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I have a few opinions regarding that comments delivered by ESPN commentator a well-known announcer after the Serbian champion's win over Taylor Fritz during the New York major quarter-finals. Consider – Fritz is the United States, the commentator is American – and athletic competitions frequently encourage nationalism. A little bit of letdown would have been understandable. Instead, he invoked the ongoing absence of US male players at the majors: not one of them had lifted a trophy since Andy Roddick in 2003, and he had been the final representative in the competition.

We all enjoy a storyline, me too. But really. Even if the American had beaten Djokovic for the first time, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was looming in the next round, who Fritz has never defeated in an competitive encounter. And if he’d someway survived that, it would have been title holder the Italian, versus him Fritz had dropped 10 of the previous eleven sets. The two young stars had also divided the previous seven major titles (plus Alcaraz went on to thrash a tired Djokovic in the next round). Fritz said in press following his defeat that he in fact preferred his draw, because it offered the opportunity to defeat the top three players in the world in succession. He is well justified to aim for the achievement; an athlete is meant to believe in themselves. But going into that Djokovic quarter-final who else sensibly had the lack of US winners on the brain?

Coco Gauff’s weaker delivery the sole barrier between her and consistent victories

Fritz, 28, is ranked fourth in the world entering the upcoming ATP World Tour Finals and has secured his previous six matches over No 3 the German with growing comfort. It's likely he could claim that position for himself in the future. But evidently that right now, that’s as far as he can climb: The Italian and Spaniard lie a chasm of ranking points away. Fritz’s top-class serve and powerful power on both forehand and backhand are sufficiently enough to defeat the majority of rivals on the ATP tour. When facing the select few once-in-a-lifetime players, however, Fritz is often overmatched. The past few seasons has seen the interesting rise of lanky, towering players who can nevertheless move around with the surprising speed and grace of smaller men. He is 6ft 5ins and appears that way. His movement 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 hitting a soft shot against him is typically a safe bet. That acts as a quite severe limitation on his potential.

The American has made a number of dramatic, unexpected advancements over the years. At the beginning of the ten-year period, he was circling the bottom of the top 30. 24 months after, he was sniffing the elite ten. Last year, he suddenly exploded up to fourth place – and held the position. But the next leap, mixing it up with and defeating legendary figures like the young Spaniard, the Italian, and including a aging Serbian, is the toughest of all. What could the commentator thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a serious threat to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was worth commenting on the continuing drought of American men winning grand slams when Fritz had exited the US Open in the quarter-finals? The desperation is just excessive and the respect for the difficulty of the task insufficient.

Taylor Fritz achieved a career-best run to the Wimbledon semi-finals in the summer.

The American's performance in that very last eight match ought to have been sufficient of an indication. Djokovic triumphed in four sets, a win that only seemed uncertain for brief periods towards the very end, when the American had saved a couple championship opportunities and had a opportunity to hold for 5-5. The pair appeared evenly matched during the rallies, with Fritz creating numerous opportunities to break. But Djokovic rescued break point after break point, prolonging the streak to the point of agony. When Fritz finally did claim a single of the opportunities at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he immediately produced a horrendous service game to drop serve once more; Djokovic had lulled him into a battle secondary to the main contest and forced him to expend excessive effort to prevail. Facing set points in the last game, his primary delivery sailed to the sky. He prolonged the contest twice on his second serve, but finally committed two errors. It wasn’t a collapse, I didn’t think, just a result of needing to hit an excessive number of second serves.

The contest was quite compelling evidence that the American is insufficiently skilled to beat any form of the Serbian, who lost to Alcaraz in the next round and never particularly appeared like he believed he could win. This is absolutely acceptable – Djokovic is the greatest of all time, and might not be at the height of his physical powers anymore, but has developed sufficient knowledge and tactical know-how to compensate for quite a bit of the decline. The problem is those who were anticipating Fritz to prevail, and pressuring him to do so, when he was had not done anything that suggested he could.

The American is an valuable contributor to the circuit regardless. He’s a calm, thoughtful voice in press conferences, exceeding virtually anyone on the men's tour except for the Russian star, willing to not just express his emotions or the strategy he believed decided a contest, but clarify it. That he should shoulder the majority of the responsibility for America not spawn a men's grand slam winner since the last American titlist seems unfair. (Since the fellow American is rubbing shoulders with him in the rankings, perhaps they can share that load.)

ATP Finals: Singles Groups

American legend Group

• Carlos Alcaraz (Sp)
• Taylor Fritz (US)
• Alex de Minaur (Aus)
• Lorenzo Musetti (It)

Bjorn Borg Group

• Jannik Sinner (It)
• Alexander Zverev (Ger)
• The rising American
• The Canadian talent

“I would likely think about it indefinitely if I fail to accomplish it,” Fritz told a journalist in June of winning a grand slam. It is hoped he understands that he’s not unsuccessful if he does not fulfill that objective, that overcoming the Spanish and Italian's dominant, formidable empire is actually highly unlikely for everybody else. {