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I possess some opinions about the comments made by the sports network commentator Chris Fowler after the Serbian champion's victory over Taylor Fritz during the New York major quarter-finals. Look – the athlete represents the United States, Fowler is American – and sports often encourage nationalism. A little bit of disappointment would have been appropriate. Instead, he invoked the continued absence of US male players at grand slam tournaments: not one of them had lifted a title since the last American champion in 2003, and he had been the final representative in the competition.

We all love a storyline, myself included. But come on. Even if Fritz defeated Djokovic for the first time, phenomenal talent the Spanish star was looming in the next round, whom Fritz has yet to beat in an official match. And if he’d somehow gotten past that, it would have been defending champion the Italian, versus him the American had dropped 10 of the last 11 sets. The two young stars had also divided the last seven grand slams (plus Alcaraz proceeded to thrash a fatigued Djokovic in the next round). He said in post-match interviews following his defeat that he in fact preferred his path, because it presented the opportunity to beat the top three players in the sport in succession. He is well justified to aspire to the achievement; an athlete is supposed to have faith in themselves. But going into that Djokovic last eight match what other person in their right mind had the lack of American champions on the brain?

The American star's second serve the only thing between her and consistent victories

The American, twenty-eight, is placed number four in the world starting this week’s year-end championships and has secured his last six encounters over No 3 the German with increasing ease. Presumably he could claim that position for himself in the future. But evidently that right now, that is as high as he can climb: The Italian and Spaniard sit a vast gap of ranking points away. His top-class serve and concussive strength on both forehand and reverse side are more than adequate to defeat the majority of opponents on the professional circuit. When facing the select few generational talents, however, Fritz is frequently overmatched. The past few seasons has seen the curious emergence of tall, gangly players who can nonetheless move around with the surprising speed and fluidity of much shorter players. He is 6ft 5ins and looks it. His movement is rigid, as if he’s still getting used to his limbs. So he seldom win a rally that the opponent was controlling, and playing a soft shot against him is usually a reliable tactic. That acts as a quite severe restriction on his upside.

Fritz has achieved a several dramatic, unexpected improvements throughout his career. At the beginning of the ten-year period, he was circling the lower end of the world's best thirty. Two years after, he was sniffing the top 10. Last year, he unexpectedly exploded up to No 4 – and held the spot. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and beating legendary figures like Alcaraz, the Italian, and even a aging Djokovic, is the highest of all. What could Fowler thinking? That Fritz, 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 winning major titles when he had departed the US Open in the quarter-finals? The desperation is simply too much and the appreciation for the difficulty of the challenge too little.

Taylor Fritz made a career-best advancement to the All England Club semi-finals in the summer.

Fritz’s play in that very last eight match should have been sufficient of an sign. Djokovic won in four rounds, a victory that only felt tenuous for brief periods towards the conclusion, when the American had saved a few match points and had a chance to hold for 5-5. The duo appeared evenly matched during the rallies, with Fritz earning numerous opportunities to win the opponent's serve. But the champion rescued break point after break point, prolonging the streak to the brink of agony. When he finally did claim one of the opportunities at 5-5 in the second set, he immediately played a horrendous service game to lose his own serve again; Djokovic had drawn him into a skirmish secondary to the real battle and compelled him to use excessive energy to prevail. Down match points in the last game, his primary delivery sailed to heaven. He extended the match twice on his second serve, but finally committed two errors. It was not a choke, I didn’t think, only a result of having to hit an excessive number of second serves.

The match was quite ironclad proof that the American is not good enough to beat any form of Djokovic, who was defeated by Alcaraz in the following match and never especially seem 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 physical powers anymore, but has acquired sufficient experience and tactical know-how to compensate for a significant portion of the decline. The issue is the individuals who were expecting the American to win, and pressuring him to do so, when he was had not accomplished anything that suggested he could.

The American is an valuable contributor to the tour regardless. He’s a calm, thoughtful presence in press conferences, exceeding virtually everyone on the men's tour except for Daniil Medvedev, prepared to not only say his emotions or the strategy he believed decided a contest, but clarify it. That he ought to shoulder the majority of the blame for the United States not produce a men's grand slam winner since Andy Roddick seems unjust. (Now that Ben Shelton is competing alongside him in the rankings, maybe they can share that load.)

ATP Finals: Player Divisions

Jimmy Connors Division

• The Spanish phenom
• The American contender
• The Australian speedster
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Swedish icon Division

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• Ben Shelton (US)
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I’d probably think about it indefinitely if I fail to accomplish it,” the American informed an interviewer in June of claiming a grand slam. I hope he realizes that he’s not unsuccessful if he does not fulfill that objective, that overcoming Alcaraz and Sinner’s young, terrifying empire is in fact extremely unlikely for everybody else. {