🔗 Share this article US Male Major Title Dry Spell Isn't Fritz's Burden to Bear I possess some opinions about that comments delivered by the sports network commentator Chris Fowler after Novak Djokovic's victory over Taylor Fritz in the New York major last eight. Consider – Fritz is the United States, Fowler is American – and athletic competitions often lend themselves to nationalism. A little bit of letdown was understandable. Instead, Fowler invoked the continued absence of US male players at grand slam tournaments: none of them has won a title since Andy Roddick in 2003, and Fritz had been the last one standing in the competition. We all love a storyline, me too. But come on. Even if Fritz defeated Djokovic for the initial occasion, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was looming in the following match, who he has never defeated in an competitive encounter. And had he someway survived that, it would have been title holder the Italian, versus him Fritz had lost 10 of the last 11 sets. The two young stars had also split the last seven major titles (plus Alcaraz proceeded to thrash a fatigued Djokovic in the subsequent match). Fritz said in press after the loss that he in fact preferred his path, because it presented the chance to beat the top three competitors in the sport in succession. Fritz is well within his right to aim for the accomplishment; an athlete is meant to have faith in themselves. But entering that Serbian last eight match what other person in their right mind had the lack of American champions in mind? Coco Gauff’s weaker delivery the sole barrier between her and consistent victories The American, 28, is ranked fourth in the global rankings starting this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has secured his previous six matches over No 3 Alexander Zverev with increasing ease. Presumably he might claim that position for himself in the future. But it’s clear that at present, that is as high as he can rise: Sinner and Alcaraz lie a vast gap of performance metrics away. Fritz’s elite serve and concussive strength on both front side and backhand are sufficiently enough to dispose of the majority of opponents on the professional circuit. Against the select few generational talents, however, he is often helpless. The past few seasons has witnessed the interesting emergence of tall, gangly players who can nonetheless cover the court with the surprising quickness and fluidity of much shorter players. Fritz is 6ft 5ins and appears that way. His footwork is rigid, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his limbs. So he seldom win a rally that the other player was dictating, and playing a drop shot against him is typically a safe bet. That acts as a quite harsh restriction on his upside. Fritz has made a several dramatic, improbable advancements throughout his career. At the beginning of the decade, he was hovering around the lower end of the world's best thirty. Two years after, he was approaching the elite ten. The previous season, he suddenly exploded up to fourth place – and held the position. But the next leap, competing against and beating all-time-greats like Alcaraz, Sinner, and even a aging Serbian, is the toughest of all. What could Fowler have been thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to beat them all back-to-back? That it was worth commenting on the continuing slump of US male players lifting major titles when he had exited the New York major in the quarter-finals? The thirst is simply excessive and the respect for the difficulty of the task insufficient. Taylor Fritz made a career-best run to the All England Club semi-finals in the summer. The American's play in that very quarter-final should have been enough of an sign. Djokovic triumphed in four sets, a win that only felt tenuous for brief periods towards the very end, when the American had survived a few match points and had a opportunity to maintain serve for 5-5. The pair appeared well-balanced during the exchanges, with Fritz creating numerous opportunities to break. But Djokovic rescued service break opportunity after break point, prolonging the streak to the point of frustration. When Fritz finally did convert a single of the opportunities at 5-5 in the second set, he promptly played a horrendous service game to lose his own serve again; the Serbian had drawn him into a skirmish peripheral to the real battle and forced him to expend far too much effort to prevail. Facing match points in the final game, his primary delivery sailed to the sky. He extended the contest two times on his second serve, but ultimately committed two errors. It was not a choke, I didn’t think, just a result of needing to hit an excessive number of weaker deliveries. The match was quite ironclad proof that the American is not good enough to defeat any form of Djokovic, that was defeated by the Spaniard in the following match and did not particularly seem like he believed he could triumph. This is perfectly acceptable – Djokovic is the greatest of all time, and may not be at the peak of his physical powers now, but has developed sufficient experience and strategic intelligence to compensate for a significant portion of the drop-off. The issue is the individuals who were expecting Fritz to prevail, and pressuring him to do so, when he was had not accomplished anything that suggested he would. Fritz is an valuable contributor to the tour nonetheless. He’s a calm, reflective presence in media sessions, exceeding virtually everyone on the ATP except for Daniil Medvedev, willing to not just express his emotions or the strategy he felt decided a contest, but explain it. That he should bear the brunt of the responsibility for America failing to produce a men's grand slam winner since the last American titlist feels unfair. (Now that the fellow American is rubbing shoulders with him in the rankings, maybe they can share that load.) ATP Finals: Player Divisions American legend Group Carlos Alcaraz (Sp) The American contender Alex de Minaur (Aus) Lorenzo Musetti (It) Bjorn Borg Group The Italian champion Alexander Zverev (Ger) The rising American Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can) “I would likely think about it forever if I fail to accomplish it,” the American told a journalist in the summer of winning a major. I hope he understands that he’s not a failure if he doesn’t fulfill that objective, that breaking through the Spanish and Italian's young, terrifying reign is in fact extremely unlikely for everybody else. {