With former champion Novak Djokovic, defending Stan Wawrinka, Milos Raonic, and 2014 finalist Kei Nishikori all absent from an otherwise competitive field at the U.S. Open, the final Grand Slam event presents a perfect opportunity to a lot of unheralded players to revive or newly create a higher status and presence on tour, and gain a lot of money and rankings points all the while. Who will be crowned champion in New York? Can anyone stop Roger Federer or is it his to lose?
The competition in the 128-player main draw begins on Monday, August 28, in Flushing Meadows.
Event Details
Event: United States Open
Category: ITF (International Tennis Federation) Grand Slam
Date: August 28 – September 10, 2017
Location: The Billie Jean King USTA National Tennis Center – Flushing Meadows, New York
With over $50 million in prize money for the joint event, the ATP side gets roughly $25 million. This tournament is the last huge opportunity for the large swath of the ATP Tour to make bank before the final few Masters tournaments in October. A twist this year is that the Laver Cup – debuting on September 22 – will compress the post-U.S. Open calendar a little more, meaning that some players will probably not take part in the Asian fall swing. This makes the U.S. Open even more important in the race for No. 1, which will be waged between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, possibly also Andy Murray.
Points
Champion – 2,000
Runner-up – 1,200
Semifinal – 720
Quarterfinal – 360
Round of 16 – 180
Round of 32 – 90
Round of 64 – 45
Former Champions and Results (5 Years)
Year Champion Runner-up Score
2016 – Stan Wawrinka def. Novak Djokovic – 6-7, 6-4, 7-5, 6-3
2015 – Novak Djokovic def. Roger Federer – 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4
2014 – Marin Cilic def. Kei Nishikori – 6-3, 6-3, 6-3
2013 – Rafael Nadal def. Novak Djokovic – 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1
2012 – Andy Murray def. Novak Djokovic – 7-6, 7-5, 2-6, 3-6, 6-2
Player Info:
Rafael Nadal is back on the tennis pinnacle for the first time in three years. Nadal knocked Britain’s Sir Andy Murray off the perch and it’s no surprise given the contrasting results the two have had through June.
This year has seen Nadal sweep almost every tournament on clay. That has propelled him to the ultimate tennis destination– the No. 1 ranking. However, the Spaniard hasn’t been half as good on hardcourts. Of course, he made the finals in Melbourne and reached two other finals in Acapulco and Miami, but other than that at best he’s been mediocre. The warmup events prior to the U.S. Open (Montreal and Cincinnati) didn’t bring him any significant achievements. Next-generation star Denis Shapovalov stunned Nadal in Canada and Nick Kyrgios got the better of him in straight sets in Cincinnati.
It doesn’t mean Nadal will crash out early in New York, but does he believe he can go the distance in non-clay events?
Andy Murray hasn’t called it a year, but his hip injury hasn’t allowed him to compete since his quarterfinal loss to Sam Querrey at Wimbledon. Murray won the U.S. Open title in 2012, but since he has failed to reach the semifinals. If a fully fit Murray couldn’t make a run all these years, what chance does a 70-percent fit Murray have?
Last year, Roger Federer opted out of the U.S. Open due to knee injury. This time, last year, it looked grim. It never looked like Federer was going to add to his already incredible slam collection. Well, look where we are now. He has won two out of three majors and is going to New York as a prime contender. Federer has 35 wins and just three losses this year. Although the Swiss Maestro has had a great year, his back is a major concern in New York. After dropping only his third match of the season to Alexander Zverev in the Montreal final, he opted to skip the Cincinnati Masters in order to recover for the U.S. Open.
If Federer shows up at the Big Apple in good health, he’ll be the favorite. However, we’ll have to wait until the first ball to know fluidly he can play.
Alexander Zverev has never gone beyond the fourth round at majors and was knocked out in the second round in Flushing Meadows in 2016. However, he has made giant strides this season and is one of the firm favorites for the U.S. Open crown. The super-talented German recently beat Federer in the Montreal final and has signaled a warning to the big boys of tennis that he has arrived on the big stage.
Dominic Thiem made back to back semifinals in Paris in 2016 and 2017 but has never even reached the quarterfinal stage at the U.S. Open. Thiem is able to bully most players on dirt but hasn’t transformed his game on hardcourts. If the Austrian can repeat his round-of-16 result from last year, it would be a success.
Grigor Dimitrov finally broke through. Dimitrov swept aside Nick Kyrgios in straight sets to notch his first Masters win in Cincinnati. Players born in the early 1990s had never won titles of utmost relevance – Masters 1000 or Grand Slams. Now that Dimitrov has collected his maiden Masters title, can he translate it into Grand Slam success? Is this the spark he needed? We’ll find out in New York.
Nick Kyrgios has never made it past the third round at the U.S. Open but that will surely change soon. In Cincinnati, Kyrgios hammered Nadal in straight sets in the quarterfinals and went on to make his maiden Masters final. Is this the year when he starts to realize his enormous potential?
The Billie Jean King USTA National Tennis Center
The facility which has hosted the U.S. Open since 1978 is continuing to remake itself. A lot of improvements over the past two years have spruced up the facility and ensured that play will continue on Ashe Stadium in the event of rain. Ashe Stadium holds over 23,000 seats, making it the largest tennis stadium in the world. Armstrong Stadium and the Grandstand hold several thousand seats, and there are over a dozen other courts which host the explosion of action in the first week of the tournament, especially the first four days.
Odds To Win 2017 U.S. Open
Roger Federer +150
Rafael Nadal +250
Marin Cilic +1550
Juan Martin Del Potro +2250
Nick Kyrgios +1650
Milos Raonic +1650
Dominic Thiem +2250
Alexander Zverev +522
Grigor Dimitrov +1640
Gael Monfils +8550
Tomas Berdych +7050
Jo Wilfried Tsonga +6040
David Goffin +10000
Lucas Pouille +12000
Jack Sock +9550
Richard Gasquet +13000
Sam Querrey +8550
John Isner +11000
Roberto Bautista Agut +14000
Gilles Muller +14000
Steve Johnson +18000
Bernard Tomic +25000
Feliciano Lopez +25000
Gilles Simon +25000
Kyle Edmund +30000
Kevin Anderson +16000
David Ferrer +10000
Ernests Gulbis +30000
Denis Shapovalov +9050
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