US Male Major Title Dry Spell Isn't Taylor Fritz's Responsibility to Bear

I possess some opinions regarding the comments made by the sports network broadcaster Chris Fowler following Novak Djokovic's win over Taylor Fritz during the US Open last eight. Look – Fritz is the United States, Fowler is American – and athletic competitions often lend themselves to nationalism. A little bit of disappointment would have been appropriate. Instead, Fowler invoked the ongoing absence of US male players at grand slam tournaments: not one of them had lifted a trophy since Andy Roddick in 2003, and Fritz had been the last one standing in the competition.

We all love a storyline, myself included. But come on. Even if the American had beaten the legend for the first time, phenomenal talent the Spanish star was looming in the next round, who Fritz has never defeated in an competitive encounter. And had he someway gotten past that, it would have been title holder Jannik Sinner, versus him Fritz had dropped 10 of the last 11 sets. The two young stars had also split the last seven major titles (and the Spaniard went on to defeat a fatigued Djokovic in the next round). He stated in press after the loss that he actually preferred his path, because it presented the opportunity to beat the top three competitors in the world back-to-back. Fritz is more than justified to aspire to the accomplishment; an competitor is meant to have faith in themselves. But entering that Djokovic last eight match who else sensibly had the lack of American champions on the brain?

Fritz, 28, is ranked number four in the world starting 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 claim that position for himself in the coming years. But it’s clear that right now, that’s as high as he can rise: The Italian and Spaniard lie a vast gap of ranking points away. His top-class delivery and powerful strength on each front side and backhand are sufficiently adequate to dispose of the majority of opponents on the ATP tour. Against the handful of once-in-a-lifetime players, however, Fritz is often overmatched. The last several years has seen the curious emergence of lanky, towering players who can nonetheless move around with the alarming quickness and fluidity of smaller men. He is 6ft 5ins and looks it. His movement is rigid, as if he’s still getting used to his legs. So he’ll rarely win a rally that the other player was controlling, and playing a drop shot against him is typically a safe bet. That serves as a quite severe restriction on his upside.

Fritz has made a several dramatic, unexpected advancements over the years. At the beginning of the ten-year period, he was circling the lower end of the top 30. 24 months later, he was sniffing the elite ten. The previous season, he unexpectedly surged up to No 4 – and held the position. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and defeating all-time-greats like Alcaraz, Sinner, and including a declining Djokovic, is the highest of all. What could the commentator thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to beat them all back-to-back? That it was worth commenting on the ongoing drought of US male players winning major titles when Fritz had departed the US Open in the quarter-finals? The desperation is just too much and the respect for the difficulty of the challenge insufficient.

The American's play in that exact last eight match should have been enough of an indication. Djokovic won in four rounds, a victory that only felt tenuous for moments towards the very end, when Fritz had saved a couple match points and had a opportunity to hold for 5-5. The pair appeared evenly matched during the exchanges, with Fritz creating numerous chances to win the opponent's serve. But the champion saved service break opportunity after service break opportunity, extending the streak to the brink of agony. When he finally did claim one of the opportunities at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he promptly played a terrible game to drop serve once more; Djokovic had lulled him into a battle peripheral to the main contest and compelled him to expend far too much effort to win it. Facing set points in the last game, his first serve floated to heaven. He extended the contest two times on his second serve, but finally double-faulted. It wasn’t a choke, I didn’t think, only a result of having to hit an excessive number of second serves.

The contest was quite ironclad proof that Fritz is not good enough to beat any form of Djokovic, who lost to the Spaniard in the next round and did not especially seem like he believed he could triumph. This is absolutely acceptable – the Serbian is the greatest of all time, and might not be at the height of his athletic abilities now, but has acquired enough knowledge and strategic intelligence to make up for a significant portion of the decline. The issue is those who were expecting Fritz to win, and putting pressure on him to achieve that, when he was yet to accomplished anything that indicated 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 Daniil Medvedev, willing to not just express how he feels or the tactic he believed decided a contest, but clarify it. That he should bear the brunt of the blame for America not produce a men's grand slam winner since Andy Roddick seems unjust. (Since the fellow American is rubbing shoulders with him in the standings, maybe they can divide that load.)

“I’d probably think about it indefinitely if I fail to accomplish it,” the American informed an interviewer in the summer of winning a grand slam. It is hoped he realizes that he’s not unsuccessful if he does not fulfill that goal, that breaking through the Spanish and Italian's dominant, formidable empire is in fact extremely improbable for all other players. {