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I possess a few thoughts regarding the comments made by the sports network broadcaster Chris Fowler after Novak Djokovic's victory over Taylor Fritz in the New York major last eight. Look – Fritz is American, Fowler is from the US – and athletic competitions often encourage patriotic sentiment. A little bit of letdown was appropriate. Rather, Fowler invoked 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 tournament.

Everyone enjoy a narrative, me too. But really. Even if the American defeated the legend for the initial occasion, force of nature the Spanish star was waiting in the next round, who Fritz has yet to beat in an competitive encounter. And had he somehow survived that, it would have been defending champion Jannik Sinner, versus him Fritz had lost 10 of the previous eleven sets. The two young stars had also split the last seven major titles (plus Alcaraz proceeded to thrash a fatigued Djokovic in the next round). Fritz said in post-match interviews after the loss that he in fact liked his draw, because it offered the chance to beat the top three players in the sport back-to-back. Fritz is more than within his right to aspire to the achievement; an competitor is meant to have faith in themselves. But going into that Serbian quarter-final who else sensibly had the lack of American champions in mind?

Coco Gauff’s second serve the sole barrier between her and sustained success

Fritz, 28, is ranked number four in the world entering the upcoming year-end championships and has secured his previous six encounters over No 3 the German with growing comfort. Presumably he might claim that position for himself in the future. But evidently that at present, that’s as high as he can rise: Sinner and Alcaraz sit a vast gap of ranking points away. His top-class serve and powerful power on each forehand and reverse side are sufficiently enough to defeat most opponents on the ATP tour. Against the select few generational talents, however, Fritz is often helpless. The last several years has witnessed the interesting rise of lanky, towering players who can nonetheless move around with the alarming quickness and fluidity of much shorter players. Fritz is 6ft 5ins and looks it. His footwork is rigid, as if he’s still getting used to his legs. So he seldom win a rally that the other player was dictating, and hitting a soft shot against him is usually a safe bet. That serves as a pretty severe restriction on his upside.

Fritz has made a number of dramatic, unexpected advancements throughout his career. Early on of the decade, he was circling the bottom of the world's best thirty. 24 months later, he was approaching the elite ten. The previous season, he unexpectedly surged to fourth place – and held the position. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and defeating legendary figures like the young Spaniard, Sinner, and including a declining Serbian, is the toughest of all. What was the commentator thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to beat them all back-to-back? That it was worth mentioning the continuing drought of US male players winning grand slams when Fritz had departed the US Open in the quarter-finals? The thirst is simply too much and the appreciation for the magnitude of the task insufficient.

Taylor Fritz achieved a career-best advancement to the Wimbledon semi-finals in the summer.

Fritz’s play in that very quarter-final ought to have been enough of an sign. The Serbian won in four sets, a victory that only felt uncertain for brief periods towards the conclusion, when the American had survived a few match points and had a opportunity to maintain serve for 5-5. The pair appeared well-balanced during the exchanges, with the American creating numerous opportunities to break. But the champion saved break point after break point, prolonging the streak to the point of agony. When he eventually did convert one of the opportunities at 5-5 in the second set, he promptly played a terrible service game to drop serve again; Djokovic had lulled him into a battle peripheral to the main contest and forced him to expend far too much effort to win it. Facing match points in the last game, his primary delivery sailed to heaven. He prolonged the contest two times on his backup delivery, but finally committed two errors. It wasn’t a choke, I didn’t think, just a consequence of needing to hit an excessive number of weaker deliveries.

The match was fairly compelling evidence that the American is not good enough to beat any version of the Serbian, that was defeated by Alcaraz in the next round and did not particularly seem like he thought he could win. This is perfectly acceptable – Djokovic 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 compensate for a significant portion of the drop-off. The issue is the individuals who were anticipating the American to win, and putting pressure on him to achieve that, when he was had not accomplished anything that indicated he could.

The American is an valuable contributor to the circuit regardless. He’s a patient, thoughtful voice in media sessions, more so than almost everyone on the men's tour aside from the Russian star, prepared to not just express his emotions or the strategy he felt decided a contest, but clarify it. That he should shoulder the majority of the responsibility for America not produce a men's grand slam winner since Andy Roddick feels unfair. (Now that Ben Shelton is competing alongside him in the standings, perhaps they can divide that burden.)

Year-End Championships: Singles Groups

Jimmy Connors Group

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

Swedish icon Division

• The Italian champion
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• Ben Shelton (US)
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I’d probably dwell on it indefinitely if I fail to accomplish it,” Fritz told a journalist in June of claiming a grand slam. I hope he understands that he’s not unsuccessful if he doesn’t fulfill that goal, that breaking through Alcaraz and Sinner’s dominant, formidable reign is in fact highly unlikely for everybody else. {