US Open tennis: Three things to watch

The top 128 men’s and women’s singles players are set to take the hard courts of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, with doubles, mixed doubles and juniors in action, as well. There will be no wheelchair event this year with the Paralympic Games Paris 2024 held concurrently.

Here are three things to watch.

Novak’s GOAT status sealed

The tennis GOAT debate feels over: The Serbian superstar sealed his status as “greatest of all time” with his Olympic gold medal in singles, a feat he had long – and openly – sought. Djokovic has the Open Era record of 24 major singles titles won, and with a winning record over rivals Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray, there is appears to be little left for him to accomplish in the game.

Speaking of Federer, Nadal and Murray – none of them will be in New York. Federer and Murray are now retired, and Nadal announced he would skip the Open as he weighs his next step.

A few months ago, Djokovic, undeterred by a knee injury at the French Open, made the Wimbledon final before flipping the script in a nearly three-hour two-set Olympic gold medal tilt with Alcaraz, saying he felt emotions he had never experienced before when he finally claimed his Olympic gold.

The US Open will be his first tournament since Paris.

Can Coco find her NYC mojo?

The 20-year-old American was on a red-hot tear at this point last year, winning titles in Washington, D.C. and Cincinnati in the lead-up to her home major. But the Florida native has struggled over the last two months, going 3-4 across her last seven matches, including a third-round loss to eventual silver medallist Donna Vekic at the Olympics.

Gauff will look to re-capture her New York mojo, opening her tournament against Frenchwoman Varvara Gracheva, with a potential third-round clash against Elina Svitolina looming.

Zheng, Vekic, Musetti eye Olympic bounce

What can an Olympic medal do for one’s confidence? That’s the question in play for all the tennis podium placers from the Games, but in particular for the Chinese star Zheng, who claimed her nation’s first-ever gold in singles. The 21-year-old has a tough test to start: Big-hitting American Amanda Anisimova, who recently made the final at the Toronto Masters.

Women’s silver medallist Vekic will look for a similar buoy to her form, the 28-year-old Croatian having been on tour for some 13 years.

Men’s bronze medallist Lorenzo Musetti of Italy is in the same camp, too. He opens against huge-serving Reilly Opelka.