Novak Djokovic is the top seed at
US Open and the Serbian admitted feeling more pressure with Federer and Nadal not playing.
The top seed at the US Open will be once again Novak Djokovic and the Serbian is widely expected to win the event. The Serbian wants to do it but just like everybody else, he is human who feels pressure. Speaking at media day he admitted to feeling it more than usual with no Federer and Nadal:
“My participation here, without Rafa and Roger participating, I feel it. I know there’s a lot of people who are going to be watching my matches and expecting me to do well and fight for a slam."
Djokovic has been one to deal with pressure exceptionally well however sometimes it can get to him as with the Olympic Games where he never was able to go all the way. Novak was also humble in naming three other players favourites for the event as well:
“At the same time, regardless of Roger’s and Rafa’s absence, you
still have tremendous quality tennis players that are probably right now
on a hot streak, like (Alexander) Zverev, (Daniil) Medvedev, (Stefanos)
Tsitsipas. Those are the three top contenders I see for the title. But a Grand Slam is a Grand Slam. It’s a two-week-long event, best-of-five, and anything can happen.”