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

I have some thoughts about that comments delivered by the sports network commentator Chris Fowler after the Serbian champion's victory over Taylor Fritz during the New York major last eight. Look – the athlete represents the United States, Fowler is American – and athletic competitions frequently encourage patriotic sentiment. A little bit of disappointment would have been understandable. Rather, he brought up the ongoing drought of US male players at grand slam tournaments: none of them had lifted a trophy since the last American champion in 2003, and he had been the final representative in the tournament.

Everyone love a narrative, me too. But really. Even if the American had beaten the legend for the first time, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was waiting in the next round, whom he has yet to beat in an official match. And had he someway gotten past that, it would have been title holder Jannik Sinner, versus him Fritz had dropped 10 of the previous eleven sets. The two young stars had also divided the last seven major titles (and the Spaniard proceeded to thrash a fatigued Serbian in the next round). Fritz stated in press after the loss that he in fact liked his draw, because it presented the opportunity to beat the three best competitors in the sport in succession. Fritz is well justified to aspire to the achievement; an athlete is supposed to have faith in themselves. But entering that Serbian quarter-final who else sensibly had the drought of American champions on the brain?

Fritz, 28, is ranked fourth in the global rankings entering this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has won his last six encounters over third-ranked the German with increasing ease. Presumably he could take that spot for himself in the future. But evidently that right now, that’s as far as he can rise: The Italian and Spaniard sit a vast gap of ranking points away. His top-class serve and concussive power on each forehand and reverse side are sufficiently enough to defeat most rivals on the professional circuit. When facing the handful of generational talents, however, Fritz is frequently overmatched. The past few seasons has witnessed the interesting emergence of lanky, towering players who can nonetheless cover the court with the alarming quickness and fluidity of smaller men. Fritz is 6ft 5ins and looks it. His footwork is rigid, as if he’s still getting used to his legs. So he’ll rarely win a rally that the opponent was dictating, and hitting a drop shot against him is usually a reliable tactic. That serves as a quite severe restriction on his upside.

Fritz has achieved a number of significant, 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 approaching the top 10. Last year, he unexpectedly exploded up to fourth place – and maintained the spot. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and defeating all-time-greats like the young Spaniard, Sinner, and even a aging Serbian, is the toughest of all. What was the commentator thinking? That Fritz, in 2025, was a serious threat to defeat them all back-to-back? That it was worth mentioning the ongoing slump of US male players winning major titles when Fritz had exited the New York major in the quarter-finals? The desperation is simply excessive and the appreciation for the difficulty of the challenge too little.

The American's play in that very last eight match ought to have been enough of an sign. Djokovic won in four sets, a win that only seemed tenuous for brief periods towards the conclusion, when Fritz had survived a couple match points and had a opportunity to hold for 5-5. The pair appeared well-balanced during the exchanges, with Fritz earning numerous chances to break. But Djokovic saved break point after service break opportunity, extending the streak to the brink of agony. When he finally did claim a single of the chances at 5-5 in the middle stanza, he immediately produced a horrendous game to lose his own serve again; Djokovic had drawn him into a battle peripheral to the main contest and forced him to expend far too much energy to win it. Facing set points in the last game, Fritz’s primary delivery floated to the sky. He prolonged the match twice on his second serve, but finally committed two errors. It wasn’t a collapse, I didn’t think, only a consequence of needing to hit too many weaker deliveries.

The match was fairly ironclad proof that the American is insufficiently skilled to beat any form of Djokovic, that was defeated by the Spaniard in the following match and did not particularly seem like he believed he could win. This is perfectly fine – Djokovic is the greatest of all time, and might not be at the height of his physical powers anymore, but has acquired enough knowledge and strategic intelligence to compensate for a significant portion of the decline. The problem is those who were expecting the American to win, and pressuring him to do so, when he was yet to done anything that indicated he could.

The American is an asset to the circuit regardless. He’s a calm, reflective presence in press conferences, exceeding virtually everyone on the ATP except for the Russian star, willing to not just express how he feels or the tactic he felt determined a contest, but explain it. That he should bear the brunt of the blame for America not produce a male major champion since the last American titlist feels unfair. (Since the fellow American is competing alongside him in the standings, maybe they can share that burden.)

“I’d probably think about it indefinitely if I don’t accomplish it,” Fritz informed a journalist in June of winning a grand slam. It is hoped he understands that he’s not unsuccessful if he does not achieve that objective, that breaking through the Spanish and Italian's dominant, formidable empire is actually extremely unlikely for all other players. {