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I have some opinions regarding that remarks delivered 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 American – and sports frequently lend themselves to patriotic sentiment. Some letdown would have been understandable. Rather, Fowler brought up the continued drought of US male players at the majors: not one of them has won a trophy since the last American champion in 2003, and Fritz had been the final representative in the tournament.

Everyone love a narrative, me too. But come on. Suppose Fritz had beaten the legend for the initial occasion, phenomenal talent the Spanish star was waiting in the next round, who Fritz has yet to beat in an competitive encounter. And had he somehow gotten past that, it would have been title holder the Italian, versus him the American had dropped 10 of the last 11 sets. The two young stars had also split the previous seven major titles (and Alcaraz went on to defeat a fatigued Djokovic in the subsequent match). He stated in post-match interviews after the loss that he in fact preferred his path, because it presented the opportunity to beat the three best competitors in the sport in succession. He is more than justified to aspire to the accomplishment; an athlete is supposed to believe in themselves. But going into that Serbian last eight match who else sensibly had the drought of US winners on the brain?

Coco Gauff’s second serve the only thing between her and consistent victories

Fritz, 28, is placed number four in the global rankings entering the upcoming year-end championships and has secured his previous six encounters over third-ranked Alexander Zverev with growing comfort. Presumably he might claim that position for himself in the future. But it’s clear that at present, that’s as far as he can rise: Sinner and Alcaraz sit a chasm of ranking points away. His elite serve and concussive strength on each front side and reverse side are sufficiently enough to defeat the majority of rivals on the professional circuit. When facing the handful of once-in-a-lifetime players, however, he is frequently helpless. The past few seasons has seen the curious rise of lanky, towering players who can nonetheless move around with the alarming speed and grace of much shorter players. He is 6ft 5ins and appears that way. His movement is rigid, as if he’s still getting used to his limbs. So he’ll rarely steal a point that the other player was controlling, and playing a drop shot against him is usually a reliable tactic. That acts as a quite harsh restriction on his upside.

The American has achieved a several significant, improbable advancements over the years. Early on of the decade, he was circling the bottom of the world's best thirty. 24 months after, he was approaching the elite ten. Last year, he unexpectedly surged to fourth place – and held the position. But the next leap, mixing it up with and defeating legendary figures like the young Spaniard, Sinner, and even a declining Serbian, is the toughest of all. What could Fowler have been thinking? That Fritz, 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 lifting major titles when he had departed the US Open in the quarter-finals? The desperation is just too much and the respect for the difficulty of the task too little.

Taylor Fritz made a personal best run to the Wimbledon semi-finals in July.

Fritz’s play in that very last eight match should have been sufficient of an indication. The Serbian won in four sets, a win that only felt tenuous for brief periods towards the very end, when Fritz had survived a couple match points and had a opportunity to hold for 5-5. The pair looked evenly matched during the exchanges, with the American earning plenty of chances to win the opponent's serve. But the champion saved service break opportunity after break point, extending the run to the brink of agony. When he eventually did convert a single of the opportunities at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he immediately produced a terrible game to lose his own serve again; Djokovic had drawn him into a skirmish secondary to the real battle and compelled him to expend far too much effort to win it. Down set points in the final game, Fritz’s primary delivery floated to heaven. He prolonged the contest twice on his backup delivery, but finally committed two errors. It was not a choke, in my opinion, just a result of needing to hit an excessive number of second serves.

The contest was quite ironclad evidence that the American is insufficiently skilled to defeat any form of the Serbian, who lost to Alcaraz in the following match and did not especially appeared like he believed he could triumph. This is absolutely acceptable – the Serbian is the greatest of all time, and may not be at the height of his athletic abilities anymore, but has acquired sufficient knowledge and strategic intelligence to compensate for quite a bit of the decline. The issue is the individuals who were anticipating the American to win, and pressuring him to do so, when he was yet to done anything that suggested he could.

The American is an asset to the tour nonetheless. He’s a calm, reflective voice in media sessions, exceeding virtually everyone on the men's tour aside from Daniil Medvedev, prepared to not only say how he feels or the strategy he felt decided a match, but clarify it. That he should shoulder the majority of the blame for the United States not spawn a men's grand slam winner since the last American titlist feels unjust. (Now that Ben Shelton is rubbing shoulders with him in the standings, maybe they can divide that load.)

ATP Finals: Singles Groups

Jimmy Connors Group

• The Spanish phenom
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• The Italian stylist

Bjorn Borg Division

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• The German powerhouse
• Ben Shelton (US)
• The Canadian talent

“I would likely think about it indefinitely if I don’t accomplish it,” Fritz told a journalist in the summer of winning a major. I hope he realizes that he’s not a failure if he does not fulfill that goal, that breaking through the Spanish and Italian's young, terrifying empire is in fact highly improbable for everybody else. {