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I have some thoughts about that remarks made by the sports network commentator Chris Fowler following Novak Djokovic's win over the American player during the US Open last eight. Look – Fritz is the United States, Fowler is from the US – and athletic competitions often lend themselves to patriotic sentiment. Some letdown would have been understandable. Instead, he invoked the continued drought of American men at grand slam tournaments: not one of them has won a title since the last American champion in 2003, and he had been the final representative in the competition.

Everyone love a storyline, me too. But really. Suppose the American defeated the legend for the first time, force of nature the Spanish star was waiting in the next round, whom he has never defeated in an competitive encounter. And if he’d somehow survived that, it would have been title holder Jannik Sinner, against whom the American had lost 10 of the last 11 sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also divided the previous seven grand slams (plus the Spaniard proceeded to defeat a fatigued Serbian in the next round). He said in press following his defeat that he in fact preferred his draw, because it offered the opportunity to beat the three best competitors in the world back-to-back. He is more than justified to aim for the accomplishment; an athlete is meant to believe in themselves. But going into that Serbian quarter-final what other person sensibly had the drought of US winners in mind?

The American star's second serve the sole barrier between her and sustained success

The American, twenty-eight, is placed number four in the global rankings entering the upcoming ATP World Tour Finals and has secured his previous six encounters over third-ranked the German with increasing ease. Presumably he could take that spot for himself in the future. But evidently that at present, that is as far as he can climb: Sinner and Alcaraz lie a chasm of ranking points away. Fritz’s elite serve and concussive power on each front side and backhand are more than adequate to defeat the majority of rivals on the professional circuit. Against the select few once-in-a-lifetime players, though, he is frequently helpless. The last several seasons has witnessed the interesting rise of tall, gangly athletes who can nevertheless move around with the surprising speed and grace of much shorter men. Fritz is six-foot-five and appears that way. His movement is rigid, as if he’s still getting used to his legs. So he’ll rarely steal a point that the other player was dictating, and hitting a drop shot versus him is usually a safe bet. That serves as a pretty severe restriction on his potential.

Fritz has made a several significant, improbable advancements over the years. At the beginning of the decade, he was circling the lower end of the top 30. 24 months later, he was sniffing the elite ten. Last year, he suddenly exploded to No 4 – and maintained the spot. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and defeating all-time-greats like the young Spaniard, the Italian, and including a declining Djokovic, is the toughest of all. What could the commentator have been thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a legitimate contender 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 departed the US Open in the quarter-finals? The desperation is simply too much and the appreciation for the difficulty of the task insufficient.

The American star achieved a personal best advancement to the All England Club last four in the summer.

Fritz’s performance in that exact quarter-final should have been enough of an indication. Djokovic triumphed in four rounds, a win that only seemed uncertain for brief periods towards the very end, when Fritz had survived a couple championship opportunities and had a chance to hold for 5-5. The pair looked evenly matched during the rallies, with Fritz earning plenty of opportunities to win the opponent's serve. But Djokovic rescued break point after service break opportunity, extending the streak to the brink of frustration. When he eventually did claim one of the opportunities at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he immediately played a terrible service game to lose his own serve again; the Serbian had lulled him into a battle peripheral to the real battle and compelled him to expend far too much energy to prevail. Facing match points in the last game, his first serve sailed to heaven. He prolonged the contest two times on his second serve, but ultimately committed two errors. It wasn’t a choke, in my opinion, only a consequence of having to hit an excessive number of second serves.

The match was fairly ironclad proof that the American is not good enough to defeat any version of the Serbian, who lost to Alcaraz in the next round and did not particularly seem like he believed he could triumph. This is absolutely fine – Djokovic is the best player ever, and might not be at the peak of his physical powers now, but has developed enough knowledge and strategic intelligence to make up for quite a bit of the drop-off. The problem is those who were anticipating Fritz to prevail, and putting pressure on him to do so, when he was had not accomplished anything that indicated he would.

Fritz is an valuable contributor to the circuit regardless. He’s a patient, thoughtful presence in media sessions, more so than virtually everyone on the men's tour aside from Daniil Medvedev, willing to not just express how he feels or the strategy he felt decided a match, but clarify it. That he should shoulder the majority of the blame for the United States failing to spawn a men's grand slam winner since the last American titlist feels unjust. (Now that the fellow American is competing alongside him in the standings, maybe they can share that load.)

Year-End Championships: Player Divisions

Jimmy Connors Group

• Carlos Alcaraz (Sp)
• The American contender
• The Australian speedster
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Bjorn Borg Division

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

“I would likely dwell on it indefinitely if I fail to do it,” Fritz informed an interviewer in June of claiming a grand slam. I hope he understands that he’s not unsuccessful if he does not fulfill that goal, that breaking through the Spanish and Italian's young, terrifying reign is in fact highly improbable for everybody else. {