American Male Grand Slam Dry Spell Is Not Fritz's Responsibility to Bear

I have a few opinions about the remarks delivered by the sports network broadcaster a well-known announcer after the Serbian champion's victory over the American player during the New York major last eight. Consider – Fritz is American, Fowler is from the US – and sports often encourage nationalism. A little bit of disappointment would have been understandable. Instead, he invoked the continued absence of American men at the majors: not one of them had lifted a title since Andy Roddick in 2003, and he had been the last one standing in the tournament.

Everyone enjoy a narrative, myself included. But come on. Even if Fritz had beaten Djokovic for the initial occasion, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was looming in the next round, whom Fritz has never defeated in an official match. And if he’d somehow gotten past that, it would have been title holder the Italian, versus him Fritz had dropped 10 of the last 11 sets. The two young stars had also divided the last seven grand slams (plus Alcaraz went on to thrash a fatigued Serbian in the subsequent match). He stated in post-match interviews after the loss that he actually liked his path, because it presented the chance to defeat the top three players in the world back-to-back. He is well within his right to aspire to the achievement; an athlete is meant to believe in themselves. But going into that Serbian quarter-final who else in their right mind had the lack of American champions on the brain?

The American, 28, is placed number four in the global rankings entering the upcoming ATP World Tour Finals and has secured his previous six encounters over No 3 the German with increasing ease. It's likely he could claim that position for himself in the coming years. But it’s clear that at present, that is as far as he can rise: The Italian and Spaniard lie a chasm of performance metrics away. Fritz’s elite delivery and concussive strength on both front side and backhand are sufficiently adequate to dispose of most rivals on the ATP tour. Against the handful of once-in-a-lifetime players, though, Fritz is often overmatched. The past few seasons has seen the interesting emergence of lanky, towering athletes who can nonetheless move around with the alarming speed and grace of smaller players. He is six-foot-five and looks it. His footwork is rigid, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his limbs. So he seldom win a rally that the other player was controlling, and playing a soft shot against him is usually a safe bet. That serves as a quite harsh restriction on his potential.

Fritz has made a several dramatic, improbable advancements over the years. At the beginning of the decade, he was circling the lower end of the world's best thirty. 24 months later, he was sniffing the elite ten. The previous season, he unexpectedly exploded to No 4 – and held the spot. But the next leap, mixing it up with and beating legendary figures like the young Spaniard, the Italian, and including a aging Djokovic, is the highest of all. What was the commentator have been thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a serious threat to beat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate mentioning the continuing slump of US male players winning major titles when he had exited the US Open in the quarter-finals? The desperation is simply too much and the appreciation for the magnitude of the challenge insufficient.

The American's play in that very last eight match ought to have been sufficient of an sign. The Serbian won in four sets, a win that only seemed uncertain for brief periods towards the very end, when Fritz had saved a few championship opportunities and had a chance to hold for 5-5. The pair looked well-balanced during the exchanges, with Fritz creating plenty of chances to break. But Djokovic rescued service break opportunity after service break opportunity, prolonging the run to the point of agony. When he eventually did convert one of the chances at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he immediately played a horrendous service game to lose his own serve again; Djokovic had lulled him into a battle secondary to the main contest and compelled him to use far too much energy to win it. Down match points in the last game, Fritz’s primary delivery floated to heaven. He extended the contest twice on his backup delivery, but ultimately committed two errors. It wasn’t a collapse, I didn’t think, only a consequence of having to hit too many weaker deliveries.

The match was fairly ironclad proof that Fritz is not good enough to beat any version of the Serbian, who lost to the Spaniard in the next round and never particularly appeared like he believed he could win. This is perfectly acceptable – Djokovic is the best player ever, and might not be at the peak of his physical powers now, but has developed enough knowledge and tactical know-how to compensate for a significant portion of the drop-off. The issue is those who were expecting Fritz to win, and pressuring him to do so, when he was had not accomplished anything that indicated he would.

The American is an valuable contributor to the circuit nonetheless. He’s a calm, reflective voice in media sessions, more so than almost anyone on the men's tour except for the Russian star, willing to not just say his emotions or the tactic he believed decided a match, but clarify it. That he should shoulder the majority of the blame for the United States failing to produce a men's grand slam winner since Andy Roddick seems unjust. (Now that Ben Shelton is competing alongside him in the standings, maybe they can divide that load.)

“I would likely dwell on it forever if I don’t accomplish it,” the American told a journalist in June of winning a grand slam. I hope he realizes that he’s not unsuccessful if he doesn’t fulfill that objective, that overcoming Alcaraz and Sinner’s young, terrifying empire is in fact highly unlikely for everybody else. {