In recent years, women’s tennis have been hard to predict, make no mistake.
After Serena Williams spent a record-equalling 186 consecutive weeks as world number one between 2013 and 2016, the 207 weeks since have seen no fewer than eight players at the summit of the rankings.
The 13 Grand Slam tournaments in that period have produced 11 different winners, including some big outsiders – think Jelena Ostapenko, Ash Barty and, at this year’s Australian Open, Sofia Kenin.
Throw the year that is 2020 into the mix and it feels as if the US Open winner could come from almost anywhere.
The COVID-19 outbreak and subsequent bio-bubble at this year’s tournament has hit the women’s draw hard.
Only four of the world’s top 10 will be in attendance – and that has to open up the chances of those further down the ranking list. Some will regard this as the chance of a lifetime.
Some will also suggest it hands Williams a great opportunity to lance a particular boil.
Arguably the greatest player of all time remains stuck on 23 Grand Slam singles titles, one shy of Margaret Court’s record. It is one she has targeted for some time but with that aim has come added pressure.
The way I see this field, its relatively weak nature simply heaps more pressure on the American – and she’s not coped with it particularly well of late, crumbling in her four most recent Grand Slam finals, failing to win a set in any of them.
Despite this, many will expect her to win an event in which she has often delivered. She’s won it six times and in her last 10 appearances she’s always made the semi-finals.
However, she’s not won in New York since 2014 and looked far from strong in her two warm-up events, losing to Shelby Rogers in Lexington and Maria Sakkari here in the past week. Even in the three matches she won, she was taken to a final set in them all.
I’m more than happy to swerve the joint favourite.
Naomi Osaka, winner here in 2018, is the woman alongside Williams in the market and she would appear to hold stronger claims.
She was impressive in the Western and Southern Open event leading into the US Open (at time of writing she was due to meet Victoria Azarenka in the final). Her tennis is in good shape.
However, she’s not been a model of consistency since winning back-to-back Slams in 2018/19 and has a tough draw.
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