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I have some thoughts about the comments made by ESPN broadcaster a well-known announcer after the Serbian champion's win over Taylor Fritz during the New York major quarter-finals. Look – the athlete represents American, the commentator is American – and athletic competitions often lend themselves to patriotic sentiment. A little bit of disappointment would have been appropriate. Instead, he brought up the ongoing drought of American men at the majors: none of them has won a title since the last American champion in 2003, and he had been the final representative in the tournament.

We all love a storyline, myself included. But really. Suppose the American defeated Djokovic for the first time, phenomenal talent Carlos Alcaraz was looming in the next round, whom he has never defeated in an competitive encounter. And if he’d somehow survived that, it would have been title holder Jannik Sinner, against whom the American had dropped 10 of the last 11 sets. The two young stars had also divided the previous seven grand slams (and the Spaniard proceeded to defeat a fatigued Djokovic in the subsequent match). He said in post-match interviews following his defeat that he in fact preferred his draw, because it presented the opportunity to beat the three best competitors in the world back-to-back. Fritz is more than justified to aim for the accomplishment; an athlete is supposed to have faith in themselves. But going into that Serbian quarter-final who else in their right mind had the lack of US winners on the brain?

Coco Gauff’s weaker delivery the sole barrier between her and sustained success

Fritz, 28, is placed number four in the world entering the upcoming year-end championships and has won his last six matches over No 3 Alexander Zverev with increasing ease. It's likely he could claim that position for himself in the coming years. But evidently that right now, that’s as high as he can rise: The Italian and Spaniard lie a vast gap of ranking points away. His elite delivery and concussive strength on each front side and reverse side are more than enough to defeat most rivals on the professional circuit. When facing the handful of generational talents, however, he is frequently helpless. The past few seasons has witnessed the interesting emergence of tall, gangly athletes who can nonetheless move around with the alarming quickness and grace of smaller men. Fritz is six-foot-five and appears that way. His movement is stiff, as if he’s still getting used to his limbs. So he seldom win a rally that the other player was dictating, and playing a drop shot versus him is usually a reliable tactic. That serves as a pretty severe limitation on his upside.

Fritz has achieved a number of dramatic, improbable advancements over the years. Early on of the decade, he was hovering around the lower end of the world's best thirty. Two years after, he was approaching the top 10. The previous season, he unexpectedly exploded to fourth place – and maintained the spot. But the next leap, competing against and defeating legendary figures like Alcaraz, the Italian, and even a declining Serbian, is the toughest of all. What could Fowler thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a serious threat to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was worth commenting on the ongoing slump of US male players lifting major titles when Fritz had exited the US Open in the quarter-finals? The thirst is simply excessive and the appreciation for the magnitude of the challenge too little.

The American star achieved a personal best advancement to the Wimbledon semi-finals in the summer.

Fritz’s performance in that exact quarter-final should have been sufficient of an sign. Djokovic triumphed in four rounds, a win that only seemed tenuous for brief periods towards the very end, when Fritz had saved a couple match points and had a chance to maintain serve for 5-5. The duo looked evenly matched during the exchanges, with the American creating numerous opportunities to win the opponent's serve. But Djokovic saved service break opportunity after service break opportunity, prolonging the streak to the brink of agony. When he eventually did claim a single of the opportunities at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he immediately produced a terrible service game to drop serve once more; Djokovic had lulled him into a skirmish peripheral to the main contest and forced him to use excessive energy to prevail. Down set points in the last game, his primary delivery floated to heaven. He extended the match two times on his backup delivery, but ultimately committed two errors. It wasn’t a choke, I didn’t think, just a result of needing to hit too many second serves.

The contest was quite compelling evidence that Fritz is not good enough to beat any form of the Serbian, who was defeated by Alcaraz in the next round and never particularly appeared like he thought he could win. This is absolutely fine – Djokovic is the greatest of all time, and may not be at the peak of his physical powers now, but has developed enough experience and tactical know-how to make up for a significant portion of the decline. The issue is those who were expecting the American to win, and putting pressure on him to achieve that, when he was had not accomplished anything that suggested he would.

The American is an asset to the tour nonetheless. He’s a calm, reflective presence in press conferences, exceeding almost anyone on the men's tour aside from Daniil Medvedev, prepared to not only say his emotions or the tactic he felt determined a match, but clarify it. That he should bear the brunt of the responsibility for the United States not spawn a men's grand slam winner since the last American titlist feels unfair. (Since the fellow American is competing alongside him in the rankings, maybe they can share that burden.)

ATP Finals: Singles Groups

American legend Group

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

Bjorn Borg Division

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• The German powerhouse
• Ben Shelton (US)
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I would likely dwell on it indefinitely if I don’t do it,” Fritz informed an interviewer in June of claiming a grand slam. I hope he understands that he’s not a failure if he doesn’t achieve that objective, that breaking through Alcaraz and Sinner’s young, terrifying empire is in fact extremely improbable for everybody else. {