🔗 Share this article

I have some thoughts about the comments delivered by the sports network commentator Chris Fowler after the Serbian champion's win over the American player in the US Open quarter-finals. Consider – the athlete represents American, Fowler is from the US – and athletic competitions often lend themselves to nationalism. Some disappointment was appropriate. Instead, he invoked the continued drought of US male players at grand slam tournaments: not one of them had lifted a title since Andy Roddick in 2003, and he had been the last one standing in the tournament.

Everyone love a storyline, me too. But come on. Suppose Fritz defeated Djokovic for the first time, force of nature the Spanish star was waiting in the next round, whom Fritz has yet to beat in an official match. And if he’d someway survived that, it would have been title holder Jannik Sinner, versus him Fritz had lost 10 of the previous eleven sets. The two young stars had also split the previous seven major titles (and the Spaniard went on to defeat a tired Serbian in the next round). Fritz stated in post-match interviews following his defeat that he actually preferred his draw, because it offered the chance to beat the top three players in the sport in succession. He is more than within his right to aspire to the achievement; an competitor is meant to have faith in themselves. But going into that Serbian quarter-final who else in their right mind had the lack of American champions in mind?

Coco Gauff’s weaker delivery the only thing standing in her way and consistent victories

Fritz, twenty-eight, is ranked fourth in the global rankings starting this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has won his previous six matches over No 3 Alexander Zverev with growing comfort. It's likely he might take that spot for himself in the coming years. But it’s clear that at present, that is as high as he can climb: The Italian and Spaniard lie a vast gap of performance metrics away. His elite delivery and concussive strength on both front side and backhand are sufficiently adequate to dispose of the majority of opponents on the ATP tour. Against the handful of once-in-a-lifetime players, however, he is frequently overmatched. The last several years has seen the curious emergence of lanky, towering athletes who can nonetheless move around with the surprising speed and fluidity of much shorter players. He is 6ft 5ins and looks it. His footwork is stiff, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his legs. So he seldom win a rally that the opponent was dictating, and hitting a soft shot versus him is usually a safe bet. That serves as a pretty harsh limitation on his potential.

Fritz has achieved a number of significant, unexpected advancements throughout his career. At the beginning of the ten-year period, he was hovering around the bottom of the top 30. 24 months later, he was approaching the elite ten. Last year, he suddenly exploded to fourth place – and maintained the position. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and defeating legendary figures like Alcaraz, Sinner, and including a aging Djokovic, is the toughest of all. What could the commentator thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a serious threat to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was worth mentioning the ongoing slump of American men winning grand slams when he had departed the New York major in the quarter-finals? The thirst is simply excessive and the respect for the magnitude of the task too little.

The American star achieved a career-best advancement to the Wimbledon semi-finals in July.

The American's performance in that exact last eight match ought to have been sufficient of an indication. The Serbian won in four rounds, a win that only seemed uncertain for moments towards the very end, when Fritz had survived a few match points and had a opportunity to maintain serve for 5-5. The duo appeared well-balanced during the exchanges, with the American earning plenty of chances to break. But the champion rescued service break opportunity after break point, extending the run to the brink of agony. When he eventually did claim a single of the opportunities at 5-5 in the second set, he immediately produced a horrendous game to lose his own serve once more; the Serbian had lulled him into a skirmish peripheral to the real battle and compelled him to expend far too much energy to prevail. Down set points in the last game, Fritz’s first serve floated to heaven. He extended the contest twice on his backup delivery, but finally double-faulted. It wasn’t a choke, in my opinion, just a result of needing to hit too many second serves.

The contest was quite compelling proof that the American is insufficiently skilled to beat any version of the Serbian, who was defeated by the Spaniard in the next round and never especially appeared like he believed he could triumph. This is absolutely fine – the Serbian is the greatest of all time, and may not be at the height of his physical powers anymore, but has acquired sufficient knowledge and tactical know-how to make up for quite a bit of the drop-off. The issue is the individuals who were anticipating Fritz to win, and putting pressure on him to do so, when he was had not done anything that indicated he could.

Fritz is an valuable contributor to the circuit regardless. He’s a patient, thoughtful voice in press conferences, exceeding almost everyone on the men's tour except for the Russian star, willing to not only express how he feels or the tactic he believed determined a match, but clarify it. That he ought to bear the brunt of the responsibility for the United States failing to produce a male major champion since the last American titlist feels unfair. (Now that Ben Shelton is competing alongside him in the standings, maybe they can divide that load.)

ATP Finals: Singles Groups

Jimmy Connors Division

• The Spanish phenom
• The American contender
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• The Italian stylist

Bjorn Borg Group

• The Italian champion
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• The rising American
• The Canadian talent

“I would likely think about it forever if I don’t do it,” the American informed an interviewer in June of winning a grand slam. I hope he understands that he’s not a failure if he does not achieve that objective, that overcoming Alcaraz and Sinner’s dominant, formidable empire is actually extremely unlikely for all other players. {