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I have some thoughts about the comments made by ESPN commentator a well-known announcer after the Serbian champion's victory over the American player during the New York major last eight. Look – Fritz is American, the commentator is from the US – and athletic competitions often lend themselves to patriotic sentiment. Some letdown would have been understandable. Instead, he invoked the continued drought of US male players at grand slam tournaments: none of them had lifted a title since the last American champion in 2003, and he had been the final representative in the competition.

We all enjoy a narrative, myself included. But come on. Suppose the American had beaten Djokovic for the initial occasion, phenomenal talent Carlos Alcaraz was looming in the following match, whom he has never defeated in an official match. And had he someway survived that, it would have been defending champion Jannik Sinner, versus him the American had lost 10 of the last 11 sets. The two young stars had also split the previous seven major titles (plus Alcaraz went on to defeat a tired Serbian in the subsequent match). Fritz stated in press following his defeat that he in fact liked his path, because it presented the chance to defeat the top three competitors in the world in succession. He is more than within his right to aspire to the achievement; an athlete is supposed to believe in themselves. But entering that Djokovic quarter-final what other person in their right mind had the lack of American champions in mind?

The American star's weaker delivery the sole barrier between her and sustained success

The American, twenty-eight, is placed fourth in the global rankings starting this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has secured his last six encounters over third-ranked Alexander Zverev with increasing ease. Presumably he might claim that position for himself in the future. But evidently that right now, that’s as high as he can climb: Sinner and Alcaraz sit a chasm of performance metrics away. Fritz’s elite serve and powerful power on each front side and reverse side are sufficiently adequate to defeat most rivals on the ATP tour. Against the handful of once-in-a-lifetime players, however, Fritz is frequently overmatched. The last several seasons has seen the interesting rise of lanky, towering athletes who can nevertheless cover the court with the surprising quickness and fluidity of smaller men. He is six-foot-five and looks it. His footwork is stiff, as if he’s still getting used to his legs. So he seldom win a rally that the other player was controlling, and hitting a soft shot against him is usually a reliable tactic. That serves as a quite severe limitation on his potential.

The American has made a number of significant, unexpected advancements over the years. At the beginning of the ten-year period, he was circling the lower end of the world's best thirty. Two years after, he was approaching the top 10. Last year, he unexpectedly exploded to fourth place – and maintained the position. But the next leap, mixing it up with and beating legendary figures like the young Spaniard, Sinner, and including a declining Djokovic, is the toughest of all. What was the commentator have been thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a serious threat to beat them all back-to-back? That it was worth commenting on the ongoing drought of US male players lifting major titles when Fritz had exited the US Open in the quarter-finals? The desperation is simply too much and the respect for the magnitude of the challenge insufficient.

Taylor Fritz made a career-best advancement to the Wimbledon last four in the summer.

The American's play in that exact quarter-final ought to have been enough of an indication. Djokovic won in four sets, a victory that only felt tenuous for brief periods towards the conclusion, when Fritz had saved a couple championship opportunities and had a opportunity to hold for 5-5. The duo looked evenly matched during the exchanges, with the American creating numerous opportunities to win the opponent's serve. But the champion saved break point after break point, prolonging the streak to the point of agony. When he eventually did claim a single of the opportunities at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he promptly played a horrendous service game to drop serve once more; the Serbian had drawn him into a skirmish peripheral to the main contest and forced him to use excessive effort to win it. Facing set points in the final game, Fritz’s first serve floated to the sky. He extended the contest twice on his second serve, but ultimately double-faulted. 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 compelling evidence that the American is not good enough to defeat any version of the Serbian, that lost to the Spaniard in the following match and did not particularly seem like he believed he could win. This is perfectly acceptable – the Serbian is the greatest of all time, and may not be at the peak of his physical powers anymore, but has developed sufficient knowledge and strategic intelligence to make up for quite a bit of the drop-off. The problem is those who were expecting the American to prevail, and putting pressure on 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 calm, thoughtful presence in press conferences, exceeding virtually anyone on the ATP except for the Russian star, willing to not only say how he feels or the strategy he felt decided a match, but explain it. That he ought to shoulder the majority of the blame for America failing to spawn a men's grand slam winner since the last American titlist feels unfair. (Since Ben Shelton is rubbing shoulders with him in the rankings, maybe they can share that burden.)

ATP Finals: Player Divisions

Jimmy Connors Division

• Carlos Alcaraz (Sp)
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Swedish icon Group

• The Italian champion
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• Ben Shelton (US)
• The Canadian talent

“I’d probably think about it indefinitely if I fail to accomplish it,” Fritz informed an interviewer in the summer of claiming a grand slam. I hope he understands that he’s not a failure if he does not achieve that goal, that overcoming Alcaraz and Sinner’s young, terrifying empire is actually highly improbable for all other players. {