It’s that time of year again, the biggest stage in tennis is about to host the very best in men’s tennis for two whole weeks as over 100 players compete for a shot at the final grand slam of the year; the US Open title in New York.
It’s rolled around again; the bustling crowds of New York, gusting winds and dramatic late night matches all set to the sound of an energetic crowd waiting for the next big upset; yes it can only be the US Open. The draw is out, the players are in town and the crowds waiting in anticipation as the first ball is tossed on Monday morning. However, one player who will not be making an appearance these two weeks is defending champion Rafael Nadal, who is still out with a wrist injury suffered in practice ahead of the masters 1000 event in Toronto 3 weeks ago.
Last year Rafa reigned victorious at the US open series, dominating the hard-court season by winning in Montreal, Cincinnati and Flushing Meadows, defeating Novak Djokovic to win the title for a second time. This year we’ll have to do without the clay-court genius as the 2014 French Open champion is forced to miss out the final grand slam of the year due to injury, paving the way for world number one Novak Djokovic or five-time champion Roger Federer.
World number 1 and 2011 champion Novak Djokovic will have a lot of hard work to do if he wants to lift the title for a second time in five consecutive finals and add to his earlier Wimbledon victory, in which he defeated Roger Federer in a five-set thriller. However, getting to the second week of the US Open could prove tougher for the Serb than it has in recent years; the world number one hasn’t enjoyed much success since returning from his win in London two months ago. Djokovic suffered some worrying early round defeats at the hands of eventual champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in Toronto and clay-court veteran Tommy Robredo in Cincinnati. It doesn’t get any easier for the Serb in New York as six of the top ten seeds are in his half of the draw.
Despite some early loses Djokovic is still favourite to make it through to the final however. His first hiccup could occur in the third round, where he could potentially meet big serving American and crowd favourite, Sam Querry. The Serbian could then go on to face another American in the fourth round, John Isner and potentially Andy Murray or Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the Quarter Finals and his Australian Open conqueror Stanislas Wawrinka in a potential semi-final show down. Novak will open his campaign against little known Argentinean Diego Schwartzman- a slightly easier opening round than his main competition Roger Federer- who will open his campaign against the big serving Matosevic; the Aussie had a good run on the grass and could give the Swiss a testing opening round.
Roger Federer could face his real first task against high-tempered Italian Fabio Fognini in the fourth round, however the temperamental Italian has had a tough hard-court season so far, time will tell if he can finally put the pieces together in New York. The Swiss Maestro could then potentially play the fast rising young Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov in the Quarter-finals who has recorded some of his best wins this year. Should Federer make it through to the semi-final he could find himself up against big-serving Czech Tomas Berdych or recent Cincinnati finalist David Ferrer, who was beaten for the sixteenth time in a row by Roger Federer. All the odds have Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic as the two favourites for the title, could anyone make a surprise run?
One of the biggest threats of the tournament could be Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and after beating Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer during his win at Toronto, no one could count out the flamboyant Frenchman in front of a packed crowd.
Novak Djokovic isn’t the only top seed to struggle of late: Tomas Berdych, Andy Murray and Stanislas Warwinka have all had trouble being consistent of late, with a few early exits and shocking loses, could any of them really challenge for the title or will a lack of wins prove too telling in New York? Berdych has had some good wins in the US in recent years, however his section of the draw could be over before it even starts as he plays crowd favourite and 2001 champion, Aussie veteran Lleyton Hewitt. Should Berdych get through he could then have another tough task against the unpredictable Latvian Ernests Gulbis or the tricky leftie Feliciano Lopez, both of whom have beaten the Czech in the past.
Stanislas could face his first real test in the quarter finals, should he and up-and-coming Canadian Milos Raonic both get to that stage, with the promising Canadian trying to improve on his recent Wimbledon Semi-final, could the 23 year old get to his first grand slam final or will expectation get the better of him?
2012 winner Andy Murray hasn’t had a very illustrious year in 2014, having lost in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open to Roger Federer, Murray suffered a beating in the Semi-Finals of the French Open to eventual champion Rafael Nadal, followed by his earliest grand slam loss of the year in the fourth-round to young Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov. Could this year’s US Open be Murray’s best slam of the year?
With so many recent slip-ups from usually consistent players, this year’s US Open could prove to be a two horse race between Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer and with Roger showing there is still a lot left in the tank at 33 years of age, one thing is for sure, you can never write off the Swiss Maestro, especially in New York.
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