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I possess some opinions regarding the comments made by ESPN commentator a well-known announcer following the Serbian champion's victory over Taylor Fritz in the US Open quarter-finals. Consider – Fritz is the United States, the commentator is American – and sports frequently lend themselves to patriotic sentiment. Some letdown would have been understandable. Instead, he invoked the continued drought of American men at grand slam tournaments: none of them has won a trophy since the last American champion in 2003, and he had been the last one standing in the competition.

Everyone love a storyline, me too. But come on. Even if the American had beaten the legend for the initial occasion, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was waiting in the next round, who Fritz has never defeated in an competitive encounter. And if he’d somehow gotten past that, it would have been title holder the Italian, versus him Fritz had dropped 10 of the last 11 sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also divided the last seven major titles (plus the Spaniard went on to defeat a tired Djokovic in the subsequent match). He said in post-match interviews after the loss that he in fact liked his path, because it presented the chance to defeat the top three competitors in the sport in succession. He is well justified to aspire to the achievement; an competitor is meant to believe in themselves. But entering that Djokovic quarter-final who else sensibly had the lack of American champions in mind?

The American star's second serve the only thing between her and sustained success

Fritz, twenty-eight, is ranked number four in the world entering this week’s year-end championships and has secured his previous six matches over third-ranked the German with growing comfort. It's likely he could claim that position for himself in the future. But evidently that right now, that’s as high as he can rise: Sinner and Alcaraz sit a vast gap of ranking points away. Fritz’s top-class delivery and powerful strength on both front side and reverse side are sufficiently adequate to dispose of most opponents on the professional circuit. When facing the select few generational talents, though, he is often helpless. The last several years has seen the interesting rise of lanky, towering players who can nevertheless move around with the surprising quickness and grace of smaller men. He is six-foot-five and appears that way. His footwork is stiff, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his legs. So he’ll rarely steal a point that the other player was dictating, and playing a soft shot against him is typically a reliable tactic. That serves as a quite harsh limitation on his potential.

Fritz has achieved a number of dramatic, unexpected improvements over the years. Early on of the ten-year period, he was circling the lower end of the world's best thirty. 24 months later, he was sniffing the top 10. Last year, he unexpectedly surged to fourth place – and maintained the position. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and beating legendary figures like the young Spaniard, Sinner, and including a declining Serbian, is the toughest of all. What was the commentator thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a serious threat to beat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate commenting on the continuing slump of American men winning grand slams when Fritz had departed the New York major in the quarter-finals? The desperation is simply excessive and the respect for the difficulty of the task insufficient.

Taylor Fritz achieved a personal best run to the All England Club last four in the summer.

The American's performance in that very last eight match should have been enough of an sign. Djokovic won in four sets, a win that only felt uncertain for moments towards the very end, when the American had survived a few championship opportunities and had a chance to hold for 5-5. The duo looked well-balanced during the rallies, with Fritz earning numerous chances to break. But the champion saved service break opportunity after break point, extending the streak to the brink of agony. When Fritz eventually did claim one of the opportunities at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he promptly played a terrible service game to drop serve once more; the Serbian had drawn him into a battle peripheral to the real battle and compelled him to use excessive effort to prevail. Facing set points in the final game, his primary delivery floated to heaven. He prolonged the match two times on his second serve, but finally committed two errors. It was not a collapse, in my opinion, only a result of having to hit an excessive number of weaker deliveries.

The match was quite ironclad proof that Fritz is not good enough to defeat any version of the Serbian, who lost to the Spaniard in the following match 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 acquired enough experience and strategic intelligence to make up for quite a bit of the decline. The issue is the individuals who were expecting Fritz to prevail, and putting pressure on him to achieve that, when he was had not done anything that indicated he would.

The American is an asset to the circuit nonetheless. He’s a calm, thoughtful presence in press conferences, exceeding virtually anyone on the ATP aside from the Russian star, willing to not just express how he feels or the strategy he believed decided a match, but explain it. That he should shoulder the majority of the responsibility for America not spawn a men's grand slam winner since Andy Roddick seems unfair. (Now that Ben Shelton is rubbing shoulders with him in the rankings, maybe they can share that burden.)

ATP Finals: Singles Groups

Jimmy Connors Division

• The Spanish phenom
• The American contender
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Bjorn Borg Group

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• The German powerhouse
• Ben Shelton (US)
• The Canadian talent

“I’d probably think about it indefinitely if I don’t do it,” the American told an interviewer in June of claiming a major. It is hoped he understands that he’s not a failure if he doesn’t achieve that objective, that overcoming Alcaraz and Sinner’s young, terrifying empire is actually highly unlikely for everybody else. {