US Men's Major Title Drought Is Not Fritz's Burden to Carry

I possess some opinions regarding that remarks made by the sports network broadcaster a well-known announcer following Novak Djokovic's victory over the American player in the US Open last eight. Consider – Fritz is American, Fowler is from the US – and athletic competitions frequently encourage patriotic sentiment. Some disappointment would have been understandable. Instead, Fowler brought up the continued drought of American men at grand slam tournaments: none of them has won a title since the last American champion in 2003, and he had been the final representative in the competition.

Everyone enjoy a storyline, me too. But really. Suppose the American had beaten the legend for the initial occasion, phenomenal talent the Spanish star was waiting in the following match, who Fritz has never defeated in an official match. And had he someway survived that, it would have been title holder Jannik Sinner, against whom the American had lost 10 of the last 11 sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also split the previous seven grand slams (and Alcaraz went on to defeat a fatigued Serbian in the subsequent match). He stated in post-match interviews following his defeat that he in fact liked his draw, because it offered the chance to beat the top three competitors in the sport in succession. Fritz is well justified to aspire to the accomplishment; an athlete is supposed to believe in themselves. But going into that Djokovic last eight match who else sensibly had the lack of US winners on the brain?

The American, 28, is ranked fourth in the world starting the upcoming ATP World Tour Finals and has secured his last six matches over third-ranked the German with increasing ease. Presumably he might claim that position for himself in the future. But evidently that right now, that’s as high as he can climb: The Italian and Spaniard lie a vast gap of ranking points away. His elite serve and powerful power on both front side and backhand are sufficiently adequate to defeat most rivals on the professional circuit. When facing the select few once-in-a-lifetime players, though, he is frequently overmatched. The past few seasons has seen the curious rise of lanky, towering athletes who can nonetheless move around with the alarming quickness and fluidity of much shorter men. Fritz is 6ft 5ins and appears that way. His movement is stiff, as if he’s still getting used to his limbs. So he’ll rarely win a rally that the other player was dictating, and playing a drop shot versus him is usually a reliable tactic. That serves as a pretty harsh restriction on his potential.

Fritz has made a several dramatic, unexpected improvements over the years. Early on of the decade, he was circling the lower end of the top 30. Two years after, he was sniffing the top 10. The previous season, he unexpectedly exploded up to No 4 – and maintained the position. But the next leap, competing against and defeating all-time-greats like the young Spaniard, the Italian, and including a aging Serbian, is the toughest of all. What could Fowler thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was worth commenting on the ongoing drought of American men winning major titles when Fritz had departed the New York major in the quarter-finals? The desperation is just excessive and the appreciation for the difficulty of the task insufficient.

Fritz’s play in that very quarter-final should have been sufficient of an sign. The Serbian triumphed in four rounds, a win that only felt uncertain for moments towards the very end, when the American had saved a few championship opportunities and had a opportunity to maintain serve for 5-5. The pair appeared evenly matched during the exchanges, with the American earning plenty of chances to break. But Djokovic rescued service break opportunity after break point, prolonging the streak to the point of frustration. When Fritz finally did claim a single of the opportunities at 5-5 in the second set, he promptly played a terrible service game to drop serve once more; Djokovic had drawn him into a battle secondary to the main contest and compelled him to use far too much energy to prevail. Down match points in the final game, Fritz’s primary delivery sailed to heaven. He extended the contest two times on his backup delivery, but finally double-faulted. It was not a collapse, I didn’t think, only a consequence of needing to hit an excessive number of weaker deliveries.

The contest was fairly ironclad evidence that the American is not good enough to defeat any version of the Serbian, that was defeated by the Spaniard in the following match and never especially appeared like he thought he could triumph. This is perfectly fine – the Serbian is the greatest of all time, and might not be at the height of his athletic abilities anymore, but has acquired enough knowledge and tactical know-how to make up for a significant portion of the drop-off. The issue is the individuals who were expecting Fritz to win, and pressuring him to achieve that, when he was had not accomplished anything that suggested he could.

Fritz is an asset to the tour regardless. He’s a calm, thoughtful presence in press conferences, more so than virtually everyone on the ATP except for Daniil Medvedev, willing to not just say how he feels or the strategy he believed decided a match, but explain it. That he ought to shoulder the majority of the blame for the United States not spawn a male major champion since Andy Roddick seems unjust. (Now that Ben Shelton is rubbing shoulders with him in the rankings, maybe they can divide that load.)

“I would likely dwell on it forever if I fail to accomplish it,” the American told an interviewer in June of claiming a major. It is hoped he realizes that he’s not a failure if he doesn’t fulfill that objective, that breaking through Alcaraz and Sinner’s young, terrifying empire is actually extremely improbable for everybody else. {