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I possess a few thoughts about the comments delivered by the sports network commentator a well-known announcer after the Serbian champion's victory over the American player during the US Open last eight. Consider – the athlete represents American, the commentator is American – and sports frequently lend themselves to patriotic sentiment. A little bit of disappointment was understandable. Rather, he brought up the ongoing drought of US male players at the majors: not one of them has won a trophy since Andy Roddick in 2003, and Fritz had been the last one standing in the tournament.

Everyone love a narrative, myself included. But come on. Even if Fritz had beaten the legend for the initial occasion, phenomenal talent Carlos Alcaraz was waiting in the next round, who Fritz has yet to beat in an official match. And if he’d someway gotten past that, it would have been title holder the Italian, versus him the American had dropped 10 of the previous eleven sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also split the previous seven major titles (plus Alcaraz proceeded to defeat a tired Serbian in the next round). Fritz said in press following his defeat that he actually liked his draw, because it presented the opportunity to defeat the top three players in the sport in succession. Fritz is well within his right to aim for the accomplishment; an athlete is supposed to have faith in themselves. But entering that Djokovic last eight match what other person sensibly had the drought of American champions in mind?

The American star's second serve the only thing between her and consistent victories

The American, 28, is ranked fourth in the global rankings starting this week’s year-end championships and has secured his last six matches over No 3 Alexander Zverev with growing comfort. It's likely he might claim that position for himself in the future. But it’s clear that right now, that is as high as he can rise: Sinner and Alcaraz lie a chasm of ranking points away. Fritz’s top-class serve and concussive strength on both front side and reverse side are more than adequate to dispose of most opponents on the professional circuit. Against the handful of generational talents, however, Fritz is frequently helpless. The last several seasons has seen the curious emergence of tall, gangly players who can nonetheless move around with the surprising quickness and fluidity of smaller players. Fritz is six-foot-five and appears that way. His footwork is stiff, as if he’s still getting used to his legs. So he’ll rarely win a rally that the other player was dictating, and hitting a soft shot against him is typically a safe bet. That acts as a pretty severe limitation on his potential.

The American has made a number of significant, improbable improvements throughout his career. Early on of the decade, he was hovering around the lower end of the world's best thirty. Two years later, he was sniffing the top 10. The previous season, he unexpectedly exploded to No 4 – and held the position. But the subsequent step, competing against and defeating all-time-greats like the young Spaniard, the Italian, and including a aging Djokovic, is the highest 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 worth mentioning the continuing slump of US male players lifting grand slams when Fritz had exited the New York major in the quarter-finals? The desperation is just excessive and the appreciation for the magnitude of the task insufficient.

The American star achieved a personal best advancement to the Wimbledon last four in July.

Fritz’s performance in that exact quarter-final should have been sufficient of an sign. The Serbian triumphed in four sets, a victory that only seemed tenuous for brief periods towards the conclusion, when the American had saved a couple match points and had a chance to hold for 5-5. The pair appeared evenly matched during the exchanges, with Fritz earning plenty of opportunities to win the opponent's serve. But Djokovic rescued break point after break point, prolonging the run to the point of frustration. When Fritz finally did claim one of the chances at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he immediately produced a terrible game to lose his own serve once more; the Serbian had drawn him into a skirmish secondary to the real battle and forced him to expend far too much energy to prevail. Facing set points in the final game, his primary delivery sailed to the sky. He prolonged the match two times on his backup delivery, but finally committed two errors. It was not a choke, in my opinion, only a result of needing to hit an excessive number of second serves.

The contest was quite ironclad evidence that the American is not good enough to beat any form of Djokovic, who was defeated by Alcaraz in the following match and did not particularly seem like he believed he could triumph. This is absolutely fine – Djokovic is the greatest of all time, and might not be at the peak of his athletic abilities anymore, but has acquired sufficient experience and strategic intelligence to make up for a significant portion of the drop-off. The issue is the individuals who were expecting Fritz to win, and putting pressure on him to achieve that, when he was yet to done anything that suggested he could.

Fritz is an valuable contributor to the circuit nonetheless. He’s a calm, thoughtful voice in media sessions, exceeding almost everyone on the ATP except for the Russian star, prepared to not just say his emotions or the strategy he felt determined a match, but explain it. That he ought to bear the brunt of the responsibility for America failing to produce a male major champion since the last American titlist feels unfair. (Since the fellow American is competing alongside him in the rankings, maybe they can share that load.)

Year-End Championships: Player Divisions

American legend Division

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

Bjorn Borg Division

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

“I would likely dwell on it forever if I fail to do it,” Fritz told a journalist in June of claiming a major. I hope he understands that he’s not unsuccessful if he does not achieve that goal, that overcoming Alcaraz and Sinner’s young, terrifying empire is actually extremely unlikely for all other players. {