With the recent form shown by all the top players, and currently ranked at #2, is Roger Federer the favourite for the US Open title? Certainly he is one of the favourites; the top favourite will of course be the World #1 Novak Djockovic. Federer has had a season to remember so far; despite the early third round loss at the Australian Open, he reached the quarterfinal of the French Open and the final of Wimbledon, where he lost to Djokovic. In the smaller events which are best of three sets, compared to the best of five sets in the Grand Slams, the Swiss #1 has performed a lot better, reaching finals and winning the titles in various tournaments.
Taking on Stefan Edberg seems to have brought new life to his game, with many more rallies becoming shorter. A new racquet head size also appears to be helping the Swiss player back to playing hard to beat tennis. Adjusting his schedule, which allows him to skip one of the American Masters 1000 events, he chose to miss Montreal and concentrate instead on the following week tournament in Cincinnati.
The Federer serve has improved since Edberg came on board. Improvements in this area have certainly seen him progress against the likes of Djokovic and Andy Murray – Murray said after the match at Wimbledon that the Swiss player had never served better against him. It also seems that playing against the Brit and the Serb bring out the best in Federer, as these matches are always close scorelines in each set.
Federer goes into Flushing Meadows as the #2 seed, thanks to winning in Cincinnati, but the points difference down to #3 seed Murray is not a great gap. There is no doubt that the Swiss player is in great form going into the final Grand Slam of the tennis calendar, and he will want to win this one just as much as any of the others. The last Grand Slam that Federer won was at Wimbledon in 2012 (against Murray, who then defeated him on Centre Court at the Olympics four weeks later to relegate the Swiss to the silver medal).
Even though he is now in his mid thirties, there can be no doubt that Federer is one of the on form players, and without a doubt is one of the favourites for the title in New York. Being seeded #2, the Swiss is guaranteed not to meet Djokovic until the final. This will be a fantastic match up if the top two seeds face off against each other; with both playing amazing tennis it will be another classic final.
En route to the final Federer could face his compatriot Stan Wawrinka, who won the French Open this year. The Swiss #2 has beaten the World #2 on the last occasion they met, which was in the French Open quarterfinals. Wawrinka defeated Federer in straight sets, so if drawn in the same half as his fellow countryman this will be a very enthralling match up.
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