The main draw of the 2024 US Open singles gets underway on Monday with defending men’s and women’s champions Novak Djokovic and Coco Gauff both back to defend their titles.
Carlos Alcaraz (7/4) and Aryna Sabalenka (5/2) are the outright favourites for the respective championships. We’re backing one to come up short and the other to oblige.
US Open 2024 winner tips
Novak Djokovic to win Men’s Singles @ 2/1
Aryna Sabalenka to win Women’s Singles @ 5/2
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Peaking Djokovic can end low-mileage campaign on a high
Danil Medvedev must enter each-way calculations in the men’s draw having made six of the last ten hard court Grand Slam finals dating back to the 2019 US Open.
However, the 12/1 on offer isn’t big enough to overlook him falling at the first hurdle in both Cincinnati and Montreal. In any case he’s been drawn on much the tougher side of the bracket along with top seed Jannik Sinner and 6/4 outright favourite Carlos Alcaraz.
In the other half of the draw Novak Djokovic looms ominously, having proven he still has what it takes to topple his Spanish heir apparent when seeing him off to land a long-awaited first Olympic gold in Paris at the beginning of the month.
By his own peerless standards Djokovic has won a relatively modest four titles at Flushing Meadows, but atypically there’s every chance the reigning champion could be peaking just in time for the final Slam of the year this time around.
Injury hampered his season right up until Wimbledon and he has played just 36 times on Tour leading into the first week in Queens. Last season he racked up 51 matches prior to the US Open first round, while he’d played 50 before his previous tilt in 2021.
Tip: Novak Djokovic to win Men’s Singles @ 2/1
Hard to look past Sabalenka success on her preeminent surface
World numero uno Iga Swiatek has much in her favour in the ladies’ draw, with top seeding earning her the plum berth in the upper half of the bracket.
The Pole avoids world number two Aryna Sabalenka, defending champion and darling of the home crowd Coco Gauff, Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova and breakout Aussie Open finalist Zheng Qinwen.
However, her 2023 win at Flushing Meadows aside, Swiatek’s hard court Slam record is very modest. The 23-year-old has only gone beyond the fourth round in one of the other 10 big-four tournaments she’s played on the surface.
On the other side of the draw Sabalenka is the biggest gun and the Belarusian looks the best bet to win the tournament despite being on the stacked side of the bracket, having reached at least the final in each of the past three hard court Slams.
Of the more feted rivals in her half of the draw Gauff is struggling for form, while the selection swatted Qinwen aside 6-3, 6-2 in the final in Melbourne and leads the career head-to-head against Krejcikova by six wins to one.
