Taylor Fritzs missed chance not solely to blame for US mens Grand Slam drought continuing

Jannik Sinner’s game was too big for Taylor Fritz and so, distressingly, was the moment.The drought without an American Grand Slam champion on the men’s side will bleed into a 22nd year when the calendar flips to 2025.The twin charge of Fritz and Frances Tiafoe to Friday’s emotional five-set, Red, White and Blue semifinal energized the Open after the early eliminations of Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz.

Possibilities piqued imaginations to the extent where the narrative likely diverted from reality.That was until Sunday when Sinner, the No.1 player in the world, was cold reality all wrapped up in himself in becoming the first Italian to win the Open with a routine 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 victory in which neither champion nor runner-up was close to the best version of himself.Sinner somehow won 86 percent of his first-serve points even while getting in only 51 percent of his first serves.

Sinner won the first set with seven winners and eight unforced errors.Fritz was broken three times in the first set.He was broken trying to stay in the first serve serving at 3-5; he was broken serving to stay in the second set at 4-5; he was broken serving for the third set at 5-4; and then two games later, he was broken serving to stay in the match at 5-6.This was an opportunity lost, not so much for the collective group of Americans who at least have featured four semifinal appearances in the last three Opens (Tiafoe in 2022 and 2024, Ben Shelton in 2023 and Fritz now) but for this 26-year-old who has been at it on the ATP Tour since 2015.Fritz knew it.

He knew he had not given himself his best shot of pulling the upset.The Californian improved his ranking from 12 to seven over the fortnight, coinciding with his best performance ever at a major, but this runner-up was not swilling the sweet smell of success.“There’s obviously a lot of positives, and when I get some time to cool down, you know, then I’ll be happy about the fact that I made it to the finals and stuff like ...