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I possess some opinions about the remarks delivered by the sports network commentator a well-known announcer after the Serbian champion's win over the American player in the US Open last eight. Look – Fritz is American, Fowler is from the US – and sports frequently encourage nationalism. Some letdown would have been appropriate. Rather, Fowler invoked the ongoing absence of American men at grand slam tournaments: not one of them had lifted a title since the last American champion in 2003, and Fritz had been the last one standing in the tournament.

Everyone enjoy a storyline, me too. But really. Even if Fritz defeated the legend for the initial occasion, force of nature the Spanish star was waiting in the next round, whom he has yet to beat in an competitive encounter. And had he somehow survived that, it would have been title holder the Italian, against whom 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 Djokovic in the subsequent match). Fritz said in post-match interviews after the loss that he actually preferred his path, because it offered the opportunity to beat the top three players in the world back-to-back. He is well within his right to aim for the accomplishment; an athlete is meant to have faith in themselves. But entering that Djokovic quarter-final who else in their right mind had the drought of American champions in mind?

Coco Gauff’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 previous six matches over No 3 the German with increasing ease. It's likely he might take that spot for himself in the future. But evidently that at present, that’s as far as he can climb: Sinner and Alcaraz sit a vast gap of ranking points away. His elite serve and concussive power on each forehand and reverse side are sufficiently adequate to defeat most rivals on the ATP tour. When facing the handful of generational talents, though, he is often helpless. The past few seasons has witnessed the interesting rise of tall, gangly athletes who can nevertheless move around with the alarming quickness and grace of smaller players. Fritz is six-foot-five and appears that way. His movement is stiff, as if he’s still getting used to his legs. So he’ll rarely steal a point that the other player was controlling, and playing a drop shot versus him is usually a reliable tactic. That acts as a pretty harsh restriction on his upside.

The American has made a number of dramatic, improbable advancements over the years. At the beginning of the ten-year period, he was hovering around the lower end of the world's best thirty. Two years after, he was approaching the top 10. Last year, he unexpectedly exploded up to fourth place – and maintained the position. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and defeating all-time-greats like the young Spaniard, the Italian, and even a declining Djokovic, is the toughest of all. What was Fowler have been thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a serious threat to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was worth mentioning the continuing drought of American men lifting grand slams when Fritz had exited the New York major in the quarter-finals? The desperation is simply too much and the appreciation for the difficulty of the task insufficient.

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

Fritz’s play in that exact quarter-final ought to have been enough of an indication. Djokovic triumphed in four rounds, a victory that only felt tenuous for brief periods towards the very end, 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 numerous chances to win the opponent's serve. But Djokovic saved service break opportunity after service break opportunity, prolonging the streak to the brink of frustration. When he finally did claim a single of the opportunities at 5-5 in the second set, he immediately played a terrible game to lose his own serve once more; the Serbian had lulled him into a battle secondary to the main contest and forced him to use far too much effort to prevail. Down match points in the final game, Fritz’s first serve sailed to heaven. He extended the contest twice on his backup delivery, but ultimately double-faulted. It was not a choke, I didn’t think, just a result of needing to hit an excessive number of weaker deliveries.

The match was quite compelling proof that the American is not good enough to defeat any form of Djokovic, that lost to the Spaniard in the next round and never especially seem like he thought he could triumph. This is absolutely acceptable – the Serbian is the greatest of all time, and may not be at the peak of his athletic abilities now, but has developed enough experience and strategic intelligence to compensate for a significant portion of the drop-off. The problem is those who were expecting Fritz to prevail, and pressuring him to achieve that, when he was yet to accomplished anything that indicated he could.

Fritz is an asset to the tour regardless. He’s a patient, reflective presence in press conferences, more so than virtually everyone on the ATP aside from Daniil Medvedev, willing to not just express how he feels or the strategy he believed decided a contest, but explain it. That he ought to shoulder the majority of the blame for America failing to spawn a men's grand slam winner since the last American titlist feels unfair. (Now that Ben Shelton is rubbing shoulders with him in the rankings, maybe they can divide that burden.)

ATP Finals: Player Divisions

Jimmy Connors Group

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

Swedish icon Group

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

“I’d probably dwell on it forever if I fail to do it,” Fritz told a journalist in the summer of winning a major. I hope he understands that he’s not a failure if he doesn’t fulfill that goal, that overcoming Alcaraz and Sinner’s young, terrifying reign is in fact extremely unlikely for everybody else. {