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I possess a few opinions regarding the remarks delivered by ESPN broadcaster a well-known announcer after the Serbian champion's victory over the American player during the New York major last eight. Consider – the athlete represents American, the commentator is from the US – and sports frequently lend themselves to nationalism. Some disappointment would have been appropriate. Instead, he brought up the ongoing drought of American men at the majors: 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.

We all enjoy a storyline, me too. But really. Even if Fritz defeated Djokovic for the initial occasion, phenomenal talent the Spanish star was looming in the following match, whom Fritz has never defeated in an competitive encounter. And if he’d somehow survived that, it would have been defending champion the Italian, against whom the American had lost 10 of the last 11 sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also divided the previous seven major titles (and Alcaraz went on to thrash a tired Djokovic in the next round). He said in post-match interviews following his defeat that he actually preferred his path, because it offered the chance to beat the three best competitors in the sport back-to-back. Fritz is well justified to aim for the accomplishment; an competitor is supposed to believe in themselves. But entering that Djokovic quarter-final who else in their right mind had the drought of US winners on the brain?

Coco Gauff’s weaker delivery the sole barrier between her and consistent victories

The American, 28, is placed number four in the global rankings entering this week’s year-end championships and has won his last six encounters over third-ranked Alexander Zverev with increasing ease. It's likely he could take that spot for himself in the future. But evidently that right now, that is as far as he can climb: Sinner and Alcaraz sit a chasm of ranking points away. Fritz’s elite delivery and powerful strength on both front side and reverse side are sufficiently enough to defeat the majority of opponents on the ATP tour. When facing the handful of once-in-a-lifetime players, though, he is frequently helpless. The last several years has witnessed the curious rise of tall, gangly players who can nevertheless move around with the alarming speed and fluidity of smaller men. He is six-foot-five 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 dictating, and hitting a soft shot versus him is typically a safe bet. That acts as a quite severe restriction on his potential.

Fritz has achieved a several dramatic, improbable improvements over the years. At the beginning of the decade, he was circling the bottom of the top 30. 24 months later, he was approaching the top 10. Last year, he unexpectedly surged to No 4 – and maintained the position. But the next leap, mixing it up with and defeating all-time-greats like Alcaraz, the Italian, and including a aging Serbian, is the highest of all. What could the commentator have been thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a serious threat to beat them all back-to-back? That it was worth mentioning the ongoing drought of American men lifting major titles when Fritz had departed the New York major in the quarter-finals? The desperation is simply too much and the respect for the magnitude of the challenge too little.

The American star made a career-best advancement to the All England Club semi-finals in July.

Fritz’s performance in that very last eight match ought to have been enough of an indication. Djokovic won in four rounds, a win that only seemed tenuous for brief periods towards the very end, when Fritz had saved a couple championship opportunities and had a opportunity to hold for 5-5. The duo looked evenly matched during the rallies, with the American creating plenty of opportunities to win the opponent's serve. But the champion rescued break point after break point, extending the run to the point of agony. When he finally did convert a single of the opportunities at 5-5 in the second set, he promptly produced a horrendous service game to drop serve once more; the Serbian had lulled him into a skirmish peripheral to the main contest and forced him to use excessive energy to prevail. Facing set points in the last game, Fritz’s first serve sailed to the sky. He prolonged the contest two times on his backup delivery, but finally committed two errors. It wasn’t a choke, in my opinion, just a result of needing to hit too many weaker deliveries.

The match was quite ironclad evidence that Fritz is not good enough to beat any version of the Serbian, that was defeated by Alcaraz in the next round and never particularly seem like he thought he could triumph. This is absolutely fine – the Serbian is the greatest of all time, and may not be at the peak of his athletic abilities now, but has acquired enough experience and tactical know-how to make up for quite a bit of the decline. The problem is the individuals who were expecting Fritz to prevail, and pressuring him to achieve that, when he was had not accomplished anything that indicated he would.

The American is an asset to the tour nonetheless. He’s a patient, thoughtful presence in media sessions, more so than almost anyone on the men's tour except for the Russian star, prepared to not just say how he feels or the strategy he believed determined a contest, but clarify it. That he ought to shoulder the majority of the blame for the United States failing to produce a male major champion since the last American titlist feels unfair. (Now that Ben Shelton is rubbing shoulders with him in the standings, perhaps they can share that burden.)

Year-End Championships: Player Divisions

Jimmy Connors Group

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

Bjorn Borg Division

• The Italian champion
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• The rising American
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I’d probably dwell on it indefinitely if I fail to do it,” Fritz told a journalist in June of claiming a grand slam. I hope he realizes that he’s not a failure if he does not achieve that objective, that breaking through the Spanish and Italian's dominant, formidable reign is actually highly unlikely for everybody else. {