Three former US Open champions should be very worried ahead of this year’s tournament starting

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The US Open is nearly upon us once again with Coco Gauff and Novak Djokovic both gearing up to defend their titles.

The North American hard court season has got off to a somewhat unpredictable start.

With the Paris Olympics delaying a handful of top players’ arrival to the US, a few unlikely champions in Alexei Popyrin and Sebastian Korda have emerged on the men’s side.

Cincinnati saw business return close to normal with the two current Australian Open champions, Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka, picking up the titles in the midwest.

After Carlos Alcaraz’s shock exit to Gael Monfils, Sinner’s dodgy hip, and Novak Djokovic’s absence, the men’s draw certainly looks wide open.

Equally, with few top 10 women able to assert themselves yet, we may have a new champion on the cards, especially after Barbra Krejcikova’s surprising Wimbledon win.

Without further ado, let’s highlight three former US Open champions who look set for a slip up in New York.

Coco Gauff 

Well it’s been a pretty grisly few weeks for the defending US Open champion, with American fans rifling through the script, baffled it’s not being followed. 

After a dismal Olympics debut, only salvaged by the robust, endless shine of the Eiffel Tower, Coco Gauff has endured a poor run on court.

Being dumped out in Toronto by Russia’s Diana Shnaider felt like a small blip – perhaps only a few early teething problems.

It was after all just her first tournament back – Cincinnati’s next. Gauff’s 2023 triumph in the Midwest set her up so perfectly for glory in New York, and it was supposed to be the perfect trial run once again. 

Yulia Putintseva, in typical fashion, had other ideas. The crafty Kazakh dumped Iga Swiatek out of Wimbledon a month ago and dealt Gauff a brutal blow last Thursday. 

With 10 days to go before she kicks off her campaign in New York, Gauff has very little, if no hard court form to rely on.

Shuffling down into third in the world rankings may just be the start if the 20-year-old comes undone in Flushing Meadows.

Daniil Medvedev 

I could change around a few words and more or less just copy and paste the above – It’s always supposed to happen for Daniil Medvedev on the hard courts after all. 

Having improved steadily on the clay and grass, the Russian has earned his brutal hard court season.

It was the stretch that really opened the world’s eyes to Medvedev in 2019. Montreal is where he advanced to his first ATP Masters 1000 final, with Medvedev enjoying a memorable second half of his season, winning 29 of 32 matches. 

This time however he crashed out to Alejandro Davidovich-Fokina before Jiri Lehecka dumped the Russian out in Cincinnati.

Last year’s US Open finalist has had a rather consistent season despite Alcaraz and Sinner hauling up the majors.

The US Open was the Russian’s chance to make his mark on the the year, forget the final in Melbourne he lost from two sets up.

However, he looks out of sorts and really quite cranky on court with no obvious signs things are going to change.

Iga Swiatek 

Shocked in Miami in March, the world number one fell to Ekaterina Alexandrova in two sets of tennis nobody predicted.

Having arrived at the Olympics more or less with the gold medal having been flung around her neck, it felt like her unbeaten streak might never end at Roland Garros.

Qinwen Zheng stopped Swiatek making it 26 wins in a row in the semi-finals with the Pole struggling to handle the defeat, saying afterwards she cried for hours.

Despite the eventual bronze, Swiatek’s first outing in Cincinnati originally looked like a breeze. A set and 5-2 up, her opponent, French qualifier Varvara Gracheva astonishingly took it to a decider. 

Despite Swiatek holding her nerve to progress to the last 16, her decision to take the scenic route was both out of character and also arguably cause for major concern.

Having edged past Mirra Andreeva before being totally blown out the water by Sabalenka, the Pole can count her blessings that she won’t have to play the Belarusian before the final in New York.

While she’s at least managing to win, an achievement that can’t be said for the other two, last year’s US Open run was ended by Jelena Ostapenko who leads Swiatek 4-0 in their head-to-head.

With a blip at Wimbledon this year also to Putintseva, Swiatek does not look like her robust self, and may not have enough to go the distance in New York.