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I have some opinions about the remarks delivered by ESPN commentator Chris Fowler following the Serbian champion's win over Taylor Fritz during the US Open last eight. Look – Fritz is the United States, the commentator is from the US – and sports often encourage patriotic sentiment. A little bit of disappointment would have been understandable. Rather, he brought up the continued absence of American men at the majors: 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 narrative, me too. But come on. Suppose Fritz defeated Djokovic for the first time, force of nature the Spanish star was waiting in the following match, who he has never defeated in an official match. And if he’d someway survived that, it would have been title holder the Italian, against whom Fritz had dropped 10 of the last 11 sets. The two young stars had also split the last seven major titles (plus the Spaniard proceeded to thrash a fatigued Djokovic in the next round). Fritz stated 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 sport back-to-back. Fritz is well justified to aim for the achievement; an athlete is supposed to have faith in themselves. But going into that Djokovic last eight match who else in their right mind had the lack of American champions in mind?

The American star's weaker delivery the sole barrier standing in her way and consistent victories

The American, 28, is placed fourth in the world entering the upcoming ATP World Tour Finals and has won his previous six encounters over No 3 Alexander Zverev with growing comfort. Presumably he might take that spot for himself in the coming years. But evidently that right now, that’s as far as he can climb: Sinner and Alcaraz lie a chasm of ranking points away. His elite serve and powerful strength on each front side and backhand are more than enough to dispose of the majority of rivals on the professional circuit. Against the handful of once-in-a-lifetime players, though, Fritz is often helpless. The last several years has witnessed the curious emergence of lanky, towering players who can nonetheless cover the court with the surprising quickness and fluidity of smaller men. He is 6ft 5ins and appears that way. His movement is stiff, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his legs. So he seldom win a rally that the other player was dictating, and playing a drop shot versus him is typically a safe bet. That acts as a pretty harsh restriction on his upside.

Fritz has achieved a number of significant, improbable advancements throughout his career. At the beginning of the ten-year period, he was circling the lower end of the world's best thirty. Two years later, he was sniffing the top 10. Last year, he unexpectedly surged to fourth place – and held the spot. But the next leap, competing against and defeating legendary figures like Alcaraz, Sinner, and including a aging Serbian, is the toughest of all. What could the commentator have been thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a serious threat to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate commenting on the continuing slump of US male players winning grand slams when Fritz had exited the US Open in the quarter-finals? The desperation is simply too much and the appreciation for the difficulty of the challenge insufficient.

The American star achieved a career-best advancement to the Wimbledon last four in the summer.

The American's play in that very quarter-final should have been sufficient of an sign. Djokovic won in four rounds, a win that only felt uncertain for brief periods towards the conclusion, when Fritz had survived a few match points and had a chance to maintain serve for 5-5. The duo appeared well-balanced during the exchanges, with Fritz creating plenty of opportunities to break. But Djokovic rescued service break opportunity after break point, extending the streak to the brink of agony. When he eventually did convert one of the chances at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he immediately produced a terrible service game to lose his own serve again; Djokovic had lulled him into a skirmish secondary to the main contest and forced him to expend excessive energy to win it. Down set points in the final game, Fritz’s first serve floated to the sky. He prolonged the contest two times on his backup delivery, but ultimately double-faulted. It wasn’t a collapse, I didn’t think, just a result of having to hit too many weaker deliveries.

The match was quite compelling proof that the American is insufficiently skilled to beat any form of Djokovic, who lost to Alcaraz in the following match and did not particularly appeared like he thought he could win. This is absolutely fine – Djokovic is the best player ever, and might not be at the height of his physical powers now, but has developed sufficient knowledge and strategic intelligence to make up for a significant portion of the drop-off. The problem is those who were expecting the American to prevail, and pressuring him to achieve that, when he was yet to accomplished anything that indicated he could.

The American is an asset to the circuit nonetheless. He’s a calm, reflective voice in press conferences, more so than almost everyone on the men's tour aside from Daniil Medvedev, prepared to not only express his emotions or the strategy he felt decided a contest, but clarify it. That he ought to bear the brunt of the blame for the United States not produce a male major champion since Andy Roddick seems unfair. (Now that the fellow American is rubbing shoulders with him in the standings, perhaps they can share that burden.)

Year-End Championships: Singles Groups

American legend Division

• The Spanish phenom
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• The Australian speedster
• The Italian stylist

Swedish icon Group

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• Ben Shelton (US)
• Félix Auger-Aliassime (Can)

“I’d probably think about it indefinitely if I fail to accomplish it,” Fritz told an interviewer in the summer of winning a major. It is hoped he realizes that he’s not a failure if he does not fulfill that objective, that breaking through the Spanish and Italian's dominant, formidable empire is actually extremely unlikely for all other players. {