🔗 Share this article

I possess some thoughts about the remarks delivered by the sports network commentator a well-known announcer after the Serbian champion's win over the American player during the New York major quarter-finals. Consider – Fritz is the United States, the commentator is from the US – and athletic competitions frequently encourage nationalism. A little bit of disappointment would have been appropriate. Rather, he brought up the continued absence of US male players at grand slam tournaments: none of them had lifted a trophy since the last American champion in 2003, and Fritz had been the final representative in the tournament.

Everyone enjoy a storyline, myself included. But come on. Suppose Fritz had beaten Djokovic for the first time, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was looming in the following match, who Fritz has never defeated in an official match. And had he somehow gotten past 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 previous seven grand slams (plus the Spaniard went on to thrash a fatigued Djokovic in the subsequent match). Fritz said in press following his defeat that he actually preferred his draw, because it presented the chance to defeat the top three players in the sport back-to-back. Fritz is well justified to aspire to the accomplishment; an competitor 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?

Coco Gauff’s second serve the only thing between her and sustained success

The American, 28, is placed fourth in the world starting this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has won his previous six matches over third-ranked Alexander Zverev with growing comfort. Presumably he might claim that position for himself in the coming years. But it’s clear that at present, that’s as far as he can climb: Sinner and Alcaraz lie a chasm of performance metrics away. His elite serve and concussive strength on each front side and reverse side are more than adequate to defeat most opponents on the professional circuit. Against the handful of once-in-a-lifetime players, though, Fritz is frequently overmatched. The past few years has seen the interesting emergence of tall, gangly athletes who can nonetheless move around with the surprising quickness and fluidity of much shorter men. Fritz is six-foot-five and appears that way. His movement is rigid, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his legs. So he’ll rarely steal a point that the other player was controlling, and playing a soft shot versus him is usually a reliable tactic. That serves as a pretty severe limitation on his upside.

Fritz has made a number of significant, 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. Two years later, he was sniffing the elite ten. The previous season, he unexpectedly exploded up to fourth place – and maintained the position. But the next leap, competing against and defeating all-time-greats like the young Spaniard, the Italian, and even a aging Serbian, is the highest of all. What was the commentator thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was worth commenting on the ongoing drought 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 magnitude of the challenge too little.

The American star achieved a career-best advancement to the All England Club last four in July.

Fritz’s performance in that very quarter-final ought to have been sufficient of an sign. The Serbian won in four rounds, a victory that only felt tenuous for brief periods towards the conclusion, when Fritz had survived a couple match points and had a chance to hold for 5-5. The duo appeared well-balanced during the exchanges, with the American creating plenty of opportunities to win the opponent's serve. But the champion rescued service break opportunity after break point, prolonging the run to the point of agony. When he eventually did convert one of the chances at 5-5 in the second set, he promptly produced a terrible game to drop serve again; the Serbian had lulled him into a skirmish secondary to the real battle and compelled him to expend excessive energy to win it. Facing set points in the final game, Fritz’s primary delivery sailed to the sky. He prolonged the match twice on his second serve, but ultimately committed two errors. It wasn’t a choke, I didn’t think, only a consequence of needing to hit an excessive number of second serves.

The contest was quite compelling evidence that Fritz is not good enough to defeat any form of the Serbian, that lost to the Spaniard 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 peak of his athletic abilities anymore, but has acquired sufficient experience and strategic intelligence to make up for a significant portion of the drop-off. The problem is those who were anticipating Fritz to win, and putting pressure on him to achieve that, when he was yet to accomplished anything that suggested he would.

The American is an valuable contributor to the circuit regardless. He’s a calm, thoughtful voice in press conferences, more so than almost everyone on the men's tour except for Daniil Medvedev, prepared to not just say his emotions or the strategy he felt decided a contest, but explain it. That he ought to shoulder the majority of the blame for America not produce a male major champion since the last American titlist seems unjust. (Now that Ben Shelton is competing alongside him in the rankings, perhaps they can share that burden.)

ATP Finals: Player Divisions

Jimmy Connors Division

• The Spanish phenom
• The American contender
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• The Italian stylist

Bjorn Borg Division

• The Italian champion
• The German powerhouse
• Ben Shelton (US)
• The Canadian talent

“I would likely dwell on it forever if I don’t do it,” Fritz informed an interviewer in the summer of claiming a grand slam. I hope he realizes that he’s not unsuccessful if he doesn’t fulfill that goal, that overcoming Alcaraz and Sinner’s young, terrifying reign is in fact highly unlikely for everybody else. {