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I have a few thoughts regarding that remarks delivered by the sports network commentator Chris Fowler following Novak Djokovic's win over the American player during the New York major last eight. Look – the athlete represents American, Fowler is from the US – and athletic competitions often encourage patriotic sentiment. A little bit of disappointment was understandable. Rather, Fowler 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 last one standing in the competition.

Everyone love a narrative, myself included. But really. Suppose the American had beaten Djokovic for the initial occasion, force of nature the Spanish star was looming in the next round, whom he has yet to beat in an competitive encounter. And had he someway survived that, it would have been defending champion the Italian, against whom the American had dropped 10 of the previous eleven sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also divided the previous seven grand slams (and the Spaniard went on to defeat a tired Djokovic in the subsequent match). Fritz stated in post-match interviews after the loss that he in fact liked his draw, because it presented the opportunity to beat the top three players in the sport in succession. He is more than justified to aspire to the achievement; an athlete is supposed to have faith in themselves. But going into that Djokovic last eight match what other person in their right mind had the lack of US winners in mind?

The American star's second serve the sole barrier between her and sustained success

The American, 28, is ranked fourth in the global rankings starting this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has secured his last six matches over No 3 Alexander Zverev with growing comfort. Presumably he could take that spot for himself in the coming years. But it’s clear that right now, that is as far as he can rise: Sinner and Alcaraz lie a vast gap of ranking points away. His elite delivery and concussive power on both front side and backhand are sufficiently adequate to defeat the majority of rivals on the ATP tour. Against the handful of once-in-a-lifetime players, however, Fritz is often overmatched. The past few seasons has witnessed the curious rise of tall, gangly players who can nonetheless move around with the alarming speed and grace of much shorter players. Fritz is 6ft 5ins and looks it. His footwork is rigid, as if he’s still getting used to his legs. So he seldom win a rally that the other player was dictating, and playing a soft shot against him is typically a reliable tactic. That serves as a quite severe limitation on his upside.

Fritz has achieved a several significant, improbable improvements throughout his career. At the beginning of the decade, he was hovering around the bottom of the world's best thirty. Two years later, he was approaching the elite ten. Last year, he unexpectedly exploded up to No 4 – and maintained the position. But the subsequent step, competing against and defeating legendary figures like the young Spaniard, Sinner, and including a aging Serbian, is the highest of all. What could the commentator have been thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a serious threat to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate mentioning the ongoing drought of US male players lifting grand slams when he had departed the US Open in the quarter-finals? The desperation is simply too much and the respect for the difficulty of the task insufficient.

The American star achieved a career-best run to the Wimbledon last four in the summer.

The American's performance in that exact quarter-final ought to have been enough of an indication. The Serbian won in four rounds, a victory that only seemed tenuous for brief periods towards the very end, when Fritz had survived a couple match points and had a opportunity to hold for 5-5. The pair appeared well-balanced during the rallies, with Fritz creating numerous opportunities to break. But Djokovic rescued service break opportunity after service break opportunity, prolonging the run to the brink of agony. When Fritz eventually did claim one of the opportunities at 5-5 in the second set, he immediately played a terrible service game to lose his own serve again; Djokovic had lulled him into a skirmish peripheral to the main contest and forced him to expend far too much energy to win it. Facing set points in the final game, Fritz’s first serve sailed to heaven. He extended the match twice on his backup delivery, but finally committed two errors. It was not a choke, I didn’t think, just a result of having to hit too many weaker deliveries.

The match was fairly ironclad evidence that Fritz is not good enough to beat any version of Djokovic, that was defeated by the Spaniard in the next round and never particularly appeared like he thought he could win. This is perfectly 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 compensate for a significant portion of the drop-off. The problem is the individuals who were expecting the American to prevail, and putting pressure on him to achieve that, when he was yet to done anything that suggested he would.

Fritz is an valuable contributor to the tour nonetheless. He’s a patient, thoughtful presence in press conferences, more so than almost everyone on the men's tour except for the Russian star, prepared to not only say how he feels or the strategy he believed determined a contest, but explain it. That he should shoulder the majority of the responsibility for America 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, perhaps they can divide that load.)

Year-End Championships: Player Divisions

American legend Group

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

Bjorn Borg Division

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

“I would likely dwell on it indefinitely if I fail to do it,” the American told an interviewer in June of winning a grand slam. It is hoped he realizes that he’s not a failure if he doesn’t achieve that objective, that breaking through the Spanish and Italian's young, terrifying empire is in fact extremely unlikely for everybody else. {