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I have some thoughts about the comments made by ESPN broadcaster Chris Fowler following Novak Djokovic's victory over Taylor Fritz during the US Open quarter-finals. Consider – Fritz is American, the commentator is from the US – and athletic competitions frequently lend themselves to patriotic sentiment. A little bit of disappointment was appropriate. Rather, he invoked the ongoing drought of US male players at grand slam tournaments: none of them has won a trophy since Andy Roddick in 2003, and he had been the last one standing in the competition.

Everyone love a storyline, me too. But come on. Suppose the American defeated 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 competitive encounter. And if he’d somehow gotten past that, it would have been title holder Jannik Sinner, against whom Fritz had lost 10 of the previous eleven sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also split the last seven grand slams (and Alcaraz went on to thrash a tired Serbian in the next round). Fritz said in post-match interviews after the loss that he in fact preferred his path, because it offered the opportunity to beat the three best players in the world back-to-back. He is well justified to aspire to the accomplishment; an competitor is supposed to believe in themselves. But going into that Serbian last eight match what other person in their right mind had the drought of American champions in mind?

Coco Gauff’s weaker delivery the only thing between her and sustained success

The American, twenty-eight, is ranked fourth in the global rankings starting this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has secured his previous six encounters over third-ranked Alexander Zverev with increasing ease. Presumably he could take that spot for himself in the future. But it’s clear that right now, that’s as far as he can rise: Sinner and Alcaraz lie a vast gap of performance metrics away. His elite serve and powerful power on each front side and reverse side are sufficiently adequate to dispose of most rivals on the professional circuit. Against the handful of once-in-a-lifetime players, however, Fritz is frequently overmatched. The last several seasons has witnessed the curious rise of lanky, towering athletes who can nonetheless cover the court with the surprising quickness and fluidity of much shorter players. He is 6ft 5ins and looks it. His footwork is stiff, as if he’s still getting used to his limbs. So he’ll rarely win a rally that the opponent was dictating, and playing a drop shot versus him is usually a reliable tactic. That acts as a quite severe limitation on his upside.

Fritz has achieved a several dramatic, unexpected improvements throughout his career. At the beginning of the decade, he was circling the lower end of the world's best thirty. 24 months later, he was sniffing the top 10. The previous season, he unexpectedly exploded to No 4 – and maintained the position. But the next leap, competing against and defeating legendary figures like the young Spaniard, Sinner, and even a declining Serbian, 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 mentioning the continuing drought of US male players lifting grand slams when he had exited the US Open in the quarter-finals? The desperation is simply too much and the appreciation for the magnitude of the challenge insufficient.

Taylor Fritz made a personal best advancement to the Wimbledon semi-finals in July.

Fritz’s performance in that exact quarter-final ought to have been sufficient of an sign. The Serbian triumphed in four rounds, a win that only seemed uncertain for brief periods towards the conclusion, when the American had survived a few championship opportunities and had a opportunity to hold for 5-5. The pair looked evenly matched during the rallies, with the American creating plenty of opportunities to break. But Djokovic saved service break opportunity after break point, extending the streak to the brink of frustration. When he finally did claim one of the opportunities at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he promptly produced a terrible service game to drop serve once more; Djokovic had drawn him into a skirmish peripheral to the real battle and compelled him to expend far too much energy to win it. Down match points in the last game, his primary delivery sailed to heaven. He extended the match twice on his backup delivery, but ultimately committed two errors. It wasn’t a collapse, I didn’t think, only a result of needing to hit too many second serves.

The contest was quite compelling proof that the American is not good enough to beat any form of Djokovic, that was defeated by Alcaraz in the next round and never particularly appeared like he believed he could triumph. This is absolutely fine – Djokovic is the greatest of all time, and may not be at the height of his athletic abilities now, but has developed enough experience and strategic intelligence to compensate for a significant portion of the drop-off. The problem is the individuals who were expecting the American to prevail, and pressuring him to do so, when he was had not done anything that suggested he would.

The American is an asset to the tour nonetheless. He’s a calm, thoughtful presence in media sessions, more so than virtually anyone on the men's tour aside from Daniil Medvedev, prepared to not just say how he feels or the strategy he felt decided a contest, but explain it. That he should bear the brunt of the blame for the United States failing to produce a male major champion since Andy Roddick seems unjust. (Now that the fellow American is competing alongside him in the standings, maybe they can divide that load.)

Year-End Championships: Player Divisions

American legend Group

• Carlos Alcaraz (Sp)
• The American contender
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• The Italian stylist

Bjorn Borg Group

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• The rising American
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I would likely think about it forever if I don’t accomplish it,” Fritz informed an interviewer in the summer of winning a major. I hope he realizes that he’s not unsuccessful if he doesn’t fulfill that goal, that breaking through the Spanish and Italian's dominant, formidable reign is actually highly improbable for everybody else. {