Hantuchova names Medvedev and Tsitsipas as Djokovic's biggest threats at US Open

Novak Djokovic last played at the Tokyo Olympic Games where he was defeated by Alexander Zverev. After the match, Djokovic revealed he was dealing with multiple injuries and had been playing through pain. In order to fully heal he elected to skip over every event until the US Open where he will try and complete the calendar grand slam.

Many pundits and analysis overwhelmingly feel Djokovic will be able to do it but Daniela Hantuchova feels two players, in particular, could challenge him. She said:

“I still feel like Novak is a level above them all in the best of five matches. It will be interesting to see how sharp he can be without playing any warm-up events before the US Open, but he is generally in cruise control in the first week of a major and I would expect him to try and use the first week in New York to get into top shape for the challenges in the second week."

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She elaborated further on her point:

“The ones who I feel are closest to his level are Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas, with Sascha (Alexander Zverev) not far behind when he is playing at his best."

Hantuchova also noted that an exciting times is coming for tennis with a lot of good players making the breakthrough to the top:

“With Roger (Federer) and Rafa (Nadal) not playing right now, it feels like the change is coming in tennis and I’m sure the Next Gen guys will be looking to see which one will be the first to get the breakthrough and now we have more guys behind them who are coming through and might be even more exciting.”