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I have some thoughts about the remarks made by the sports network broadcaster Chris Fowler following the Serbian champion's win over Taylor Fritz during the US Open quarter-finals. Consider – Fritz is American, Fowler is American – and athletic competitions frequently lend themselves to patriotic sentiment. Some letdown was appropriate. Rather, Fowler brought up the ongoing drought of US male players at grand slam tournaments: not one of them has won a trophy since Andy Roddick in 2003, and he had been the last one standing in the tournament.

We all love a storyline, me too. But come on. Even if the American had beaten the legend for the first time, phenomenal talent the Spanish star was waiting in the following match, whom Fritz has yet to beat in an competitive encounter. And if he’d somehow survived that, it would have been defending champion the Italian, versus him Fritz had lost 10 of the previous eleven sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also divided the last seven major titles (plus the Spaniard proceeded to thrash a fatigued Serbian in the subsequent match). Fritz stated in post-match interviews after the loss that he actually liked his path, because it offered the chance to beat the three best players in the sport back-to-back. Fritz is well justified to aspire to the accomplishment; an athlete is meant to believe in themselves. But going into that Serbian quarter-final who else sensibly had the drought of US winners on the brain?

The American star's weaker delivery the only thing standing in her way and sustained success

Fritz, 28, is placed fourth in the global rankings starting this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has won his previous six encounters over No 3 the German with growing comfort. It's likely he could take that spot for himself in the future. But evidently that right now, that’s as far as he can rise: The Italian and Spaniard sit a chasm of performance metrics away. Fritz’s top-class delivery and concussive power on each front side and reverse side are more than enough to dispose of most rivals on the professional circuit. When facing the handful of once-in-a-lifetime players, though, Fritz is frequently overmatched. The last several seasons has witnessed the interesting emergence of tall, gangly players who can nevertheless cover the court with the alarming quickness 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’ll rarely steal a point that the other player was dictating, and playing a drop shot against him is usually a safe bet. That serves as a pretty harsh restriction on his potential.

Fritz has made a number of dramatic, unexpected improvements throughout his career. At the beginning of the decade, he was circling the lower end of the top 30. 24 months after, he was approaching the top 10. The previous season, he unexpectedly surged up to No 4 – and held the spot. But the next leap, mixing it up with and defeating all-time-greats like Alcaraz, Sinner, and even a aging Djokovic, is the highest 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 worth commenting on the ongoing slump of US male players lifting grand slams when he had exited the US Open in the quarter-finals? The thirst is just too much and the appreciation for the magnitude of the challenge insufficient.

The American star made a personal best run to the Wimbledon semi-finals in the summer.

The American's performance in that very quarter-final ought to have been sufficient of an indication. Djokovic won in four rounds, a victory that only felt uncertain for moments towards the conclusion, when Fritz had saved a few championship opportunities and had a chance to hold for 5-5. The pair looked evenly matched during the exchanges, with Fritz earning plenty of chances to win the opponent's serve. But the champion saved break point after break point, extending the run to the point of agony. When he finally did claim a single of the opportunities at 5-5 in the second set, he promptly played a horrendous service game to drop serve once more; Djokovic had drawn him into a skirmish secondary to the real battle and compelled him to expend excessive effort to win it. Down set points in the last game, his first serve floated to the sky. He prolonged the match two times on his backup delivery, but finally committed two errors. It wasn’t a choke, in my opinion, just a result of needing to hit an excessive number of second serves.

The match was fairly ironclad evidence that the American is insufficiently skilled to beat any version of the Serbian, that was defeated by Alcaraz in the next round and did not particularly seem like he believed he could win. This is perfectly fine – Djokovic is the best player ever, and may not be at the height of his physical powers anymore, but has developed sufficient knowledge and strategic intelligence to compensate for a significant portion of the drop-off. The issue is the individuals who were expecting the American to prevail, and pressuring him to do so, when he was yet to done anything that suggested he could.

Fritz is an asset to the circuit regardless. He’s a patient, thoughtful presence in press conferences, more so than almost anyone on the men's tour aside from Daniil Medvedev, prepared to not only express his emotions or the strategy he believed determined a match, but explain it. That he should bear the brunt of the responsibility for the United States not spawn a male major champion since Andy Roddick seems unjust. (Since Ben Shelton is competing alongside him in the rankings, perhaps they can share that burden.)

Year-End Championships: Player Divisions

American legend Division

• The Spanish phenom
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Swedish icon Division

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• The rising American
• The Canadian talent

“I’d probably think about it indefinitely if I don’t do it,” Fritz told an interviewer in the summer of claiming a grand slam. It is hoped he understands that he’s not a failure if he does not achieve that goal, that breaking through the Spanish and Italian's dominant, formidable empire is actually extremely unlikely for all other players. {