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: It is a unusual draw. So most of the finest gamers are both battling tough patches of kind or coming off of accidents. Granted, “failing to win three tournaments in a row (whereas nonetheless profitable 10 matches in them)” is what constitutes a tough patch for Swiatek, however her complete loss to Sabalenka within the Cincinnati semifinals made me assume perhaps Sabalenka is the participant to beat.
Sabalenka rolled by means of 4 top-30 opponents with out dropping a set, and she or he 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 ok.
Sabalenka’s draw’s not precisely a straightforward activity, but when Madison Keys (her potential fourth-round opponent) is not 100% wholesome, she won’t get a powerful check till the quarterfinals. A good draw for a three-time semifinalist (and one-time finalist) who’s additionally essentially the most in-form of the elite gamers? That looks as if a superb mixture.
Tom Hamilton: Sabalenka. And this will likely be a Sabalenka who’s fired up after her latest 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 wish to transition again to clay. So it is full steam forward for Sabalenka on the laborious court docket, 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 upset by her bronze medal end in Paris and sure motivated by that and her semifinal loss to Sabalenka in Cincinnati, it is laborious to assume 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 seemingly quarterfinal opponents and Elena Rybakina or her famous nemesis Jelena Ostapenko (who has gained all 4 of the earlier matches) within the semifinals — nevertheless it actually appears doable for Swiatek. To not point out, when Swiatek is locked in and completely targeted, properly, be careful everybody else. She is sort of unattainable to beat and, having gained 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 practically 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 profitable the Olympic gold medal — over Alcaraz, no much less, simply weeks after Alcaraz blew him out within the Wimbledon remaining — Djokovic is more likely to play free and assured.
That is as clean a street as Djokovic might have requested for, and with Sinner trying lower than 100% and Alcaraz short-circuiting in his lone hard-court tuneup, Djokovic could be essentially 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 turn out to be simply the fifth participant in singles to safe the Golden Slam after profitable the lads’s singles in Paris, count on this to return on the good time for a revitalized Djokovic. He is accomplished certainly one of his final profession objectives and now comes the mission to increase his tally of Slams within the males’s singles. Alcaraz has appeared a bit of bit off not too long ago — and uncharacteristically rattled in Cincinnati — whereas Sinner has had his off-court distractions.
Djokovic has gained 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 more durable for me to reply at this time than it was just some days in the past. As I watched Sinner’s run in Cincinnati — wherein he defeated Andrey Rublev, Alexander Zverev and Frances Tiafoe in three consecutive days to assert the title — I felt assured the US Open was his to win. Nevertheless, as he now finds himself going through 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 be capable to fare mentally.
If he is capable of stay targeted and play the identical stage 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 am going to take Alcaraz, who could be enjoying 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 vitality and has confirmed simply how good he’s in best-of-five environments and when main titles are on the road.
