he could.

Fritz is an asset to the tour nonetheless. He’s a patient, reflective presence in press conferences, more so than almost everyone on the men's tour aside from the Russian star, prepared to not just express how he feels or the tactic he believed decided a match, but explain it. That he ought to bear the brunt of the responsibility for America failing to spawn a male major champion since Andy Roddick seems unjust. (Now that the fellow American is rubbing shoulders with him in the rankings, maybe they can divide that burden.)

ATP Finals: Player Divisions

Jimmy Connors Group

• The Spanish phenom
• The American contender
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

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,” the American informed an interviewer in June of claiming a grand slam. I hope he understands that he’s not unsuccessful if he doesn’t achieve that goal, that breaking through Alcaraz and Sinner’s young, terrifying reign is actually extremely improbable for everybody else. {