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I possess a few thoughts about that remarks delivered by the sports network commentator Chris Fowler after Novak Djokovic's win over the American player in the New York major last eight. Consider – the athlete represents the United States, the commentator is from the US – and athletic competitions frequently lend themselves to patriotic sentiment. A little bit of disappointment was understandable. Rather, he brought up the continued drought of American men at the majors: not one of them had lifted a title since the last American champion in 2003, and Fritz had been the final representative in the competition.

Everyone love a narrative, myself included. But come on. Even if the American defeated Djokovic for the first time, force of nature the Spanish star was waiting in the next round, whom Fritz has never defeated in an competitive encounter. And if he’d somehow survived that, it would have been title holder Jannik Sinner, versus him Fritz had lost 10 of the previous eleven sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also split the last seven grand slams (and Alcaraz proceeded to defeat a tired Djokovic in the next round). He said in post-match interviews following his defeat that he in fact preferred his draw, because it presented the chance to beat the top three competitors in the world in succession. He is more than within his right to aim for the accomplishment; an competitor is supposed to have faith in themselves. But going into that Djokovic quarter-final who else sensibly had the lack of US winners in mind?

The American star's weaker delivery the only thing standing in her way and sustained success

Fritz, twenty-eight, is ranked fourth in the world entering this week’s year-end championships and has won his previous six encounters over No 3 the German with growing comfort. It's likely he might take that spot for himself in the coming years. 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 delivery and powerful strength on both front side and backhand are sufficiently adequate to defeat the majority of opponents on the professional circuit. Against the select few generational talents, though, he is often helpless. The last several years has witnessed the interesting rise of lanky, towering players who can nevertheless move around with the surprising quickness and grace of much shorter men. He is six-foot-five and appears that way. His movement is stiff, as if he’s still getting used to his limbs. So he’ll rarely steal a point that the opponent was controlling, and hitting a drop shot versus him is typically a safe bet. That serves as a pretty severe restriction on his upside.

The American has made a number of significant, improbable improvements throughout his career. Early on of the ten-year period, he was hovering around the bottom of the top 30. Two years later, he was approaching the elite ten. The previous season, he suddenly surged to fourth place – and held the spot. But the next leap, mixing it up with and beating all-time-greats like Alcaraz, Sinner, and even a declining Serbian, is the highest of all. What could the commentator thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a serious threat to beat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate mentioning the continuing slump of US male players lifting major titles when he had departed the US Open in the quarter-finals? The desperation is simply excessive and the appreciation for the difficulty of the task too little.

The American star made a career-best advancement to the Wimbledon last four in the summer.

Fritz’s performance in that very quarter-final ought to have been sufficient of an sign. Djokovic won in four sets, a win that only seemed uncertain for moments towards the very end, when the American had survived a few match points and had a chance to maintain serve for 5-5. The pair appeared well-balanced during the rallies, with the American earning numerous opportunities to break. But Djokovic rescued service break opportunity after service break opportunity, prolonging the streak to the brink of agony. When he finally did convert one of the chances at 5-5 in the second set, he immediately played a horrendous game to lose his own serve once more; Djokovic had drawn him into a skirmish peripheral to the main contest and compelled him to expend far too much energy to prevail. Facing match points in the final game, his first serve floated to heaven. He extended the contest two times on his second serve, but ultimately committed two errors. It wasn’t a collapse, I didn’t think, only a consequence of having to hit an excessive number of second serves.

The contest was fairly ironclad evidence that the American is not good enough to defeat any form of the Serbian, that lost to the Spaniard in the next round and never particularly appeared like he thought he could triumph. This is absolutely acceptable – the Serbian is the best player ever, and may not be at the peak of his athletic abilities anymore, but has developed sufficient experience and strategic intelligence to compensate for quite a bit of the drop-off. The problem is those who were anticipating Fritz to prevail, and pressuring him to do so, when he was yet to done anything that indicated he could.

Fritz is an valuable contributor to the tour nonetheless. He’s a patient, thoughtful presence in media sessions, exceeding virtually anyone on the men's tour except for the Russian star, prepared to not just say how he feels or the tactic he believed determined a contest, but clarify it. That he ought to bear the brunt of the responsibility for the United States failing to produce a male major champion since Andy Roddick feels unjust. (Now that the fellow American is rubbing shoulders with him in the standings, maybe they can divide that load.)

ATP Finals: Singles Groups

Jimmy Connors Division

• The Spanish phenom
• The American contender
• The Australian speedster
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Bjorn Borg Group

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• Ben Shelton (US)
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I would likely think about it indefinitely if I don’t accomplish it,” the American informed a journalist in the summer of winning a grand slam. It is hoped he understands that he’s not a failure if he does not fulfill that goal, that breaking through Alcaraz and Sinner’s dominant, formidable empire is actually highly unlikely for everybody else. {