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I have a few opinions about the remarks delivered by ESPN commentator a well-known announcer after the Serbian champion's win over Taylor Fritz in the New York major last eight. Look – Fritz is American, the commentator is American – and athletic competitions often lend themselves to patriotic sentiment. Some disappointment was appropriate. Instead, he invoked the ongoing absence of American men at grand slam tournaments: not one of them has won a trophy since Andy Roddick in 2003, and Fritz had been the final representative in the tournament.

Everyone enjoy a storyline, myself included. But come on. Even if the American had beaten Djokovic for the initial occasion, force of nature the Spanish star was looming in the following match, who he has never defeated in an official match. And if he’d someway gotten past that, it would have been defending champion Jannik Sinner, against whom Fritz had dropped 10 of the previous eleven sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also split the last seven major titles (and the Spaniard proceeded to defeat a fatigued Serbian in the subsequent match). Fritz stated in press after the loss that he in fact liked his path, because it presented the opportunity to beat the top three competitors in the sport in succession. Fritz is well justified to aspire to the accomplishment; an competitor is supposed to believe in themselves. But going into that Djokovic quarter-final who else sensibly had the lack of American champions on the brain?

Coco Gauff’s weaker delivery the only thing between her and consistent victories

The American, twenty-eight, is placed number four in the global rankings entering this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has secured his last six encounters over third-ranked the German with increasing ease. Presumably he might claim that position for himself in the coming years. But it’s clear that at present, that’s as high as he can climb: Sinner and Alcaraz sit a chasm of ranking points away. Fritz’s elite delivery and concussive power on both forehand and reverse side are sufficiently enough to dispose of the majority of opponents on the ATP tour. When facing the select few once-in-a-lifetime players, however, he is often overmatched. The past few years has witnessed the curious rise of tall, gangly players who can nevertheless move around with the surprising quickness and grace of much shorter men. He is 6ft 5ins and looks it. His footwork is stiff, as if he’s still getting used to his limbs. So he’ll rarely steal a point that the other player was controlling, and hitting a drop shot against him is typically a reliable tactic. That acts as a quite severe restriction on his upside.

The American has achieved a number of dramatic, unexpected advancements throughout his career. Early on of the ten-year period, he was hovering around the lower end of the world's best thirty. Two years later, he was approaching the elite ten. The previous season, he suddenly exploded up to No 4 – and held the spot. But the next leap, competing against and beating all-time-greats like Alcaraz, the Italian, and even a declining Djokovic, is the toughest 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 commenting on the continuing drought of US male players winning major titles when Fritz had departed the US Open in the quarter-finals? The thirst is just too much and the respect for the magnitude of the challenge too little.

The American star made a personal best advancement to the Wimbledon semi-finals in July.

Fritz’s performance in that exact last eight match should have been enough of an sign. The Serbian triumphed in four sets, a win that only felt uncertain for moments towards the very end, when the American had survived a couple match points and had a opportunity to hold for 5-5. The duo looked well-balanced during the exchanges, with Fritz earning numerous chances to break. But the champion rescued break point after service break opportunity, extending the streak to the brink of agony. When Fritz eventually did convert a single of the chances at 5-5 in the second set, he promptly played a horrendous game to drop serve once more; Djokovic had drawn him into a skirmish peripheral to the main contest and forced him to use far too much effort to win it. Down match points in the last game, his first serve sailed to the sky. He extended the contest twice on his backup delivery, but finally committed two errors. It was not a collapse, I didn’t think, just a consequence of needing to hit an excessive number of second serves.

The contest was fairly ironclad proof that the American is not good enough to beat any version of the Serbian, who was defeated by Alcaraz in the next round and never particularly appeared like he believed he could triumph. This is perfectly acceptable – the Serbian is the best player ever, and might not be at the height of his physical powers anymore, but has developed enough experience and strategic intelligence to make up for a significant portion of the decline. The issue is those who were anticipating the American to win, and pressuring him to achieve that, when he was had not done anything that indicated he could.

Fritz is an asset to the tour nonetheless. He’s a calm, reflective presence in press conferences, exceeding almost anyone on the men's tour except for the Russian star, willing to not only say how he feels or the tactic he believed determined a contest, but clarify 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 seems unjust. (Since the fellow American is rubbing shoulders with him in the standings, maybe they can divide that load.)

Year-End Championships: Player Divisions

American legend Group

• The Spanish phenom
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• The Italian stylist

Swedish icon Division

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• The German powerhouse
• The rising American
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I’d probably dwell on it forever if I fail to do it,” Fritz informed a journalist in June of winning a major. I hope he understands that he’s not unsuccessful if he doesn’t fulfill that objective, that breaking through the Spanish and Italian's young, terrifying empire is actually extremely unlikely for everybody else. {