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I have a few thoughts about that comments made by ESPN commentator Chris Fowler following Novak Djokovic's win over Taylor Fritz in the New York major quarter-finals. Consider – the athlete represents the United States, the commentator is American – and sports often encourage patriotic sentiment. A little bit of disappointment was understandable. Rather, he brought up the continued absence of US male players at the majors: not one of them has won a trophy since Andy Roddick in 2003, and he had been the final representative in the competition.

Everyone love a narrative, myself included. But come on. Even if Fritz defeated Djokovic for the initial occasion, phenomenal talent the Spanish star was waiting in the following match, whom he has yet to beat in an official match. And if he’d somehow survived that, it would have been defending champion Jannik Sinner, against whom the American had dropped 10 of the previous eleven sets. The two young stars had also split the previous seven grand slams (and Alcaraz went on to thrash a tired Djokovic in the next round). Fritz stated in post-match interviews following his defeat that he actually liked his path, because it offered the chance to defeat the three best players in the sport back-to-back. Fritz is well justified to aim for the achievement; an athlete is supposed to believe in themselves. But going into that Serbian quarter-final who else sensibly had the lack of American champions on the brain?

The American star's weaker delivery the sole barrier between her and consistent victories

The American, 28, is placed number four in the world entering the upcoming ATP World Tour Finals and has secured his previous six matches over No 3 the German with growing comfort. It's likely he could claim that position for himself in the future. But it’s clear that right now, that’s as far as he can climb: The Italian and Spaniard lie a chasm of performance metrics away. Fritz’s elite delivery and powerful strength on both forehand and backhand are more than enough to defeat the majority of opponents on the professional circuit. When facing the select few once-in-a-lifetime players, though, he is frequently helpless. The last several years has seen the interesting rise of tall, gangly athletes who can nonetheless cover the court with the alarming quickness and fluidity of much shorter players. Fritz is six-foot-five and looks it. His movement is stiff, as if he’s still getting used to his legs. So he seldom win a rally that the other player was dictating, and hitting a drop shot versus him is typically a safe bet. That serves as a pretty severe limitation on his upside.

The American has achieved a number of significant, unexpected improvements throughout his career. Early on of the ten-year period, he was hovering around the lower end of the world's best thirty. 24 months later, he was approaching the top 10. The previous season, he unexpectedly exploded up to fourth place – and maintained the spot. But the next leap, mixing it up with and beating legendary figures like Alcaraz, the Italian, and including a declining Djokovic, is the toughest of all. What could the commentator thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a serious threat to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was worth mentioning the ongoing drought of American men winning grand slams when he had exited the US Open in the quarter-finals? The thirst is simply excessive and the appreciation for the difficulty of the task too little.

Taylor Fritz made a career-best run to the Wimbledon last four in July.

Fritz’s play in that exact last eight match should have been sufficient of an indication. Djokovic triumphed in four rounds, a win that only felt tenuous for moments towards the conclusion, when Fritz had survived a couple championship opportunities and had a chance to maintain serve for 5-5. The duo looked well-balanced during the rallies, with Fritz earning plenty of opportunities to break. But Djokovic saved service break opportunity after service break opportunity, extending the run to the point of agony. When Fritz finally did convert a single of the chances at 5-5 in the second set, he immediately produced a horrendous game to drop serve once more; Djokovic had lulled him into a skirmish peripheral to the real battle and forced him to use excessive energy to win it. Facing match points in the final game, his first serve floated to the sky. He extended the match twice on his second serve, but finally double-faulted. It was not a choke, in my opinion, only a consequence of needing to hit too many weaker deliveries.

The contest was quite ironclad evidence that Fritz is insufficiently skilled to beat any form of Djokovic, that lost to the Spaniard in the following match and never particularly appeared like he believed he could win. This is absolutely acceptable – the Serbian is the greatest of all time, and may not be at the peak of his physical powers anymore, but has acquired sufficient experience and tactical know-how to make up for quite a bit of the decline. The issue is those who were anticipating Fritz to win, and pressuring him to do so, when he was yet to done anything that suggested he could.

Fritz is an asset to the tour regardless. He’s a calm, thoughtful voice in media sessions, more so than almost everyone on the ATP aside from the Russian star, willing to not just express his emotions or the tactic he felt decided a match, but clarify it. That he should bear the brunt of the responsibility for the United States not produce a men's grand slam winner since the last American titlist seems unjust. (Since the fellow American is rubbing shoulders with him in the rankings, maybe they can share that burden.)

ATP Finals: Player Divisions

Jimmy Connors Group

• The Spanish phenom
• The American contender
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• The Italian stylist

Bjorn Borg Division

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

“I would likely think about it indefinitely if I don’t accomplish it,” Fritz informed a journalist in June of winning a grand slam. I hope he understands that he’s not unsuccessful if he doesn’t fulfill that goal, that breaking through Alcaraz and Sinner’s young, terrifying empire is actually extremely unlikely for all other players. {