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I possess a few opinions regarding the comments delivered by the sports network commentator Chris Fowler following the Serbian champion's win over the American player during the New York major last eight. Look – Fritz is the United States, the commentator is from the US – and sports often lend themselves to nationalism. A little bit of disappointment was understandable. Instead, he brought up the continued absence of American men at grand slam tournaments: not one of them had lifted a trophy since Andy Roddick in 2003, and he had been the final representative in the tournament.

We all enjoy a storyline, myself included. But come on. Even if Fritz had beaten Djokovic for the first time, phenomenal talent Carlos Alcaraz was looming in the next round, whom he has never defeated in an official match. And if he’d someway survived that, it would have been defending champion Jannik Sinner, versus him the American had lost 10 of the last 11 sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also divided the previous seven major titles (and Alcaraz proceeded to thrash a tired Serbian in the subsequent match). He said in post-match interviews after the loss that he in fact liked his draw, because it presented the chance to beat the three best competitors in the sport in succession. He is more than within his right to aspire to the achievement; an athlete is supposed to believe in themselves. But entering that Serbian quarter-final who else in their right mind had the lack of American champions on the brain?

Coco Gauff’s weaker delivery the only thing standing in her way and sustained success

The American, 28, 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. It's likely he might take that spot for himself in the coming years. But evidently that right now, that’s as far as he can climb: The Italian and Spaniard lie a vast gap of performance metrics away. Fritz’s elite delivery and powerful power on each front side and reverse side are more than adequate to dispose of most rivals on the professional circuit. When facing the handful of generational talents, however, he is frequently helpless. The past few years has seen the interesting rise of lanky, towering athletes 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 limbs. So he seldom win a rally that the other player was dictating, and hitting a soft shot versus him is typically a reliable tactic. That acts as a pretty severe limitation on his potential.

The American has achieved 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 approaching the elite ten. The previous season, he suddenly surged to fourth place – and held the position. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and beating legendary figures like the young Spaniard, Sinner, and including a aging Djokovic, is the highest of all. What could the commentator have been thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a serious threat to beat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate commenting on the continuing slump of US male players winning major titles when Fritz had exited the New York major in the quarter-finals? The thirst is just excessive and the appreciation for the magnitude of the challenge insufficient.

Taylor Fritz achieved a career-best advancement to the All England Club semi-finals in July.

The American's performance in that very quarter-final should have been sufficient of an indication. The Serbian triumphed in four sets, a victory that only seemed tenuous for moments towards the very end, when Fritz had saved a couple match points and had a opportunity to maintain serve for 5-5. The pair looked evenly matched during the rallies, with Fritz earning numerous chances to break. But the champion saved break point after service break opportunity, prolonging the run to the point of agony. When Fritz finally did convert one of the opportunities at 5-5 in the second set, he immediately produced a horrendous game to drop serve once more; Djokovic had lulled him into a battle peripheral to the main contest and forced him to expend far too much effort to prevail. Down set points in the final game, his primary delivery sailed to heaven. He extended the contest two times on his second serve, but finally committed two errors. It wasn’t a choke, I didn’t think, just a result of having to hit too many second serves.

The match was fairly ironclad evidence that Fritz is insufficiently skilled to defeat any version of Djokovic, that was defeated by the Spaniard in the following match and did not especially seem like he believed he could triumph. This is absolutely acceptable – the Serbian is the best player ever, and may not be at the height of his athletic abilities now, but has developed sufficient experience and strategic intelligence to make up for quite a bit of the decline. The issue is the individuals who were anticipating Fritz to prevail, and pressuring him to achieve that, when he was yet to done anything that suggested he could.

The American is an asset to the circuit regardless. He’s a calm, thoughtful voice in press conferences, exceeding virtually anyone on the men's tour except for Daniil Medvedev, prepared to not just say his emotions or the tactic he believed decided a contest, but explain it. That he should shoulder the majority of the responsibility for the United States not produce a men's grand slam winner since Andy Roddick seems unfair. (Now that Ben Shelton is competing alongside him in the rankings, perhaps they can divide that burden.)

ATP Finals: Singles Groups

Jimmy Connors Division

• The Spanish phenom
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• The Australian speedster
• The Italian stylist

Bjorn Borg Division

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

“I’d probably think about it forever if I fail to accomplish it,” the American told an interviewer in June of winning a major. It is hoped he realizes that he’s not unsuccessful if he doesn’t achieve that goal, that breaking through Alcaraz and Sinner’s young, terrifying reign is in fact extremely unlikely for everybody else. {