US Men's Major Title Dry Spell Isn't Fritz's Burden to Carry

I possess a few thoughts about that comments delivered by ESPN commentator a well-known announcer after Novak Djokovic's win over Taylor Fritz in the US Open last eight. Look – the athlete represents the United States, the commentator is American – and athletic competitions frequently lend themselves to nationalism. A little bit of letdown was understandable. Rather, Fowler invoked the continued absence of US male players at grand slam tournaments: none of them had lifted a trophy since Andy Roddick in 2003, and Fritz had been the final representative in the tournament.

Everyone love a storyline, me too. But really. Even if Fritz had beaten Djokovic for the first time, phenomenal talent the Spanish star was looming in the next round, whom he has yet to beat in an official match. And if he’d someway gotten past that, it would have been defending champion Jannik Sinner, against whom Fritz had lost 10 of the last 11 sets. The two young stars had also split the previous seven grand slams (plus the Spaniard proceeded to thrash a tired Serbian in the subsequent match). Fritz said in post-match interviews after the loss that he in fact liked his path, because it offered the opportunity to defeat the top three competitors in the sport back-to-back. Fritz is more than justified to aspire to the achievement; an athlete is supposed to believe in themselves. But going into that Serbian last eight match who else in their right mind had the lack of US winners in mind?

The American, 28, is placed number four in the world entering this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has won his previous six matches over third-ranked the German with increasing ease. Presumably he could take that spot for himself in the coming years. But evidently that at present, that’s as far as he can rise: The Italian and Spaniard lie a vast gap of ranking points away. His elite serve and powerful power on each front side and reverse side are sufficiently enough to defeat most opponents on the ATP tour. When facing the select few generational talents, though, Fritz is often overmatched. The last several seasons has seen the curious emergence of lanky, towering players who can nevertheless move around with the alarming quickness and grace of smaller men. He is 6ft 5ins and looks it. His footwork is stiff, as if he’s still getting used to his legs. So he’ll rarely steal a point that the opponent was controlling, and playing a drop shot against him is typically a safe bet. That acts as a pretty severe limitation on his upside.

The American has made a several significant, unexpected improvements over the years. Early on of the ten-year period, he was circling the bottom of the world's best thirty. Two years after, he was sniffing the top 10. Last year, he suddenly surged to fourth place – and held the spot. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and defeating all-time-greats like the young Spaniard, the Italian, and even a declining Serbian, is the toughest of all. What could Fowler thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to beat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate mentioning the continuing slump of American men winning grand slams when Fritz had exited the US Open in the quarter-finals? The thirst is simply excessive and the appreciation for the magnitude of the task insufficient.

Fritz’s performance in that very last eight match should have been sufficient of an indication. Djokovic triumphed in four sets, a win that only seemed tenuous for moments towards the very end, when the American had survived a couple championship opportunities and had a opportunity to maintain serve for 5-5. The duo appeared evenly matched during the exchanges, with the American earning numerous opportunities to break. But Djokovic saved break point after break point, prolonging the run to the brink of frustration. When Fritz finally did claim a single of the opportunities at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he immediately played a terrible game to drop serve once more; the Serbian had drawn him into a battle peripheral to the real battle and forced him to expend excessive energy to win it. Down match points in the final game, Fritz’s primary delivery floated to heaven. He extended the contest two times on his backup delivery, but ultimately committed two errors. It was not a collapse, I didn’t think, just a result of having to hit an excessive number of weaker deliveries.

The match was fairly compelling proof that the American is insufficiently skilled to beat any version of Djokovic, who was defeated by the Spaniard in the next round and never especially seem like he believed he could triumph. This is absolutely fine – Djokovic is the greatest of all time, and may not be at the height of his physical powers anymore, but has developed sufficient knowledge and tactical know-how to make up for quite a bit of the decline. The issue is the individuals who were expecting the American to prevail, and pressuring him to achieve that, when he was yet to done anything that indicated he could.

Fritz is an valuable contributor to the tour regardless. He’s a calm, reflective voice in press conferences, more so than virtually anyone on the ATP aside from the Russian star, prepared to not just say how he feels or the strategy he believed determined a contest, but explain it. That he ought to shoulder the majority of the responsibility for the United States failing to spawn a men's grand slam winner since Andy Roddick seems unfair. (Now that Ben Shelton is rubbing shoulders with him in the rankings, maybe they can divide that burden.)

“I’d probably think about it forever if I fail to do it,” Fritz told an interviewer in June of claiming a major. I hope he understands that he’s not a failure if he doesn’t achieve that goal, that overcoming the Spanish and Italian's dominant, formidable reign is in fact highly improbable for all other players. {