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I possess some opinions about that remarks delivered by ESPN commentator a well-known announcer after the Serbian champion's win over Taylor Fritz in the US Open quarter-finals. Look – Fritz is the United States, the commentator is American – and sports often lend themselves to nationalism. A little bit of letdown was understandable. Rather, he invoked the ongoing absence of American men at the majors: not one of them has won a title since Andy Roddick in 2003, and Fritz had been the last one standing in the tournament.

We all love a storyline, myself included. But come on. Even if the American had beaten the legend for the first time, phenomenal talent the Spanish star was waiting in the following match, whom he has yet to beat in an official match. And if he’d someway gotten past that, it would have been title holder Jannik Sinner, against whom the American had dropped 10 of the last 11 sets. The two young stars had also split the previous seven grand slams (plus the Spaniard proceeded to defeat a tired Djokovic in the next round). He stated in press after the loss that he actually liked his path, because it offered the chance to defeat the three best competitors in the sport back-to-back. He is well within his right to aim for the accomplishment; an athlete is supposed to believe in themselves. But entering that Djokovic last eight match what other person sensibly had the lack of American champions on the brain?

Coco Gauff’s second serve the sole barrier standing in her way and sustained success

Fritz, twenty-eight, is ranked number four in the world starting this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has won his previous six matches over third-ranked the German with growing comfort. Presumably he could claim that position for himself in the future. But it’s clear that at present, that is as far as he can rise: Sinner and Alcaraz sit a chasm of performance metrics away. Fritz’s top-class serve and concussive strength on both front side and reverse side are sufficiently enough to dispose of the majority of opponents on the ATP tour. Against the handful of generational talents, however, he is frequently helpless. The last several seasons has seen the curious emergence of tall, gangly athletes who can nevertheless move around with the alarming quickness and grace of much shorter players. He is six-foot-five and looks it. His footwork is stiff, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his limbs. So he’ll rarely steal a point that the opponent was controlling, and playing a soft shot against him is usually a safe bet. That serves as a pretty severe limitation on his upside.

The American has achieved a number of significant, improbable improvements throughout his career. Early on of the decade, he was hovering around the bottom of the world's best thirty. Two years later, he was approaching the top 10. Last year, he unexpectedly surged to No 4 – and held the position. But the next leap, mixing it up with and beating legendary figures like Alcaraz, the Italian, and including a aging Serbian, is the highest of all. What was the commentator thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate commenting on the ongoing slump of American men winning major titles when Fritz had departed the New York major in the quarter-finals? The thirst is just excessive and the appreciation for the magnitude of the task too little.

The American star made a personal best run to the Wimbledon last four in the summer.

The American's performance in that very quarter-final should have been enough of an indication. The Serbian won in four sets, a win that only felt uncertain for brief periods towards the very end, when the American had saved a couple championship opportunities and had a chance to hold for 5-5. The pair looked well-balanced during the rallies, with Fritz earning plenty of chances to win the opponent's serve. But the champion rescued service break opportunity after break point, extending the run to the point of frustration. When Fritz eventually did claim one of the chances at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he immediately played a terrible game to drop serve again; Djokovic had lulled him into a battle secondary to the main contest and compelled him to expend far too much effort to win it. Facing set points in the final game, his primary delivery sailed to heaven. He prolonged the contest twice on his second serve, but ultimately double-faulted. It was not a collapse, in my opinion, only a result of needing to hit an excessive number of weaker deliveries.

The contest was fairly ironclad evidence that the American is insufficiently skilled to beat any version of Djokovic, who was defeated by Alcaraz in the next round and did not especially seem like he believed he could triumph. This is absolutely acceptable – the Serbian is the greatest of all time, and might not be at the height of his athletic abilities anymore, but has developed enough knowledge 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 do so, when he was had not accomplished anything that indicated he could.

The American is an asset to the circuit regardless. He’s a calm, thoughtful voice in media sessions, more so than almost anyone on the men's tour aside from Daniil Medvedev, willing to not just say his emotions or the tactic he believed determined a contest, but explain it. That he should bear the brunt of the responsibility for America not spawn a men's grand slam winner since Andy Roddick feels unfair. (Since the fellow American is rubbing shoulders with him in the rankings, maybe they can divide that load.)

ATP Finals: Player Divisions

Jimmy Connors Group

• Carlos Alcaraz (Sp)
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• The Australian speedster
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Swedish icon Division

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• Ben Shelton (US)
• The Canadian talent

“I’d probably think about it forever if I don’t do it,” Fritz told an interviewer in June of winning a major. I hope he understands that he’s not a failure if he does not fulfill that goal, that overcoming Alcaraz and Sinner’s dominant, formidable reign is actually highly improbable for everybody else. {