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I possess a few opinions regarding the remarks delivered by the sports network commentator a well-known announcer after Novak Djokovic's win over the American player in the New York major quarter-finals. Look – Fritz is American, the commentator is from the US – and athletic competitions often lend themselves to nationalism. A little bit of disappointment was appropriate. Instead, he invoked the ongoing absence of US male players at the majors: not one of them had lifted a trophy since Andy Roddick in 2003, and he had been the final representative in the tournament.

We all love a narrative, myself included. But come on. Suppose the American defeated the legend for the initial occasion, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was waiting in the following match, whom Fritz has yet to beat in an competitive encounter. And if he’d someway survived that, it would have been defending champion Jannik Sinner, against whom 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 tired Djokovic in the next round). Fritz said in press following his defeat that he in fact liked his draw, because it presented the opportunity to defeat the three best competitors in the sport back-to-back. Fritz is well justified to aim for the accomplishment; an athlete is meant to have faith in themselves. But going into that Serbian last eight match what other person sensibly had the lack of US winners in mind?

Coco Gauff’s second serve the only thing standing in her way and sustained success

Fritz, twenty-eight, is placed number four in the global rankings starting this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has won his previous six encounters over No 3 Alexander Zverev with growing comfort. Presumably he could take that spot for himself in the future. But evidently that right now, that’s as far as he can climb: The Italian and Spaniard sit a vast gap of ranking points away. His elite delivery and concussive strength on both forehand and reverse side are more than adequate to defeat the majority of rivals on the ATP tour. Against the select few generational talents, however, he is frequently helpless. The last several years has witnessed the curious emergence of tall, gangly players who can nonetheless move around with the surprising quickness and grace of much shorter men. He is 6ft 5ins and looks it. His footwork is rigid, as if he’s still getting used to his limbs. So he seldom steal a point that the opponent was dictating, and hitting a soft shot versus him is usually a safe bet. That acts as a quite harsh restriction on his upside.

Fritz has achieved a number of dramatic, improbable improvements throughout his career. Early on of the ten-year period, he was circling the lower end of the top 30. 24 months later, he was sniffing the elite ten. Last year, he unexpectedly surged up to No 4 – and held the position. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and defeating legendary figures like Alcaraz, Sinner, and even a declining Serbian, 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 mentioning the ongoing slump of US male players winning grand slams when he had departed the US Open in the quarter-finals? The thirst is simply excessive and the appreciation for the difficulty of the task insufficient.

Taylor Fritz achieved a personal best advancement to the Wimbledon semi-finals in July.

Fritz’s play in that very quarter-final should have been sufficient of an indication. Djokovic won in four rounds, a victory that only seemed tenuous for brief periods towards the very end, when the American had survived a couple match points and had a chance to maintain serve for 5-5. The pair looked evenly matched during the exchanges, with Fritz earning numerous opportunities to win the opponent's serve. But Djokovic rescued service break opportunity after service break opportunity, extending the streak to the point of frustration. When Fritz eventually did claim one of the chances at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he immediately produced a horrendous game to lose his own serve once more; Djokovic had lulled him into a skirmish secondary to the main contest and forced him to use excessive effort to win it. Facing set points in the last game, his first serve floated to the sky. He extended the match two times on his backup delivery, but finally double-faulted. It was not a choke, in my opinion, just a consequence of needing to hit an excessive number of second serves.

The contest was fairly compelling evidence that Fritz is not good enough to defeat any version of Djokovic, that was defeated by the Spaniard in the next round and never particularly appeared like he believed he could win. This is perfectly fine – the Serbian is the best player ever, and may not be at the height of his physical powers anymore, but has acquired enough experience and strategic intelligence to make up for a significant portion of the drop-off. The issue is the individuals who were anticipating Fritz to win, and pressuring him to achieve that, when he was yet to done anything that suggested he would.

Fritz is an valuable contributor to the tour nonetheless. He’s a calm, reflective voice in press conferences, exceeding almost anyone on the men's tour aside from the Russian star, willing to not only express his emotions or the tactic he felt determined a match, but explain it. That he ought to bear the brunt of the blame for America failing to spawn a male major champion since Andy Roddick feels unfair. (Since Ben Shelton is competing alongside him in the rankings, maybe they can share that burden.)

ATP Finals: Player Divisions

Jimmy Connors Division

• Carlos Alcaraz (Sp)
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• The Italian stylist

Swedish icon Division

• The Italian champion
• The German powerhouse
• The rising American
• The Canadian talent

“I’d probably think about it indefinitely if I don’t accomplish it,” Fritz informed an interviewer in June of winning a major. It is hoped he understands that he’s not unsuccessful if he does not achieve that objective, that overcoming Alcaraz and Sinner’s dominant, formidable empire is in fact extremely unlikely for everybody else. {