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I possess a few thoughts regarding the comments made by ESPN broadcaster a well-known announcer after the Serbian champion's win over Taylor Fritz during the New York major last eight. Consider – the athlete represents American, Fowler is American – and sports frequently encourage patriotic sentiment. A little bit of letdown would have been appropriate. Instead, Fowler brought up the continued absence of American men at the majors: none of them had lifted a title since Andy Roddick in 2003, and he had been the final representative in the competition.

We all love a storyline, myself included. But really. Even if the American defeated Djokovic for the initial occasion, phenomenal talent Carlos Alcaraz was waiting in the following match, who he has yet to beat in an competitive encounter. And if he’d somehow gotten past that, it would have been title holder the Italian, against whom Fritz had lost 10 of the previous eleven sets. The two young stars had also split the last seven major titles (plus Alcaraz went on to defeat a tired Djokovic in the subsequent match). He said in post-match interviews following his defeat that he in fact liked his path, because it offered the chance to beat the top three players in the world in succession. He is more than justified to aspire to the achievement; an competitor is meant to have faith in themselves. But entering that Serbian quarter-final who else in their right mind had the drought of American champions on the brain?

Coco Gauff’s second serve the sole barrier between her and consistent victories

The American, twenty-eight, is ranked fourth in the world entering this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has won his previous six encounters over third-ranked Alexander Zverev with growing comfort. Presumably he might claim that position for himself in the future. But it’s clear that at present, that is as far as he can climb: Sinner and Alcaraz lie a chasm of ranking points away. Fritz’s elite serve and concussive strength on each forehand and backhand are sufficiently enough to defeat the majority of rivals on the ATP tour. When facing the handful of generational talents, though, Fritz is frequently helpless. The last several years has seen the interesting rise of tall, gangly players who can nonetheless move around with the surprising speed and fluidity of much shorter men. He is six-foot-five and looks it. His movement is rigid, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his limbs. So he seldom steal a point that the other player was controlling, and hitting a soft shot against him is typically a safe bet. That acts as a quite severe restriction on his potential.

Fritz has achieved a several dramatic, unexpected advancements over the years. At the beginning of the decade, he was circling the bottom of the top 30. Two years after, he was sniffing the top 10. Last year, he unexpectedly surged to No 4 – and maintained the spot. But the next leap, mixing it up with and beating all-time-greats like the young Spaniard, Sinner, and including a aging Serbian, is the highest of all. What was Fowler thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was worth commenting on the continuing drought of American men lifting major titles when he had exited the US Open in the quarter-finals? The desperation is just too much and the respect for the difficulty of the task insufficient.

The American star made a personal best advancement to the All England Club last four in the summer.

The American's performance in that very quarter-final should have been enough of an indication. Djokovic triumphed in four sets, a win that only felt tenuous for moments towards the conclusion, when Fritz had survived a couple match points and had a chance to hold for 5-5. The duo looked well-balanced during the rallies, with Fritz earning plenty of chances to break. But the champion saved break point after break point, extending the run to the point of frustration. When he finally did claim one of the opportunities at 5-5 in the second set, he immediately played a horrendous game to lose his own serve once more; the Serbian had lulled him into a skirmish peripheral to the real battle and forced him to expend excessive energy to prevail. Facing match points in the last game, his first serve sailed to the sky. He prolonged the contest twice on his backup delivery, but finally double-faulted. It wasn’t a collapse, in my opinion, only a consequence of having to hit an excessive number of weaker deliveries.

The contest was quite ironclad proof that Fritz is not good enough to defeat any form of Djokovic, who lost to Alcaraz in the next round and never particularly appeared like he believed he could win. This is absolutely fine – the Serbian is the best player ever, and might not be at the height of his physical powers anymore, but has acquired sufficient experience and strategic intelligence to make up for a significant portion of the drop-off. The problem is the individuals who were expecting the American to prevail, and putting pressure on him to achieve that, when he was yet to accomplished anything that indicated he could.

The American is an valuable contributor to the circuit nonetheless. He’s a patient, reflective voice in press conferences, more so than virtually everyone on the men's tour aside from Daniil Medvedev, willing to not only say how he feels or the strategy he felt determined a contest, but explain it. That he should bear the brunt of the blame for America failing to spawn a male major champion since Andy Roddick seems unfair. (Now that the fellow American is competing alongside him in the standings, maybe they can share that burden.)

ATP Finals: Singles Groups

Jimmy Connors Group

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

Bjorn Borg Division

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• The German powerhouse
• Ben Shelton (US)
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I would likely think about it indefinitely if I fail to do it,” the American told an interviewer in the summer of winning a major. It is hoped he realizes that he’s not a failure if he doesn’t achieve that objective, that breaking through the Spanish and Italian's young, terrifying reign is actually highly improbable for everybody else. {