Heading to the last Grand Slam of the year, the US Open, there are plenty of good players with real potential to watch for in the qualifying rounds. Which ones of them will make it to the main draw, and who can make a run once they get there?
1. Denis Shapovalov
The spotlight of US Open qualies will of course be on Canadian Denis Shapovalov. He comes from the week of his life; in fact he reached the semifinals in the Montreal Masters, playing amazing tennis and beating more experienced players, such as Juan Martin del Potro and new world #1 Rafael Nadal–quite nice for an only 18-year-old tennis player.
After this amazing run he rose to a career high ranking of #67, which would of course be good enough to make the US Open main draw with his actual position but, unfortunately, the entry list was released before Montreal. He surprisingly was denied a wild card, but in my opinions qualies won’t be a problem for him since his game is perfect for hard court tennis.
To add a personal comment, I was impressed when I first watched him in a Challenger at the start of 2015 when he was just 16, that’s why I think he will be the most interesting player in Flushing Meadows qualification rounds.
2. Cedrik-Marcel Stebe
Cedrik-Marcel Stebe is also one of the best players in the qualifying draw for sure. After coming back from his terrible injuries which he suffered for nearly three years, the former w=World #71 has finally found his rhythm again and has been fully back on court since last year.
This year he returned to relevant again as, in Poprad-Tatry, he clinched his first ATP Challenger title since lifting the trophy in Meknes in 2013. The German also reached a semifinal in Caltanissetta and a final in Marburg, and pushed himself to ATP Hamburg’ second round after winning two great battles in the qualies.
He’s looking to compete in his first Grand Slam since 2013 Australian Open, where he lost to Stan Wawrinka in the opening round.
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3. Reilly Opelka
19-year-old Reilly Opelka is another very strong player that will take his place in Flashing Meadows’ qualies. The 6’11” teenager from St. Joseph struggled a lot this year, but also achieved good results in Challengers and his best ranking of #125 in June.
After reaching this position in the ranking, he had a chance to clinch a spot the top 100 for the first time in his career, but is having a very tough second part of 2017, in fact after losing in Wimbledon qualies first round he had a disapponting US swing, where he lost early in the first rounds in all his home tournaments: Newport, Atlanta, and Washington.
He finally won two matches at the Rogers Cup in Montreal, where he looked healthy again and qualified for the main draw, where he had to give up against Argentinian Diego Schwartzmann. He’s looking for revenge, and what a better place to do it than in his home Slam?
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4. Matteo Berrettini
Matteo Berrettini, “the underrated Next Gen talent,” will play his first Grand Slam event of his career at this year’s US Open and surely wants to do well. He has no pressure on himself and his recent results push him in the right direction.
It’s true that the 21-year-old did well only at clay court tournaments, but his game is perfect for hard courts since he has a great serve and wins most of the points with the serve & forehand combo; that’s why he could be a sort of dark horse in Flashing Meadows qualies.
5. Yuki Bhambri
Yuki Bhambri will be another good player to watch in New York qualifying. After his very difficult 2016, he’s having a good season that saw its top moment in Washington, where at the Citi Open the 25-year-old reached the quarterfinals.
The Indian also had good results in hard court Challengers this year, in fact he reached the semifinals in Zhuhai, Shenzhe,n and Karshi in the first part of the season. He’s looking for his first main draw Grand Slam appearance since the 2015 Australian Open.
6. Matthew Ebden
Matthew Ebden is fully back on court on Semptember of last year after seven months out due to injury. His ranking collapsed to #699 at the start of 2017 but he’s been rebuilding it throughout all this year, where he tried to play not only in Challengers, but also in ATP qualies and his hard work paid off in various tournaments, reaching the main draw through qualifiers in four tournaments this year.
The top moment of the season has surely been his run in Newport, where starting from the qualies he reached the final, his first ever in an ATP tournament, eventually losing to American #1 seed John Isner. This was his best result since 2011, where he pushed himself until the quarterfinals in Shanghai’s Masters.
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7. Sam Groth
Last but not least, there is another Australian on the list–it’s the holder of the fastest serve ever, Sam Groth. The 29-year-old is always a player to follow carefully on hard courts; when his serve is on, his opponent will have very few chances. He is in the midst of a very difficult year; last season was probably the worst of his career. This year his ranking collapsed and to be able to compete even on Challenger tour tournaments he had to play qualies.
He got his best results of the year on grass, where he reached two semifinals. In Slams he lost in the qualifying opening round in both Wimbledon and Roland Garros. He’s looking for his second Grand Slam main draw of the year after the Australian Open, and the qualification is what he needs to find rhythm again.
