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I possess some thoughts regarding the comments made by the sports network broadcaster a well-known announcer after the Serbian champion's win over Taylor Fritz during the New York major last eight. Look – the athlete represents the United States, the commentator is from the US – and sports often lend themselves to patriotic sentiment. Some letdown would have been appropriate. Instead, Fowler brought up the continued drought of US male players at grand slam tournaments: not one of them has won a trophy since the last American champion in 2003, and he had been the final representative in the competition.

Everyone love a storyline, myself included. But come on. Suppose Fritz had beaten the legend for the first time, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was waiting in the next round, who he has never defeated in an official match. And if he’d someway gotten past that, it would have been title holder Jannik Sinner, against whom Fritz had lost 10 of the previous eleven sets. The two young stars had also divided the previous seven major titles (plus the Spaniard proceeded to thrash a fatigued Serbian in the subsequent match). Fritz said in press following his defeat that he actually preferred his path, because it presented the chance to beat the three best players in the sport in succession. Fritz is well justified to aspire to the achievement; an competitor is supposed to believe in themselves. But entering that Serbian quarter-final what other person sensibly had the drought of American champions on the brain?

Coco Gauff’s weaker delivery the sole barrier standing in her way and sustained success

The American, twenty-eight, is ranked fourth in the world starting the upcoming year-end championships and has won his previous six matches over third-ranked the German with increasing ease. Presumably he could take that spot for himself in the coming years. But evidently that right now, that is as high as he can rise: Sinner and Alcaraz lie a chasm of ranking points away. His elite delivery and powerful power on both forehand and backhand are more than adequate to dispose of the majority of rivals on the professional circuit. When facing the select few generational talents, however, Fritz is frequently helpless. The past few seasons has witnessed the interesting emergence of tall, gangly athletes who can nonetheless move around with the surprising speed and fluidity of much shorter players. Fritz is 6ft 5ins and appears that way. His footwork is rigid, as if he’s still getting used to his legs. So he seldom steal a point that the opponent was dictating, and playing a soft shot versus him is typically a safe bet. That acts as a quite harsh limitation on his upside.

The American has made a number of significant, unexpected advancements over the years. At the beginning of the decade, he was circling the bottom of the world's best thirty. 24 months later, he was approaching the top 10. Last year, he unexpectedly surged to fourth place – and maintained the position. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and beating all-time-greats like Alcaraz, the Italian, and even a aging Djokovic, is the highest of all. What could Fowler have been thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a serious threat to beat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate commenting on the continuing drought of American men lifting major titles when he had departed the US Open in the quarter-finals? The desperation is simply too much and the appreciation for the magnitude of the challenge too little.

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

Fritz’s performance in that very quarter-final ought to have been sufficient of an indication. The Serbian won in four sets, a win that only felt uncertain for brief periods towards the conclusion, when Fritz had saved a few championship opportunities and had a opportunity to maintain serve for 5-5. The pair appeared evenly matched during the rallies, with Fritz creating plenty of chances to win the opponent's serve. But the champion rescued break point after service break opportunity, prolonging the streak to the brink of agony. When Fritz finally did claim a single of the chances at 5-5 in the second set, he immediately played a terrible service game to lose his own serve again; the Serbian had lulled him into a skirmish peripheral to the real battle and compelled him to use excessive effort to prevail. Facing match points in the final game, Fritz’s first serve floated to the sky. He prolonged the match twice on his backup delivery, but ultimately committed two errors. It wasn’t a collapse, I didn’t think, only a consequence of having to hit an excessive number of weaker deliveries.

The contest was fairly ironclad evidence that Fritz is insufficiently skilled to beat any version of the Serbian, who lost to the Spaniard in the next round and did not particularly seem like he thought he could triumph. This is perfectly acceptable – the Serbian is the best player ever, and may not be at the height of his athletic abilities now, but has acquired enough knowledge and strategic intelligence to compensate for quite a bit of the decline. The issue is the individuals who were expecting Fritz to win, and pressuring him to achieve that, when he was yet to accomplished anything that suggested he would.

Fritz is an asset to the circuit nonetheless. He’s a calm, thoughtful presence in media sessions, exceeding almost anyone on the ATP aside from Daniil Medvedev, willing to not only say how he feels or the strategy he felt determined a contest, but explain it. That he should bear the brunt of the responsibility for the United States not produce a men's grand slam winner since Andy Roddick seems unfair. (Now that the fellow American is competing alongside him in the standings, perhaps they can share that load.)

ATP Finals: Singles Groups

American legend Group

• Carlos Alcaraz (Sp)
• The American contender
• The Australian speedster
• The Italian stylist

Swedish icon Group

• The Italian champion
• The German powerhouse
• Ben Shelton (US)
• The Canadian talent

“I would likely think about it indefinitely if I fail to do it,” Fritz told an interviewer in the summer of claiming a grand slam. I hope he realizes that he’s not a failure if he doesn’t fulfill that goal, that overcoming Alcaraz and Sinner’s dominant, formidable reign is actually extremely unlikely for everybody else. {