US Men's Major Title Dry Spell Isn't Fritz's Burden to Bear

I have some opinions about the comments delivered by ESPN commentator a well-known announcer after the Serbian champion's win over the American player during the New York major quarter-finals. Consider – the athlete represents American, Fowler is American – and athletic competitions often lend themselves to nationalism. A little bit of letdown would have been appropriate. Instead, he invoked the ongoing drought of American men at grand slam tournaments: not one of them had lifted a title since Andy Roddick in 2003, and Fritz had been the last one standing in the tournament.

We all love a storyline, myself included. But come on. Even if the American defeated the legend for the first time, force of nature the Spanish star was looming in the following match, who he has yet to beat in an competitive encounter. And had he somehow gotten past that, it would have been title holder the Italian, versus him Fritz had lost 10 of the last 11 sets. The two young stars had also divided the previous 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 in fact preferred his path, because it presented the chance to beat the three best players in the sport back-to-back. Fritz is well justified to aim for the achievement; an competitor is supposed to believe in themselves. But going into that Serbian quarter-final what other person in their right mind had the drought of US winners on the brain?

Fritz, 28, is ranked number four in the world entering this week’s year-end championships and has secured his last six encounters over third-ranked Alexander Zverev with increasing ease. It's likely he could take that spot for himself in the future. But evidently that right now, that’s as far as he can climb: Sinner and Alcaraz lie a chasm of ranking points away. Fritz’s elite serve and powerful strength on each front side and backhand are sufficiently enough to defeat the majority of opponents on the professional circuit. Against the handful of once-in-a-lifetime players, though, he is frequently helpless. The last several years has witnessed the curious rise of tall, gangly athletes who can nonetheless cover the court with the alarming speed and fluidity of smaller men. Fritz is 6ft 5ins and looks it. His footwork is rigid, as if he hasn't fully adapted to his legs. So he seldom win a rally that the other player was controlling, and hitting a drop shot against him is usually a safe bet. That serves as a quite harsh limitation on his potential.

Fritz has achieved a several dramatic, improbable improvements over the years. Early on of the decade, he was hovering around the lower end of the top 30. Two years after, he was sniffing the elite ten. The previous season, he unexpectedly surged to fourth place – and held the position. But the next leap, mixing it up with and defeating legendary figures like Alcaraz, Sinner, and even a aging Serbian, is the toughest of all. What was Fowler have been thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a serious threat to beat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate mentioning the ongoing slump of American men lifting grand slams when he had departed the US Open in the quarter-finals? The thirst is simply too much and the appreciation for the difficulty of the task too little.

The American's performance in that exact quarter-final ought to have been sufficient of an indication. Djokovic won in four sets, a victory that only seemed uncertain for brief periods towards the conclusion, when Fritz had saved a few match points and had a chance to hold for 5-5. The pair looked well-balanced during the rallies, with the American earning plenty of opportunities to win the opponent's serve. But the champion rescued service break opportunity after service break opportunity, prolonging the run to the brink of agony. When Fritz finally did convert a single of the chances at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he immediately produced a horrendous service game to drop serve once more; the Serbian had lulled him into a skirmish peripheral to the main contest and compelled him to use excessive energy to prevail. Down set points in the final game, his primary delivery sailed to the sky. He extended the contest twice on his backup delivery, but ultimately double-faulted. It wasn’t a collapse, in my opinion, just a result of having to hit an excessive number of second serves.

The match was fairly compelling evidence that the American is insufficiently skilled to defeat any version of the Serbian, who was defeated by Alcaraz in the following match and did not especially appeared like he believed he could win. This is absolutely fine – the Serbian is the greatest of all time, and may not be at the peak of his physical powers anymore, but has developed sufficient knowledge and tactical know-how to compensate for a significant portion of the drop-off. The problem is those who were expecting Fritz to prevail, and pressuring him to do so, when he was yet to accomplished anything that indicated he could.

The American is an asset to the tour regardless. He’s a patient, reflective voice in press conferences, more so than virtually everyone on the men's tour aside from Daniil Medvedev, prepared to not just express his emotions or the strategy he believed decided a contest, but explain it. That he should shoulder the majority of the blame for America failing to spawn a male major champion since Andy Roddick feels unjust. (Since Ben Shelton is rubbing shoulders with him in the rankings, perhaps they can share that load.)

“I would likely 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 achieve that goal, that breaking through the Spanish and Italian's dominant, formidable empire is actually highly unlikely for everybody else. {