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I have some thoughts regarding the comments delivered by the sports network commentator Chris Fowler after Novak Djokovic's win over Taylor Fritz during the New York major last eight. Consider – Fritz is American, the commentator is from the US – and athletic competitions often lend themselves to nationalism. A little bit of disappointment would have been appropriate. Instead, he brought up the continued absence of American men at the majors: none of them has won a title since Andy Roddick in 2003, and he had been the final representative in the tournament.

Everyone love a storyline, myself included. But really. Even if Fritz had beaten Djokovic for the first time, force of nature the Spanish star was waiting in the next round, who Fritz has yet to beat in an official match. And had he someway survived that, it would have been defending champion Jannik Sinner, against whom Fritz had lost 10 of the previous eleven sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also divided the last seven grand slams (plus the Spaniard went on to defeat a fatigued Serbian in the next round). He said in post-match interviews after the loss that he actually liked his draw, because it offered the chance to defeat the three best players in the sport back-to-back. Fritz is well justified to aim for the accomplishment; an athlete is supposed to have faith in themselves. But going into that Djokovic last eight match what other person in their right mind had the drought of US winners on the brain?

Coco Gauff’s weaker delivery the sole barrier between her and consistent victories

The American, twenty-eight, is placed number four in the world starting this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has won his last 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 evidently that at present, that’s as high as he can rise: Sinner and Alcaraz lie a vast gap of ranking points away. His elite serve and concussive strength on both front side and reverse side are more than enough to defeat the majority of rivals on the professional circuit. When facing the handful of once-in-a-lifetime players, though, he is often helpless. The past few seasons has seen the interesting emergence of tall, gangly players who can nevertheless cover the court with the alarming quickness and grace of much shorter players. He is six-foot-five and looks it. His movement is stiff, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his limbs. So he’ll rarely win a rally that the other player was dictating, and hitting a drop shot against him is usually a safe bet. That acts as a quite severe limitation on his upside.

The American has made a number of dramatic, unexpected improvements over the years. At the beginning of the decade, he was hovering around the lower end of the world's best thirty. 24 months after, he was sniffing the elite ten. The previous season, he unexpectedly exploded to fourth place – and maintained the spot. But the subsequent step, competing against and beating legendary figures like the young Spaniard, the Italian, and including a aging Djokovic, is the toughest of all. What was the commentator thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a serious threat to beat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate mentioning the continuing drought of American men lifting grand slams when Fritz had exited the New York major in the quarter-finals? The thirst is just too much and the appreciation for the difficulty of the challenge too little.

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

The American's performance in that very last eight match should have been sufficient of an indication. Djokovic triumphed in four sets, a win that only seemed tenuous for moments towards the very end, when Fritz had survived a few match points and had a opportunity to hold for 5-5. The duo appeared evenly matched during the exchanges, with the American earning plenty of opportunities to break. But the champion saved break point after break point, prolonging the streak to the point of agony. When he finally did convert a single of the opportunities at 5-5 in the second set, he immediately played a horrendous service game to lose his own serve again; the Serbian had lulled him into a skirmish peripheral to the real battle and forced him to expend excessive effort to prevail. Facing match points in the last game, Fritz’s first serve sailed to the sky. He prolonged the match twice on his backup delivery, but finally double-faulted. It was not a choke, in my opinion, only a consequence of needing to hit an excessive number of weaker deliveries.

The contest was quite compelling evidence that Fritz is not good enough to defeat any version of Djokovic, that was defeated by Alcaraz in the next round and did not particularly seem like he thought he could triumph. This is perfectly fine – the Serbian is the greatest of all time, and may not be at the height of his physical powers anymore, but has developed sufficient experience and strategic intelligence to compensate for a significant portion of the decline. The problem is those who were anticipating the American to prevail, and pressuring him to do so, when he was had not done anything that indicated he could.

Fritz is an valuable contributor to the tour regardless. He’s a calm, reflective voice in media sessions, more so than virtually everyone on the ATP except for the Russian star, willing to not only express his emotions or the tactic he believed decided a contest, but clarify it. That he ought to shoulder the majority of the responsibility for America failing to spawn a men's grand slam winner since Andy Roddick feels unjust. (Now that Ben Shelton is competing alongside him in the rankings, maybe they can divide that load.)

ATP Finals: Player Divisions

American legend Group

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

Bjorn Borg Division

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• Ben Shelton (US)
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I would likely think about it indefinitely if I don’t accomplish it,” the American told a journalist in the summer of claiming a major. It is hoped he understands that he’s not a failure if he does not achieve that goal, that breaking through Alcaraz and Sinner’s young, terrifying reign is in fact extremely unlikely for everybody else. {