US OPEN MENS 2023
Monday 28th August, 4:00pm
Novak Djokovic @ 11/10
Carlos Alcaraz @ 13/8
Daniil Medvedev @ 17/2
Jannik Sinner @ 12/1
Alexander Zverev @ 28/1
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And so, we arrive at the final Grand Slam tournament of 2023. The US Open. Venue: The Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre, Flushing Meadows, the New York borough of Queens.
Over the course the tennis year numerous records, balls, racquets, and cucumber salads have been smashed. But who will land the decisive blow and escape from New York freshly-anointed as the undisputed King or Queen of Queens?
On the ATP side of the tour, the story has been distilled down to two essential elements: Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic.
They are #1 and #2 in the rankings – by a distance – and are seeded accordingly. They have faced each other twice at Grand Slams this year – including their epic Wimbledon final – and, with a win apiece, the pair head to Flushing Meadows with a tantalising opportunity to complete a thrilling trilogy.
That they contested the final at the Cincinnati Masters last Sunday in a knife-edge match – which, at 3 hours 49 minutes, was the longest best-of-three match in the tournament’s long history – only adds a thick layer of mesquite to the anticipated late-summer tennis feast.
This rivalry needs to be contested on the biggest stage the sport has to offer: in front of 20,000+ rabid fans at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The Alcaraz/Djokovic rivalry has reached a level of quality and intensity with such celerity that it is easy to forget a couple of things: 1) while he was unable to complete the elusive ‘Calendar Slam’ Djokovic will still have a record-extending 24th major firmly on his agenda. And 2) well, there are a few other players out there who might resent the focus being solely on the above mentioned pair.
Jannik Sinner, for example, arrives in Queens in decent nick – the Italian having won his first Masters 1000 event in Toronto a fortnight ago. But the draw has lined-up a quarter-final meeting with defending champ, Alcaraz – which, if it comes to pass, would conclude another outstanding trilogy of Grand Slam matches.
Over in WTA-land, in the lead-up to Wimbledon, there was much chatter about the emergence of a new Big Three. Iga Świątek, Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina monopolised every tournament they entered during the first half of the year – bringing back memories of 2013, when Serena Williams, Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova formed a similarly successful and piercing trident.
However, while far from collapsing, this new faction has won only one minor tournament since the French Open. They will all still land in New York as serious contenders, but there are a couple of other names to augment the trio who are currently in possession of much more momentum. And they will both be competing on home soil.
This has the potential to be a really big story, because no American woman has won the US Open since Sloane Stephen in 2017 – and it has been 20 (TWENTY) long years since the last American man, Andy Roddick, lifted the gleaming Tiffany trophy. But Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff are playing the best tennis of their careers – the former just won the Canadian Open; the latter just won the Washington Open.
As well the pressure of restoring much-needed Grand Slam glory to US tennis, both talents will also be hoping to create new narratives for themselves. Gauff will want to stop lazy tennis writers from mentioning her youthfulness. And Pegula will want lazy tennis writers to stop referring her privileged upbringing (her parents own the Buffalo Bills NFL franchise.)
Tricky draws await both homegrown hopes, but who is best equipped to re-write the script? The kid from Delray Beach? Or the billion dollar princess? Who gets the opportunity to pen their very own fairytale of New York?
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