The US Open is the last Grand Slam tournament in the tennis calendar every year.
With the main draw taking place over 15 days for the first time this year, the US Open has already seen some big things happen this year.
This includes two former top 10 players retiring from tennis, after losing their respective first round matches at the US Open.
Former US Open champion Daniil Medvedev has also been a big talking point following his outburst in his first round exit.
All of these incidents support the point that Naomi Osaka’s coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, is making about the US Open.
Patrick Mouratoglou explains why he thinks the US Open is the hardest Grand Slam to win
Mouratoglou is one of the most high-profile tennis coaches, most recently mentoring Osaka until their split last month.
Perhaps his most famous collaboration was with Serena Williams, who Mouratoglou helped win three US Open titles.
Despite the US Open being his joint most successful Grand Slam as a coach alongside Wimbledon, Mouratoglou believes it is the hardest to win.
When answering a series of questions about the US Open in a video on his social media, Mouratoglou explained that the timing of the tournament plays a huge factor and pointed towards Carlos Alcaraz’s result last year.
“True. The US Open is the last Grand Slam of the season, and usually most of the players are exhausted,” Mouratoglou said on Instagram.
“And the fact that you have three Grand Slams in a row and the US Open is the last one in such a short period of time, the players arrive at the US Open, and we saw it several years with Carlos Alcaraz, they’re dead. So it’s the most difficult to win for that reason.”
Although he is a former champion, Alcaraz suffered a shock early US Open exit last year to Botic van de Zandschulp.
The last 10 singles champions at the US Open suggest Patrick Mouratoglou may be correct
While some may not agree with Mouratoglou’s claim, the recent winners of the US Open suggest there may be something to it.
The US Open has generally provided the widest variety of champions, with nine of the last 10 women’s singles champions being different.
There have also been seven different men’s US Open champions since 2015, and their performances at Wimbledon are perhaps the most intriguing.
| Year | Men’s Singles Champion | How they performed at Wimbledon that year | Women’s Singles Champion | How they performed at Wimbledon that year |
| 2015 | Novak Djokovic | Won the title | Flavia Pennetta | Lost in the first round |
| 2016 | Stan Wawrinka | Lost in the second round | Angelique Kerber | Lost in the final |
| 2017 | Rafael Nadal | Lost in the fourth round | Sloane Stephens | Lost in the first round |
| 2018 | Novak Djokovic | Won the title | Naomi Osaka | Lost in the third round |
| 2019 | Rafael Nadal | Lost in the semifinal | Bianca Andreescu | Did not play |
| 2020 | Dominic Thiem | Was not held | Naomi Osaka | Was not held |
| 2021 | Daniil Medvedev | Lost in the fourth round | Emma Raducanu | Lost in the fourth round |
| 2022 | Carlos Alcaraz | Lost in the fourth round | Iga Swiatek | Lost in the third round |
| 2023 | Novak Djokovic | Lost in the final | Coco Gauff | Lost in the first round |
| 2024 | Jannik Sinner | Lost in the quarterfinal | Aryna Sabalenka | Did not play |
Since 2015, only three players have reached at least the quarterfinals of Wimbledon before going on to win the US Open.
The only one of those to have won both Wimbledon and the US Open in the same year is Novak Djokovic, who achieved this rare feat in both 2015 and 2018.
Serena Williams is the last woman to win Wimbledon and the US Open in the same year (2012), something Iga Swiatek will be looking to do in 2025.
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