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I have some thoughts about that remarks made by the sports network commentator a well-known announcer after Novak Djokovic's win over the American player in the New York major last eight. Consider – the athlete represents American, the commentator is from the US – and athletic competitions often lend themselves to patriotic sentiment. A little bit of disappointment was appropriate. Rather, he brought up the continued drought of American men at grand slam tournaments: not one of them had lifted a trophy since Andy Roddick in 2003, and he had been the last one standing in the competition.

Everyone love a narrative, myself included. But come on. Suppose Fritz had beaten the legend for the first time, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was looming in the next round, who Fritz has yet to beat in an official match. And had he someway gotten past that, it would have been title holder the Italian, against whom Fritz had dropped 10 of the last 11 sets. The two young stars had also divided the last seven major titles (and Alcaraz proceeded to thrash a tired Djokovic in the subsequent match). He said in post-match interviews after the loss that he in fact preferred his path, because it presented the chance to defeat the top three competitors in the world in succession. Fritz is well justified to aspire to the accomplishment; an athlete is meant to believe in themselves. But entering that Djokovic quarter-final what other person sensibly had the lack of American champions on the brain?

Coco Gauff’s second serve the only thing standing in her way and sustained success

The American, twenty-eight, is ranked number four in the global rankings starting the upcoming 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’s as high as he can climb: The Italian and Spaniard sit a vast gap of ranking points away. Fritz’s top-class delivery and concussive strength on each forehand and reverse side are sufficiently adequate to defeat most opponents on the professional circuit. Against the handful of generational talents, though, Fritz is often overmatched. The past few years has witnessed the interesting rise of tall, gangly athletes who can nonetheless move around with the alarming speed and fluidity of smaller men. He is six-foot-five and looks it. His movement is stiff, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his legs. So he seldom win a rally that the opponent was controlling, and hitting a drop shot versus him is usually a safe bet. That serves as a pretty severe limitation on his potential.

The American has made a several dramatic, unexpected improvements over the years. Early on 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 surged to fourth place – and held the spot. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and beating all-time-greats like the young Spaniard, Sinner, and even a aging Djokovic, is the highest of all. What could the commentator have been thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was worth commenting on the continuing slump of US male players winning major titles when Fritz had exited the New York major in the quarter-finals? The desperation is simply too much and the appreciation for the difficulty of the challenge insufficient.

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

The American's performance in that exact quarter-final should have been enough of an indication. The Serbian won in four sets, a win that only seemed tenuous for brief periods towards the very end, when the American had saved a couple championship opportunities and had a chance to hold for 5-5. The pair looked evenly matched during the rallies, with the American creating plenty of chances to win the opponent's serve. But Djokovic rescued break point after break point, prolonging the streak to the point of frustration. When Fritz finally did claim a single of the chances at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he promptly played a terrible service game to drop serve again; the Serbian had lulled him into a battle peripheral to the real battle and compelled him to expend far too much effort to prevail. Down match points in the last game, Fritz’s primary delivery sailed to heaven. He extended the match two times on his backup delivery, but ultimately double-faulted. It was not a collapse, I didn’t think, just a consequence of needing to hit an excessive number of second serves.

The match was fairly ironclad evidence that Fritz is insufficiently skilled to beat any version of Djokovic, who was defeated by Alcaraz in the next round and did not particularly appeared like he thought he could triumph. This is absolutely acceptable – the Serbian is the greatest of all time, and might not be at the peak of his athletic abilities now, but has acquired enough experience and tactical know-how to make up for quite a bit of the decline. The issue is those who were anticipating Fritz to win, and putting pressure on him to achieve that, when he was had not accomplished anything that indicated he would.

Fritz is an asset to the circuit regardless. He’s a patient, thoughtful presence in press conferences, more so than virtually anyone on the ATP except for the Russian star, prepared to not just express how he feels or the strategy he believed determined a match, but explain it. That he should shoulder the majority of the blame for America not spawn a men's grand slam winner since Andy Roddick seems unjust. (Since Ben Shelton is rubbing shoulders with him in the standings, perhaps they can share that burden.)

Year-End Championships: Singles Groups

American legend Group

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

Bjorn Borg Group

• The Italian champion
• The German powerhouse
• The rising American
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I would likely think about it forever if I fail to accomplish it,” the American told 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 the Spanish and Italian's young, terrifying empire is in fact extremely unlikely for everybody else. {