The US Open begins Monday and defending champions Coco Gauff and Novak Djokovic are each within the draw. However are both of them the favourite, with Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek and so many others within the combine? We requested our specialists:
Who will win the ladies’s singles title, and why?
Invoice Connelly: This can be a unusual draw. So lots of the greatest gamers are both battling tough patches of kind or coming off of accidents. Granted, “failing to win three tournaments in a row (whereas nonetheless successful 10 matches in them)” is what constitutes a tough patch for Swiatek, however her complete loss to Sabalenka within the Cincinnati semifinals made me suppose perhaps Sabalenka is the participant to beat.
Sabalenka rolled by way of 4 top-30 opponents with out dropping a set, and he or she not solely beat Swiatek 6-3, 6-3, she dominated. She created 15 break factors to Swiatek’s six, she broke serve in 5 of 9 Swiatek service video games, and whereas her serve wasn’t 100%, it was greater than adequate.
Sabalenka’s draw’s not precisely a simple activity, but when Madison Keys (her potential fourth-round opponent) is not 100% wholesome, she won’t get a robust take a look at till the quarterfinals. A good draw for a three-time semifinalist (and one-time finalist) who’s additionally probably the most in-form of the elite gamers? That looks as if a very good mixture.
Tom Hamilton: Sabalenka. And this shall be a Sabalenka who’s fired up after her current batch of bodily setbacks. She misplaced within the quarterfinals of Roland Garros to Mirra Andreeva whereas struggling with an sickness, then was pressured to withdraw from Wimbledon with a shoulder harm she picked up in Berlin after which stepped away from the Paris Olympics as she did not need to transition again to clay. So it is full steam forward for Sabalenka on the laborious courtroom, and having taken the Australian Open earlier this yr on the identical floor, she’ll look to overcome New York.
D’Arcy Maine: OK, positive, I agree that Sabalenka is totally the favourite at this level, and for good purpose, however I will go together with Swiatek. Clearly disenchanted by her bronze medal end in Paris and sure motivated by that and her semifinal loss to Sabalenka in Cincinnati, it is laborious to suppose she will not be on a mission to avenge the previous few months and will very a lot win main title No. 6 within the course of. Her path to the ultimate actually has its challenges — with Andreeva probably awaiting within the fourth spherical, Pegula or Danielle Collins as probably quarterfinal opponents and Elena Rybakina or her famous nemesis Jelena Ostapenko (who has received all 4 of the earlier matches) within the semifinals — however it actually appears doable for Swiatek. To not point out, when Swiatek is locked in and completely centered, nicely, be careful everybody else. She is sort of not possible to beat and, having received the title in 2022, is aware of precisely what it takes to hoist the trophy.
Who will win the lads’s singles title, and why?
Connelly: I feel Djokovic’s going to do it once more. He is on the alternative aspect of the bracket as Sinner, Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev; it is almost as nice a draw as what he had at Wimbledon, when he made the finals with one knee. He is had extra restoration time, and after successful the Olympic gold medal — over Alcaraz, no much less, simply weeks after Alcaraz blew him out within the Wimbledon closing — Djokovic is prone to play free and assured.
That is as easy a highway as Djokovic may have requested for, and with Sinner trying lower than 100% and Alcaraz short-circuiting in his lone hard-court tuneup, Djokovic may be probably the most in-form of the highest gamers too. Right here comes Slam title No. 25?
Hamilton: Djokovic is in a superb place to win his twenty fifth Grand Slam. The draw has opened superbly for him, and having develop into simply the fifth participant in singles to safe the Golden Slam after successful the lads’s singles in Paris, count on this to return on the excellent time for a revitalized Djokovic. He is accomplished one in all his final profession objectives and now comes the mission to increase his tally of Slams within the males’s singles. Alcaraz has seemed a bit bit off just lately — and uncharacteristically rattled in Cincinnati — whereas Sinner has had his off-court distractions.
Djokovic has received right here 4 instances earlier than, and are available Sept. 8, he ought to be lifting the US Open trophy once more.
Maine: This query is significantly tougher for me to reply at the moment than it was only a few days in the past. As I watched Sinner’s run in Cincinnati — through which he defeated Andrey Rublev, Alexander Zverev and Frances Tiafoe in three consecutive days to say the title — I felt assured the US Open was his to win. Nevertheless, as he now finds himself dealing with scrutiny and questions (and perhaps even some heckles and jeers from the New York crowd) as a result of revelation that he had twice examined optimistic for a banned substance in March, I am merely undecided how he’ll have the ability to fare mentally.
If he is in a position to stay centered and play the identical degree he did in Cincinnati, he actually can win all of it however there are just too many “what its” for me at this level to really feel satisfied of that. As an alternative, I will take Alcaraz, who may be taking part in with a slight chip on his shoulder after the Olympics and his (transient) begin to the hard-court season. He thrives on the New York power and has confirmed simply how good he’s in best-of-five environments and when main titles are on the road.
