American Men's Grand Slam Drought Is Not Taylor Fritz's Burden to Carry

I have some opinions regarding the comments delivered by the sports network commentator Chris Fowler after the Serbian champion's win over the American player during the US Open last eight. Consider – Fritz is American, Fowler is American – and athletic competitions frequently encourage patriotic sentiment. A little bit of letdown would have been appropriate. Instead, he brought up the continued drought of US male players at the majors: none of them had lifted a title since the last American champion in 2003, and he had been the final representative in the competition.

We all enjoy a narrative, me too. But really. Suppose the American had beaten Djokovic for the first time, phenomenal talent the Spanish star was looming in the following match, whom Fritz has yet to beat in an official match. And had he someway survived that, it would have been defending champion the Italian, against whom the American had dropped 10 of the last 11 sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also split the previous seven grand slams (and Alcaraz went on to thrash a fatigued Serbian in the next round). He said in press after the loss that he actually liked his path, because it offered the chance to defeat the top three players in the sport back-to-back. Fritz is more than justified to aim for the achievement; an athlete is supposed to believe in themselves. But going into that Djokovic quarter-final who else sensibly had the lack of US winners in mind?

Fritz, twenty-eight, is placed fourth in the global rankings starting this week’s year-end championships and has won his previous six matches over No 3 the German with increasing ease. Presumably he could take that spot for himself in the future. But evidently that at present, that is as far as he can rise: The Italian and Spaniard lie a vast gap of performance metrics away. His elite serve and concussive strength on both front side and reverse side are sufficiently adequate to dispose of the majority of opponents on the ATP tour. Against the handful of once-in-a-lifetime players, however, he is frequently helpless. The last several seasons has witnessed the curious rise of lanky, towering athletes who can nevertheless move around with the alarming quickness and fluidity of smaller players. Fritz is 6ft 5ins and looks it. His footwork is stiff, as if he’s still getting used to his limbs. So he seldom steal a point that the opponent was controlling, and hitting a drop shot versus him is usually a safe bet. That serves as a quite harsh limitation on his upside.

The American has made a several dramatic, improbable improvements throughout his career. At the beginning of the ten-year period, he was circling the bottom of the top 30. 24 months later, he was approaching the elite ten. Last year, he unexpectedly surged up to fourth place – and maintained the spot. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and defeating legendary figures like the young Spaniard, the Italian, and including a declining Serbian, is the toughest of all. What was Fowler thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to beat them all back-to-back? That it was appropriate mentioning the continuing drought of US male players winning major titles when he had departed the New York major in the quarter-finals? The thirst is simply too much and the appreciation for the magnitude of the task too little.

The American's play in that exact quarter-final ought to have been sufficient of an sign. The Serbian triumphed in four sets, a win that only felt uncertain for brief periods towards the very end, when Fritz had survived a couple match points and had a opportunity to hold for 5-5. The pair looked evenly matched during the rallies, with Fritz creating plenty of chances to break. But the champion rescued break point after break point, prolonging the run to the brink of frustration. When Fritz finally did convert a single of the opportunities at 5-5 in the second set, he promptly played a horrendous service game to drop serve again; Djokovic had drawn him into a battle peripheral to the main contest and forced him to expend excessive effort to prevail. Facing match points in the final game, his first serve sailed to heaven. He prolonged the match two times on his backup delivery, but ultimately double-faulted. It wasn’t a collapse, I didn’t think, just a consequence of having to hit an excessive number of second serves.

The match was fairly ironclad evidence that the American is insufficiently skilled to beat any version of Djokovic, that lost to Alcaraz in the following match and never especially appeared like he believed he could win. This is perfectly acceptable – the Serbian is the best player ever, and might not be at the height of his athletic abilities anymore, but has developed enough experience and strategic intelligence to make up for quite a bit of the decline. The problem is the individuals who were anticipating the American to prevail, and pressuring him to do so, when he was yet to done anything that suggested he would.

Fritz is an asset to the tour regardless. He’s a calm, thoughtful presence in press conferences, exceeding virtually anyone on the ATP except for the Russian star, willing to not just say his emotions or the tactic he felt determined a match, but explain it. That he ought to shoulder the majority of the blame for the United States failing to produce a men's grand slam winner since Andy Roddick feels unjust. (Since Ben Shelton is rubbing shoulders with him in the rankings, perhaps they can share that burden.)

“I would likely dwell on it indefinitely if I fail to accomplish it,” Fritz informed an interviewer in the summer of claiming a major. It is hoped he understands that he’s not a failure if he does not fulfill that goal, that breaking through Alcaraz and Sinner’s young, terrifying reign is in fact extremely unlikely for all other players. {