American Male Major Title Dry Spell Is Not Fritz's Burden to Bear

I have a few opinions about that remarks delivered by the sports network commentator a well-known announcer after Novak Djokovic's victory over the American player in the US Open quarter-finals. Look – Fritz is American, the commentator is American – and sports often encourage nationalism. A little bit of disappointment would have been understandable. Rather, he brought up the continued drought of US male players at the majors: not one of them had lifted a trophy since Andy Roddick in 2003, and Fritz had been the final representative in the competition.

We all enjoy a storyline, myself included. But come on. Suppose Fritz had beaten Djokovic for the first time, phenomenal talent the Spanish star was looming in the next round, whom Fritz has yet to beat in an competitive encounter. And if he’d somehow survived that, it would have been defending champion the Italian, against whom Fritz had dropped 10 of the previous eleven sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also divided the last seven major titles (and Alcaraz went on to thrash a tired Serbian in the subsequent match). Fritz said in post-match interviews following his defeat that he actually preferred his path, because it offered the chance to defeat the top three competitors in the sport in succession. He is more than justified to aspire to the accomplishment; an competitor is supposed to believe in themselves. But entering that Serbian last eight match who else sensibly had the drought of US winners in mind?

Fritz, twenty-eight, is ranked number four in the world starting this week’s ATP World Tour Finals and has secured his last six matches over third-ranked Alexander Zverev with growing comfort. Presumably he could claim that position for himself in the future. But evidently that right now, that is as high as he can rise: Sinner and Alcaraz sit a vast gap of performance metrics away. Fritz’s top-class delivery and powerful strength on both forehand and reverse side are more than enough to defeat most rivals on the professional circuit. When facing the select few once-in-a-lifetime players, though, Fritz is frequently overmatched. The last several seasons has seen the interesting emergence of tall, gangly players who can nonetheless cover the court with the alarming quickness and grace of smaller players. Fritz is six-foot-five and looks it. His footwork is stiff, as if he’s still getting used to his limbs. So he seldom win a rally that the other player was controlling, and playing a drop shot against him is usually a reliable tactic. That acts as a pretty severe limitation on his potential.

Fritz has made a several significant, improbable advancements over the years. At the beginning of the decade, he was hovering around the bottom of the top 30. Two years later, he was approaching the elite ten. The previous season, he unexpectedly exploded up to fourth place – and maintained the spot. But the subsequent step, mixing it up with and defeating legendary figures like the young Spaniard, Sinner, and even a aging Serbian, is the highest of all. What was Fowler thinking? That the American, in 2025, was a legitimate contender to beat them all back-to-back? That it was worth mentioning the continuing slump of US male players winning grand slams when Fritz had exited the US Open in the quarter-finals? The thirst is just excessive and the appreciation for the difficulty of the challenge too little.

Fritz’s performance in that very last eight match should have been enough of an indication. Djokovic won in four sets, a win that only seemed uncertain for brief periods towards the conclusion, when Fritz had saved a couple championship opportunities and had a chance to hold for 5-5. The duo looked evenly matched during the exchanges, with the American earning plenty of opportunities to break. But the champion saved service break opportunity after service break opportunity, prolonging the run to the point of agony. When he eventually did claim one of the opportunities at 5-5 in the second set, he immediately produced a terrible game to lose his own serve once more; Djokovic had lulled him into a skirmish peripheral to the real battle and compelled him to expend far too much energy to prevail. Facing match points in the final game, his first serve sailed to heaven. He prolonged the match two times on his second serve, but ultimately committed two errors. It was not a choke, in my opinion, only a consequence of having to hit an excessive number of second serves.

The contest was fairly compelling proof that Fritz is insufficiently skilled to defeat any version of the Serbian, that lost to the Spaniard in the next round and did not particularly appeared like he believed he could win. This is perfectly fine – the Serbian is the greatest of all time, and might not be at the height of his physical powers now, but has developed enough experience and strategic intelligence to compensate for quite a bit of the drop-off. The problem is those who were anticipating the American to prevail, and pressuring him to do so, when he was yet to accomplished anything that suggested he could.

The American is an valuable contributor to the circuit regardless. He’s a calm, reflective presence in media sessions, exceeding almost anyone on the men's tour except for the Russian star, prepared to not just say how he feels or the strategy he felt decided a match, but clarify it. That he should bear the brunt of the responsibility for America failing to spawn a male major champion since the last American titlist feels unjust. (Since Ben Shelton is rubbing shoulders with him in the rankings, perhaps they can divide that burden.)

“I would likely dwell on it indefinitely if I fail to accomplish it,” the American informed a journalist in June of claiming a major. I hope he realizes that he’s not unsuccessful if he doesn’t achieve that objective, that overcoming the Spanish and Italian's dominant, formidable empire is in fact highly unlikely for all other players. {