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I have a few opinions regarding the comments made by the sports network broadcaster Chris Fowler following Novak Djokovic's win over Taylor Fritz during the New York major last eight. Consider – Fritz is the United States, Fowler is from the US – and athletic competitions often encourage patriotic sentiment. A little bit of letdown was understandable. Instead, Fowler invoked 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 competition.

Everyone love a storyline, myself included. But really. Suppose the American had beaten the legend for the first time, force of nature the Spanish star was looming in the following match, who he has never defeated in an competitive encounter. And if he’d someway survived that, it would have been defending champion Jannik Sinner, versus him the American had lost 10 of the previous eleven sets. The two young stars had also split the previous seven major titles (and the Spaniard proceeded to thrash a fatigued Djokovic in the subsequent match). He 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 sport back-to-back. He is more than within his right to aspire to the achievement; an athlete is meant to have faith in themselves. But going into that Djokovic last eight match who else in their right mind had the lack of American champions in mind?

The American star's second serve the only thing standing in her way and consistent victories

The American, 28, is ranked fourth in the world starting this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has secured his last six encounters over No 3 Alexander Zverev with increasing ease. It's likely he might take that spot for himself in the future. But evidently that right now, that is as far as he can climb: Sinner and Alcaraz lie a vast gap of ranking points away. Fritz’s top-class serve and powerful strength on both forehand and reverse side are sufficiently enough to dispose of most rivals on the ATP tour. Against the select few generational talents, though, he is often helpless. The last several seasons has seen the interesting emergence of tall, gangly athletes who can nonetheless move around with the surprising speed and grace of smaller men. He is 6ft 5ins and appears that way. His footwork is stiff, as if he’s still getting used to his limbs. So he’ll rarely win a rally that the other player was controlling, and hitting a soft shot versus him is typically a safe bet. That serves as a pretty severe limitation on his potential.

Fritz has made a several significant, improbable improvements throughout his career. Early on of the decade, he was circling the lower end of the top 30. 24 months after, he was sniffing the top 10. Last year, he unexpectedly exploded up to No 4 – and held the position. But the next leap, mixing it up with and beating legendary figures like the young Spaniard, Sinner, and even a declining Djokovic, is the toughest of all. What could Fowler have been 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 drought of American men winning major titles when he had exited the US Open in the quarter-finals? The desperation is just too much and the respect for the magnitude of the challenge insufficient.

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

Fritz’s performance in that exact quarter-final should have been enough of an indication. Djokovic won in four rounds, a victory that only felt tenuous for brief periods towards the conclusion, when the American had saved a couple championship opportunities and had a chance to hold for 5-5. The pair appeared well-balanced during the rallies, with the American earning numerous opportunities to win the opponent's serve. But the champion rescued service break opportunity after service break opportunity, prolonging the streak to the brink of agony. When Fritz finally did claim a single of the chances at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he promptly produced a horrendous game to drop serve again; the Serbian had lulled him into a skirmish secondary to the main contest and compelled him to use far too much energy to win it. Facing match points in the last game, his primary delivery sailed to heaven. He extended the match twice on his backup delivery, but ultimately double-faulted. It wasn’t a collapse, in my opinion, just a consequence of having to hit an excessive number of second serves.

The match was fairly ironclad proof that the American is not good enough to defeat any form of Djokovic, who was defeated by the Spaniard in the next round and did not especially seem like he thought he could win. This is absolutely acceptable – Djokovic is the greatest of all time, and may not be at the peak of his athletic abilities anymore, but has developed enough experience and strategic intelligence to compensate for a significant portion of the drop-off. The issue is the individuals who were anticipating the American to prevail, and pressuring him to achieve that, when he was yet to done anything that suggested he would.

Fritz is an valuable contributor to the tour regardless. He’s a calm, reflective presence in press conferences, more so than almost anyone on the ATP except for the Russian star, prepared to not only say how he feels or the tactic he felt determined a contest, but explain it. That he ought to shoulder the majority of the responsibility for America not spawn a men's grand slam winner since Andy Roddick seems unjust. (Now that Ben Shelton is competing alongside him in the standings, perhaps they can divide that burden.)

ATP Finals: Singles Groups

American legend Group

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

Swedish icon Group

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• Ben Shelton (US)
• The Canadian talent

“I’d probably dwell on it indefinitely if I fail to accomplish it,” Fritz told an interviewer in June of claiming a major. I hope he understands that he’s not a failure if he doesn’t achieve that goal, that breaking through the Spanish and Italian's dominant, formidable empire is actually highly unlikely for all other players. {