US Male Major Title Dry Spell Isn't Fritz's Responsibility to Carry

I have some thoughts about that comments delivered by ESPN broadcaster a well-known announcer after the Serbian champion's victory over Taylor Fritz during the US Open last eight. Consider – Fritz is the United States, the commentator is from the US – and athletic competitions often encourage patriotic sentiment. A little bit of disappointment was appropriate. Rather, he invoked the continued drought of American men at grand slam tournaments: none of them has won a trophy since Andy Roddick in 2003, and he had been the final representative in the tournament.

Everyone love a storyline, myself included. But come on. Suppose Fritz had beaten the legend for the initial occasion, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was waiting in the next round, who he has yet to beat in an official match. And had he someway gotten past that, it would have been defending champion the Italian, against whom the American had dropped 10 of the previous eleven sets. The two young stars had also split the previous seven grand slams (and Alcaraz proceeded to thrash a tired Djokovic in the next round). He said in press following his defeat that he actually preferred his draw, because it presented the opportunity to defeat the three best competitors in the sport in succession. He is more than within his right to aim for the accomplishment; an competitor is supposed to have faith in themselves. But going into that Djokovic last eight match what other person sensibly had the lack of American champions in mind?

Fritz, twenty-eight, is placed number four in the global rankings entering this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has secured his last six encounters over No 3 Alexander Zverev with increasing ease. Presumably he could take that spot for himself in the future. But evidently that right now, that is as far as he can rise: Sinner and Alcaraz lie a vast gap of ranking points away. His top-class delivery and powerful strength on both forehand and backhand are more than enough to defeat the majority of opponents on the ATP tour. When facing the handful of generational talents, though, Fritz is frequently overmatched. The past few years has witnessed the curious rise of tall, gangly players who can nonetheless move around with the alarming quickness and grace of much shorter players. He is 6ft 5ins and looks it. His movement is stiff, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his limbs. So he’ll rarely win a rally that the other player was controlling, and hitting a soft shot against him is typically a reliable tactic. That acts as a pretty harsh limitation on his potential.

The American has made a number of significant, improbable improvements over the years. Early on of the decade, he was circling the bottom of the world's best thirty. 24 months later, he was sniffing the elite ten. Last year, he unexpectedly exploded to No 4 – and maintained the position. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and defeating legendary figures like the young Spaniard, Sinner, and even a declining Djokovic, is the highest of all. What could Fowler have been thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was worth mentioning the ongoing slump of US male players winning grand slams when he had departed the US Open in the quarter-finals? The desperation is simply too much and the respect for the magnitude of the challenge insufficient.

Fritz’s play in that very last eight match should have been enough of an indication. Djokovic won in four rounds, a win that only seemed tenuous for moments towards the very end, when the American had saved a couple championship opportunities and had a chance to maintain serve for 5-5. The pair looked evenly matched during the exchanges, with Fritz creating plenty of opportunities to win the opponent's serve. But Djokovic saved break point after service break opportunity, prolonging the streak to the brink of frustration. When he finally did convert one of the chances at 5-5 in the second set, he immediately produced a horrendous service game to lose his own serve again; Djokovic had lulled him into a skirmish secondary to the real battle and compelled him to expend far too much energy to win it. Facing set points in the last game, his primary delivery sailed to the sky. He extended the match two times on his backup delivery, but finally committed two errors. It was not a choke, in my opinion, only a consequence of having to hit an excessive number of weaker deliveries.

The match was fairly ironclad evidence that the American is insufficiently skilled to defeat any form of Djokovic, that lost to Alcaraz in the following match and did not particularly appeared like he believed he could win. This is perfectly acceptable – the Serbian is the greatest of all time, and may not be at the height of his physical powers anymore, but has developed enough experience and tactical know-how to compensate for quite a bit of the drop-off. The problem is the individuals who were expecting Fritz to win, and pressuring him to do so, when he was had not accomplished anything that suggested he would.

Fritz is an asset to the circuit regardless. He’s a calm, thoughtful presence in press conferences, more so than virtually anyone on the men's tour except for Daniil Medvedev, willing to not only express how he feels or the tactic he felt decided a match, but clarify it. That he ought to bear the brunt of the blame for the United States failing to spawn a men's grand slam winner since Andy Roddick feels unjust. (Since Ben Shelton is rubbing shoulders with him in the rankings, maybe they can share that burden.)

“I’d probably dwell on it indefinitely if I don’t do it,” Fritz told an interviewer in June of claiming a grand slam. It is hoped he understands that he’s not unsuccessful if he doesn’t fulfill that goal, that breaking through the Spanish and Italian's dominant, formidable empire is in fact highly unlikely for all other players. {