Preview Men's US Open 2024 as Djokovic, Alcaraz, Sinner headline battle for Flushing Meadows supremacy

We’re just a few days away from the US Open (August 26 - September 8), the final Grand Slam of this year. The stage is set for a thrilling display of tennis, with defending champion Novak Djokovic returning to New York in a bid to secure a record-setting 25th Grand Slam trophy. The competition is fierce, and the tennis world is abuzz with excitement. Our preview looks ahead to that.

It will also be his first event since the Paris Olympics, and many are wondering whether Djokovic just struck gold in Paris or whether he's truly back to his former self. Many analysts have declared him the favourite after Paris, but there is one player who will be desperate for revenge.

Carlos Alcaraz will be gunning to avenge his Paris Olympics loss and last year’s US Open debacle, which ended in a horrid performance. He has reasons to feel optimistic after dominating the Tour two months before the Olympics, but that Paris match and the loss to Gael Monfils in Cincinnati have been rough. One shouldn't doubt him, but it seems like he's trending downward recently.

Jannik Sinner hopes to continue his winning ways after winning the Cincinnati Open trophy. He was away from the sport recently due to a battle with tonsillitis, and it's been a while since we have seen him play superb tennis. He kind of found that in Cincinnati, but these days, most people are talking about the doping thing.

The Italian will have lots of eyeballs on him in light of his recent doping saga, but his tennis is what is most interesting to fans. In any case, it promises to be quite eventful on and off the court, so let’s waste no time and get into this breakdown by draw quarters.

We’re going to start with Jannik Sinner because he is the number one seed and the first player in the draw. The first quarter is pretty fascinating, with many great players in there. Sinner, of course, is the main favourite to be one of the two players in the quarter-finals of this quarter, and it’s mostly because he’s been so good this year.

The Italian has arguably been the best hard court player all year, winning multiple trophies on the surface. He also won the last hard court Slam, but we have to note that he’s never made the semi-final in New York, which is a bit odd. The major obstacles to doing that this year are a couple of players who are with him this quarter.

Sinner is most likely to face Daniil Medvedev in the quarter-final here. The Russian won his only Grand Slam in New York and reached the final last year. He’s also beaten Sinner in their most recent match at Wimbledon, though the Italian has had some really good showings against him on hard courts in the past.

Stefanos Tsisipas is also in this part of the draw, and he’s likely to face Daniil Medvedev for that quarter-final spot where Sinner will probably wait. Outside of those players, Sinner will mostly have to battle a few Americans as he takes on Mackenzie McDonald in the first round and Alex Michelsen in the 3rd round. Overall, it’s not the most complicated draw for him but certainly tricky enough that he will need to be at his best. Americans at the US Open are notoriously tricky to beat and every year we have one surprise run at least.

The second quarter doesn’t lag behind the first in any way because this is the quarter where Carlos Alcaraz is located. The Spaniard is one of the favourites for this event as he’s already won it once. He won the last two Grand Slams and will also be eyeing this one, though a few worthy challengers need to be mentioned. First among them will be Denis Shapovalov, who is not on Alcaraz’s level but a tricky player to beat.

Jack Draper could be waiting in the third round, and that’s a player who has already beaten Alcaraz this year. It’s a bit different on hard courts, but the Brit has demonstrated himself to be a really strong player in New York with one good run in the past, so Alcaraz will need his best to find a solution there.

The latter part of his quarter doesn’t look too complicated, though some really nice players are in there. Sebastian Korda is one to watch because the American will play at home with heavy crowd support. He also showed a high level in Washington, so he can be quite dangerous. Hubert Hurkacz is another player who is quite annoying to play against because he doesn’t allow you to find much rhythm with the short rallies he prefers. Overall, it was a pretty interesting quarter, with Alcaraz being by far the best player and likely to come out of it as the top name.

This next one is pretty interesting because on the one hand, we have Casper Ruud, who has played in a US Open final before, and on the other hand, we have Alexander Zverev, who has also played in a US Open final before. Being in the final isn’t so much a surprise for Zverev, who has historically played pretty well in New York but it is a bit for Ruud. What helped him in previous years is that the US Open didn't play as fast as it could have played. That changes this year and it directly impacts his chances.

As for Zverev, the serve is just a major weapon for him and creates all sorts of problems for his opponents. He’s also just a wall in most rallies, rarely committing errors, which makes it even harder to play against him. The German has adopted a more aggressive style this year, and it’s worked really well. He’s certainly favoured coming out of this quarter over Ruud, though he has some land mines in his path. He faces Emil Ruusuvuori in the opening round and the Finnish player is a nightmare to play against. He also has Mpetschi Perricard early on, another nightmare to play against. Overall, it’s only really Holger Rune that might prove to be a really tough challenge and depends on if he plays well.

Casper Ruud hasn’t been playing great tennis lately, and despite a positive track record here, he’s unlikely to really change those fortunes here. Taylor Fritz is a name to watch in his side of the quarter. He’s had some really good performances here in the past, but the courts are playing as fast as they have ever played this year, and he won’t like that very much. He’s unlikely to challenge either Zverev or Fritz here but stranger things have happened so who knows. He has a good forehand which can do some damage.

Projected quarter-final: Alexander Zverev vs Taylor Fritz

As always, the fourth quarter is the home quarter of the second seed. At this year’s US Open, it’s Novak Djokovic, and he’s going to have a lot of attention on him. People want to see whether the Paris Olympics win over Alcaraz was real. We know he can play good tennis, but that was something else, it was the Djokovic of old. We haven’t seen him much of this version of him this year, and people will be closely following if it makes an apperance here.

He’s also going to be very motivated in New York because he has a chance to win that 25th Grand Slam, which nobody ever did. In any case, the Serbian will have some early problems. Alexei Popyrin is a likely third-round match, and he’s been playing superb tennis lately. Ben Shelton is also in his quarter, and that’s going to be a complicated match.

They played a really fascinating one last year in the semi-final, with the American giving Djokovic quite a few problems at times. It’s a surface where these players can hurt him with their massive serves, and the quickness of play might also be a factor. Outside of Shelton, Andrey Rublev is the most dangerous opponent.

The Russian has being having an odd year. He played super strong tennis at times but was also pretty bad overall. He generally doesn’t play his best at Grand Slams, and he’s had a tough time against Djokovic. Overall, there are some dangers for the Serbian, but he should be able to power through.

Overall, it promises to be a really interesting event. Novak Djokovic will be the main story, with potential history on the line, but there have never been more players capable of beating him, so we're in for a treat.