SkySports tennis commentator James Buttler takes a look at the US Open contenders in the Men's Singles at Flushing Meadow.
The US Open Tennis gets underway at Flushing Meadow in New York on Monday. In the men's singles, the current big three, Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner, they've shared the last nine Grand Slams.
Jannik Sinner 16/5
The least productive, so far, of the three is Sinner. He picked up his first Grand Slam at the Australian Open in January, and he won the ATP 1000 event in Cincinnati last week. In five U.S. Opens, his best result is a quarter-final appearance in 2022. He also went out at the quarter-final stage at Wimbledon and in Montreal. At 16/5, he's got a sniff, but he's one I'm going to avoid.
Carlos Alcaraz 9/5
Alcaraz won the French Open and Wimbledon and became the youngest U.S. Open champion since Pete Sampras 1990, when he picked up the first of his four Grand Slam titles. Actually, four of the last seven majors played have gone to Alcaraz. He'll still be smarting from losing to Djokovic in the Olympic final and after a first-round Cincinnati exit last week. He often bounces strongly back into the Slams, but I'm going to bypass him this time around.
Novak Djokovic 11/4
Djokovic, he's 11-4 to lift the US Open trophy and he picked up a gold medal at the Paris 2024 Games. He's the reigning US Open champion and took a rest after celebrating his Olympic success. He has 24 Grand Slams in his trophy cabinet, but only four have been US Open titles.
At 37, Alcaraz and Sinner treat him with respect, but know they can beat him. He also knows he can defend his title and will have loved beating Alcaraz for that gold medal. So he's my tip to claim a record 25th Grand Slam title and cement his name in tennis legend by going past Margaret court to be the most prolific singles player in Slams of all time.
Some bigger US Open prices
At slightly bigger prices, Alexander Zverev, he's 12/1 and Daniil Medvedev, 14/1, have hopes of upsetting the big three. Medvedev, in particular, picked up his maiden Grand Slam title at the US Open in 2021 and he has been the beaten finalist twice since. An each way punt on the Russian at 14/1 might be just worth a look.
A bigger outsider pick is the big serving American Taylor Fritz at 50/1. He has been a quarter-finalist at the Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open in each of their last incarnations. He'd need to be at his very best to be threatening the final stages of this Slam, but he's certainly not a bad each-way prospect at 50/1.
My pick to win the US Open 2024 is Novak Djokovic at 11/4 and I'm taking slightly bigger priced outsiders, Alexander Zverev each way at 12/1 and Taylor Fritz at 50/1.
Gamble responsibly, enjoy the tennis, I'll be back throughout the fortnight to update as we go through.
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