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I have a few thoughts about the comments made by the sports network commentator a well-known announcer after Novak Djokovic's victory over the American player in the New York major quarter-finals. Consider – the athlete represents the United States, Fowler is from the US – and athletic competitions often lend themselves to patriotic sentiment. Some letdown would have been appropriate. Instead, Fowler invoked the ongoing absence of US male players at the majors: none of them had lifted a title since the last American champion in 2003, and he had been the final representative in the tournament.

We all enjoy a narrative, myself included. But really. Suppose Fritz had beaten the legend for the initial occasion, phenomenal talent the Spanish star was looming in the following match, whom Fritz has yet to beat in an competitive encounter. And had he someway survived that, it would have been title holder Jannik Sinner, against whom the American had dropped 10 of the previous eleven sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also divided the last seven grand slams (plus Alcaraz proceeded to thrash a fatigued Serbian in the subsequent match). He said in post-match interviews following his defeat that he actually preferred his path, because it offered the chance to defeat the top three competitors in the sport back-to-back. He is more than within his right to aspire to the accomplishment; an competitor is supposed to believe in themselves. But entering that Serbian quarter-final what other person sensibly had the lack of American champions on the brain?

Coco Gauff’s second serve the only thing between her and consistent victories

The American, 28, is ranked number four in the world entering this week’s year-end championships and has won his previous six matches over third-ranked the German with growing comfort. It's likely he might claim that position for himself in the coming years. But evidently that right now, that’s as high as he can climb: The Italian and Spaniard sit a vast gap of ranking points away. Fritz’s top-class delivery and powerful strength on both front side and backhand are sufficiently enough to defeat the majority of rivals on the ATP tour. Against the select few once-in-a-lifetime players, however, he is frequently overmatched. The past few seasons has witnessed the curious rise of lanky, towering athletes who can nevertheless move around with the alarming quickness and fluidity of much shorter men. He is 6ft 5ins and appears that way. His footwork is rigid, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his legs. So he seldom steal a point that the other player was dictating, and playing a soft shot against him is usually a reliable tactic. That serves as a pretty harsh limitation on his potential.

The American has made a several dramatic, unexpected improvements over the years. At the beginning of the ten-year period, he was hovering around the bottom of the world's best thirty. 24 months later, he was approaching the top 10. Last year, he suddenly exploded up to No 4 – and held the spot. But the next leap, mixing it up with and beating all-time-greats like the young Spaniard, Sinner, and including a aging Djokovic, is the toughest of all. What could Fowler thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a serious threat to beat them all back-to-back? That it was worth commenting on the ongoing slump of US male players lifting grand slams when he had exited the US Open in the quarter-finals? The thirst is just too much and the respect for the difficulty of the task insufficient.

Taylor Fritz achieved a career-best run to the Wimbledon last four in the summer.

The American's play in that exact quarter-final should have been sufficient of an sign. The Serbian triumphed in four rounds, a victory that only seemed tenuous for brief periods towards the very end, when the American had saved a few match points and had a chance to hold for 5-5. The pair looked evenly matched during the exchanges, with Fritz earning numerous chances to win the opponent's serve. But the champion saved service break opportunity after service break opportunity, extending the run to the point of frustration. When Fritz eventually did convert a single of the opportunities at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he immediately produced a horrendous game to drop serve once more; Djokovic had drawn him into a skirmish peripheral to the real battle and compelled him to expend far too much effort to win it. Facing set points in the last game, Fritz’s first serve floated to heaven. He prolonged the match two times on his second serve, but ultimately committed two errors. It wasn’t a collapse, I didn’t think, only a consequence of needing to hit an excessive number of weaker deliveries.

The match was fairly compelling proof that Fritz is insufficiently skilled to beat any form of the Serbian, who was defeated by the Spaniard in the following match and never particularly appeared like he thought he could triumph. This is perfectly fine – the Serbian is the greatest of all time, and might not be at the height of his physical powers anymore, but has developed sufficient knowledge and strategic intelligence to compensate for a significant portion of the drop-off. The issue is those who were expecting Fritz to win, and pressuring him to do so, when he was yet to done anything that indicated he could.

Fritz is an asset to the circuit nonetheless. He’s a patient, reflective presence in press conferences, more so than virtually anyone on the men's tour except for the Russian star, willing to not only say his emotions or the strategy he believed decided a match, but clarify it. That he should bear the brunt of the blame for the United States not spawn a men's grand slam winner since the last American titlist seems unjust. (Now that the fellow American is competing alongside him in the rankings, perhaps they can divide that burden.)

ATP Finals: Player Divisions

Jimmy Connors Division

• Carlos Alcaraz (Sp)
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Swedish icon Group

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• The German powerhouse
• Ben Shelton (US)
• The Canadian talent

“I’d probably think about it indefinitely if I don’t accomplish it,” Fritz told a journalist in June of winning a major. I hope he realizes that he’s not unsuccessful if he doesn’t fulfill that objective, that overcoming the Spanish and Italian's young, terrifying reign is in fact highly unlikely for all other players. {