We ask for more. After the Cincinnati Masters 1000 final between Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz which ended with a victory for the Serb in three sets (5-7, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (4)) in 3:49 of play, we can only hope for as much spectacle, if not more, during the US Open which opens on Monday August 28 in New York.
The competition will once again see the world numbers one and two as big favourites. On the one hand, the “Joker” will be looking to win a 24th Grand Slam title to further cement his dominance in this area and equal Margaret Court’s record. On the other, the young Spaniard will want to confirm after his resounding success at Wimbledon on this same Djokovic. The 20-year-old will also be aiming for a second straight win at Flushing Meadows as the world number two looks to win a 4th title.
This race for first place in the world will therefore keep tennis fans on their toes during the tournament, but also until the end of the season. Among the outsiders, we also find the Italian Jannik Sinner, winner in Toronto this year, the German Alexander Zverev, the Dane Holger Rune, the Greek Stéfanos Tsitsipas and the Norwegian Casper Ruud, finalist last year of the New York tournament .
Two seeded French players, this is a first for two years at the US Open. Adrian Mannarino (23rd in the world) and Ugo Humbert (31st) will lead the tricolor troupe in this last grand slam tournament of the season. Mannarino will want to surf on his great tour in the United States and beat his best ranking (22nd in March 2018). With a title in Newport – his third trophy this year – and a quarter-final in Cincinnati, the 35-year-old southpaw seems to be enjoying a second youth across the Atlantic. He will therefore arrive with full confidence and especially on this surface that he particularly likes: “I really prefer to play on hard. I have a game with a lot of movement, running and I really feel better on hard courts,” he said two months ago.
Regarding the other French, we will watch Arthur Fils (46th in the world), semi-finalist on the clay court of Hamburg in July. Gaël Monfils, who reached the round of 16 in Cincinnati, will also want to continue the momentum of his good tournament (victories over Cameron Norrie and Alex De Minaur, in particular). Richard Gasquet, Grégoire Barrère, Quentin Halys and Arthur Rinderknech, or the young Luca Van Assche, will also be there. On the girls’ side, we will of course be attentive to the results of Caroline Garcia, 7th in the world and semi-finalist last year in New York. The 2023 season is however more complicated for the Lyonnaise. She remains on three eliminations in the first round of the American tournaments.
