US Open 2023: a battle of the greats for the iron trophy
Venus Williams/Coco Gauff/Ons Jabeur/Francis Tiaffoe
The most sulfurous of the Grand Slam tournaments, the US Open, kicks off today August 28 in New York City at Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens.
Each of the tournaments is defined by a particular setting. First, the Australian Open, taking place in the second week of January, is distinguished by its exoticism and stifling heat. Next, Roland Garros, held in Paris during the last week of May, is characterized by its ochre-colored clay. Then, the Wimbledon tournament, held in London during the first week of July, is defined by its traditional green and white colors. Finally, the US Open, which takes place in the last week of August, closes the series of four Grand Slams in style in the immensity of Flushing. One hundred and twenty-eight players are on the starting line-up for the fortnight-long tournament. This year, in the men's draw (Association of Tennis Professionals or ATP), the US Open 2023 will be defended for the first time by the world number one, Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, while the women's draw (Women Tennis Association WTA) will be led by world number one, Poland's Iga Swiatek.
A first season of domination for young prodigy Alcaraz
The 2023 edition of the US Open will be particularly exciting because, unlike previous editions, a dozen participants have already won the trophy. Alcaraz, for his part, will be defending a Grand Slam title for the first time. Although he was unable to attend the Melbourne tournament due to injury, he nevertheless reached the final of Rolland Garros in Paris. Unfortunately, cramps forced him to forfeit against world number two Novak Djokovich, the player with the most titles on the circuit (ninety-four, including twenty-three Grand Slams).
But a few weeks later, Alcaraz got his revenge in London. Playing in his fourth grass-court tournament, he broke a ten-year-old statistic by adding his name to the trophy cabinet in a hard-fought match against Novak Djokovic.
The outsiders
This season, the outsiders don't really look like outsiders. Among them, former world number one Novak Djokovic, absent since his final loss to Daniel Medvedef in 2021 will be making his comeback. If Djokovic wins this tournament, he will become the player who has won the most Grand Slams in the history of tennis, men and women combined. But he's likely to run into Carlos Alcaraz along the way again, and their confrontations often result in tennis masterpieces.
But there are other outsiders to consider, not for their ranking, but for their status. Dominique Thiem, winner of the 2020 edition and former world number three, who dropped to three hundred and fifty-second place in 2022 after a wrist injury, but whose recent performances have enabled him to climb into the top 100 players in the ATP rankings. There is also Swiss player Stanislas Wawrinka, known for having the best one-handed backhand in tennis history and winner of the 2016 edition. At 38, he is nearing the end of his career and will be playing one of his last US Opens. As for Danil Medvedev, former world number one and winner of the 2021 edition against Novak Djokovic, he will be keen to save his season, as he has been struggling for the last two years to regain the exceptional level that made him world number one in 2021. Finally, Stefanos Tsitsipas, several times Grand Slam finalist, must absolutely save his season, as it is one of the worst of his career.
Currently, there are three Americans in the top fifteen. Taylor Fritz had two excellent seasons and won several ATP titles. Tommy Paul kicked off the North American season with a semi-final appearance at the Montreal Master1000. And last but not least, Frances Tiafoe, who reached the top ten of the ATP rankings for the first time in his career, and was semi-finalist at the 2022 edition against Carlos Alcaraz in a breathtaking match played out in a boiling Arthur Ashe.
Women's tournament favorites
Iga Swiatek has been reigning supreme in women's tennis ever since she became world number one on April 4, 2022, with the added bonus of a thirty-five-match winning streak that put her on par with Serena Williams and Stephi Graff. She calls herself "the swiatek express" because her matches can last forty minutes (which is very fast in tennis) and end in six-zero, six-zero, no matter the adversary. The twenty-two-year-old Polish tennis queen has already won four Grand Slam tournaments.
Belarusian Aryna Sabalanka (ranked number two in the word), winner of the first Grand Slam of her career in Melbourne, will be one of the contenders. She is currently enjoying one of her best seasons despite her special status due to her nationality. Indeed, since the start of the war in Ukraine, Russian and Belarusian players have had to play under a neutral banner, and are sometimes heckled by the public.
Also not to be overlooked is the presence of the best player in the history of African tennis, Ons Jabeur (ranked number five in the world), Tunisian, who will be celebrating her twenty-ninth birthday on August 28, the first day of the tournament. She is an icon for African youth and could have become the first African player to win a Grand Slam, but lost for the second time in a row in the Wimbledon final, a defeat she described as "the most painful of her career".
On the American front, Coco Gauff (ranked number six in the world) won the Cincinnati tournament held in mid-August, beating Iga Swiatek in the semi-finals. The nineteen-year-old prodigy is still waiting for her first Grand Slam title, but she has built up the confidence she needs to tackle this final stage on home soil in the best possible way. As for her doubles partner Jessica Pegula (ranked number three in the world), she is a regular player who is coming of age. American fans' hopes of victory will be pinned mainly on these two players, although the presence of legend Venus Williams will certainly be the attraction of the women's field.
Venus Williams is making a comeback at forty-three years old. Ranked at number five hundred and thirty-third in the world, she defeated the world's sixteenth player, Veronika Kudermetova, at the Cincinnati tournament. The two-time US Open winner was awarded a wild card, which awards players a privileged invitation into the final draw. This will be her twenty-fourth US Open.
The US Open is always full of surprises, and this year, the fight for the iron trophy promises to be a real battle of greats.
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