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I have a few thoughts about that remarks made by ESPN commentator a well-known announcer following Novak Djokovic's victory over the American player during the New York major quarter-finals. Consider – Fritz is American, the commentator is from the US – and sports often encourage nationalism. A little bit of letdown was understandable. Rather, he invoked the continued drought of US male players at grand slam tournaments: none of them had lifted a title since Andy Roddick in 2003, and he had been the final representative in the competition.

Everyone enjoy a narrative, me too. But come on. Even if Fritz had beaten Djokovic for the initial occasion, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was waiting in the following match, whom he has never defeated in an competitive encounter. And if he’d somehow gotten past that, it would have been title holder Jannik Sinner, against whom the American had dropped 10 of the previous eleven sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also divided the previous seven major titles (plus the Spaniard went on to defeat a fatigued Serbian in the next round). Fritz said in press after the loss that he actually liked his draw, because it presented the opportunity to beat the top three competitors in the world in succession. He is more than justified to aim for the accomplishment; an competitor is meant to have faith in themselves. But going into that Serbian quarter-final who else in their right mind had the drought of American champions on the brain?

The American star's weaker delivery the only thing between her and sustained success

The American, twenty-eight, is placed fourth in the global rankings entering this week’s year-end championships and has secured his last six encounters over third-ranked Alexander Zverev with increasing ease. It's likely he could claim that position for himself in the coming years. But evidently that right now, that’s as far as he can climb: The Italian and Spaniard lie a chasm of ranking points away. Fritz’s elite delivery and powerful strength on both forehand and reverse side are sufficiently adequate to defeat the majority of rivals on the professional circuit. Against the handful of generational talents, however, he is frequently helpless. The past few seasons has seen the interesting rise of tall, gangly players who can nevertheless move around with the alarming speed and grace of much shorter players. Fritz is six-foot-five and appears that way. His footwork is rigid, as if he’s still getting used to his limbs. So he seldom win a rally that the opponent was dictating, and hitting a drop shot against him is usually a safe bet. That acts as a pretty severe limitation on his upside.

Fritz has made a number of dramatic, unexpected improvements over the years. At the beginning of the ten-year period, he was hovering around the bottom of the world's best thirty. 24 months after, he was approaching the top 10. The previous season, he unexpectedly surged to fourth place – and maintained the position. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and defeating all-time-greats like the young Spaniard, the Italian, 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 defeat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate commenting on the ongoing slump of American men lifting grand slams when he had departed the US Open in the quarter-finals? The desperation is simply excessive and the respect for the difficulty of the challenge too little.

Taylor Fritz made a personal best advancement to the All England Club last four in the summer.

Fritz’s performance in that exact quarter-final ought to have been sufficient of an sign. Djokovic won in four rounds, a win that only seemed uncertain for moments towards the very end, when Fritz had saved a few championship opportunities and had a chance to maintain serve for 5-5. The pair appeared evenly matched during the exchanges, with Fritz creating numerous chances to break. But the champion rescued service break opportunity after break point, prolonging the streak to the brink of agony. When Fritz eventually did claim a single of the opportunities at 5-5 in the second set, he promptly played a horrendous game to lose his own serve once more; Djokovic had drawn him into a battle secondary to the main contest and compelled him to expend excessive energy to prevail. Facing set points in the last game, Fritz’s first serve sailed to the sky. He prolonged the contest twice on his backup delivery, but finally committed two errors. It was not a collapse, I didn’t think, just a result of having to hit an excessive number of second serves.

The match was quite compelling evidence that Fritz is not good enough to defeat any version of Djokovic, who was defeated by the Spaniard in the next round and never particularly seem like he thought he could win. This is perfectly fine – Djokovic is the greatest of all time, and may not be at the height of his physical powers anymore, but has developed sufficient knowledge and strategic intelligence to make up for a significant portion of the drop-off. The issue is the individuals who were anticipating Fritz to win, and putting pressure on him to do so, when he was yet to done anything that indicated he could.

Fritz is an asset to the circuit regardless. He’s a patient, thoughtful presence in media sessions, exceeding virtually anyone on the men's tour aside from Daniil Medvedev, prepared to not only express how he feels or the tactic he believed determined a contest, but clarify it. That he should bear the brunt of the blame for the United States not produce a male major champion since Andy Roddick seems unfair. (Since the fellow American is competing alongside him in the rankings, perhaps they can divide that burden.)

ATP Finals: Singles Groups

American legend Group

• Carlos Alcaraz (Sp)
• The American contender
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Swedish icon Division

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• The German powerhouse
• Ben Shelton (US)
• The Canadian talent

“I would likely think about it indefinitely if I don’t do it,” Fritz told an interviewer in June of winning a major. I hope he understands that he’s not a failure if he doesn’t fulfill that objective, that overcoming Alcaraz and Sinner’s young, terrifying reign is actually highly unlikely for all other players. {