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I possess a few thoughts about that comments made by the sports network commentator a well-known announcer following Novak Djokovic's victory over Taylor Fritz during the New York major quarter-finals. Look – the athlete represents the United States, Fowler is American – and sports frequently encourage patriotic sentiment. A little bit of letdown would have been appropriate. Instead, he brought up the ongoing absence of American men at grand slam tournaments: not one of them has won a trophy since Andy Roddick in 2003, and Fritz had been the final representative in the competition.

Everyone enjoy a storyline, myself included. But come on. Even if the American defeated Djokovic for the first time, force of nature the Spanish star was looming in the next round, who he has yet to beat in an competitive encounter. And had he somehow survived that, it would have been defending champion Jannik Sinner, against whom Fritz had dropped 10 of the last 11 sets. The two young stars had also divided the previous seven major titles (plus the Spaniard proceeded to thrash a tired Serbian in the next round). Fritz said in post-match interviews after the loss that he actually preferred his draw, because it offered the chance to beat the three best competitors in the world in succession. Fritz is well within his right to aim for the achievement; an athlete is meant to have faith in themselves. But entering that Serbian quarter-final who else in their right mind had the lack of US winners in mind?

The American star's second serve the only thing between her and consistent victories

Fritz, 28, is ranked fourth in the world starting this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has secured his previous six encounters over No 3 Alexander Zverev with increasing ease. It's likely he could take that spot for himself in the coming years. But evidently that right now, that’s as high as he can climb: Sinner and Alcaraz lie a chasm of performance metrics away. His top-class serve and concussive power on each front side and backhand are sufficiently adequate to defeat the majority of rivals on the professional circuit. When facing the handful of once-in-a-lifetime players, however, Fritz is often helpless. The past few years has witnessed the interesting emergence of lanky, towering athletes who can nevertheless move around with the alarming speed 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 opponent was dictating, and playing a drop shot against him is typically a reliable tactic. That acts as a quite harsh restriction on his upside.

Fritz has achieved a number of significant, improbable advancements over the years. Early on of the decade, he was hovering around the bottom of the world's best thirty. Two years after, he was sniffing the elite ten. Last year, he unexpectedly surged up to No 4 – and held the spot. But the next leap, mixing it up with and beating legendary figures like the young Spaniard, Sinner, and including a declining Djokovic, is the highest of all. What could Fowler have been thinking? That Fritz, 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 Fritz had departed 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 Wimbledon semi-finals in the summer.

The American's play in that very quarter-final ought to have been sufficient of an indication. Djokovic won in four sets, a victory that only seemed tenuous for moments towards the very end, when Fritz had survived a couple match points and had a chance to hold for 5-5. The duo appeared evenly matched during the rallies, with Fritz earning numerous chances to win the opponent's serve. But Djokovic rescued break point after service break opportunity, extending the streak to the brink of frustration. When he finally did claim one of the chances at 5-5 in the second set, he immediately played a terrible service game to drop serve again; Djokovic had drawn him into a skirmish peripheral to the real battle and forced him to expend excessive effort to prevail. Facing set points in the final game, his primary delivery sailed to the sky. He prolonged the match two times on his second serve, but finally committed two errors. It wasn’t a collapse, I didn’t think, just a result of having to hit an excessive number of weaker deliveries.

The match was quite ironclad evidence that the American is not good enough to beat any form of Djokovic, that lost to Alcaraz in the next round and never particularly seem like he thought he could win. This is absolutely acceptable – Djokovic is the greatest of all time, and may not be at the height of his physical powers anymore, but has acquired sufficient experience and strategic intelligence to make up for quite a bit of the decline. The issue is those who were expecting the American to win, and putting pressure on him to achieve that, when he was yet to done anything that suggested he would.

The American is an asset to the tour regardless. He’s a patient, thoughtful voice in press conferences, exceeding almost everyone on the men's tour except for Daniil Medvedev, willing to not only express his emotions or the strategy he believed decided a match, but clarify it. That he should shoulder the majority of the responsibility for America failing to spawn a male major champion since Andy Roddick seems unjust. (Now that Ben Shelton is rubbing shoulders with him in the standings, maybe they can divide that load.)

Year-End Championships: Singles Groups

American legend Division

• The Spanish phenom
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• The Italian stylist

Bjorn Borg Division

• The Italian champion
• The German powerhouse
• The rising American
• The Canadian talent

“I’d probably think about it indefinitely if I fail to do it,” the American informed a journalist in the summer of winning a major. It is hoped he understands that he’s not unsuccessful if he doesn’t fulfill that objective, that overcoming the Spanish and Italian's young, terrifying empire is in fact extremely unlikely for all other players. {