Andy Roddick has chosen
Aryna Sabalenka as the top favourite to win the
US Open
and discussed the main contenders for the title. The former world No. 1 spoke
with John Wertheim on the podcast
Served with Roddick and analysed the
chances of players such as
Iga Swiatek,
Coco Gauff, and others.
After the
conclusion of the WTA 1000 Canadian Open and Cincinnati Open, Roddick sees
these as good indicators of who arrives in the best form for the final Slam of
the year. The recent champion in Cincinnati was Sabalenka, who defeated Jessica
Pegula in the final, with Pegula having won in Toronto just a week earlier.
“I think
there's a clear favourite on the women's side, I don’t often say that. I think
Sabalenka is the clear favourite, I picked her,” Roddick began. “I chose
Sabalenka to win Wimbledon, and then she pulled out the next day, so yeah. But
I'm doubling down—I think she is the clear favourite on the women's side.”
The 2003 US
Open champion spoke about the defending champion Coco Gauff, noting that she
isn’t one of the main contenders due to her current form: “She has won here
before, she does have the crowd behind her, but she has not played well this
summer. I love Coco; she's one of my favourite people. She’s searching for
something. Expectations are fine when you're full of confidence, but they
become tougher when you're not.”
Coco Gauff after won the 2023 US Open
“I think we
all love Coco, but I don't think she would be in my top three or four right
now,” Roddick said. “Jessie Pegula has played unbelievably well these last
couple of weeks, winning in Canada and then following up—it's not easy to win
both or make finals in Canada and Cincinnati back-to-back weeks. She's gotten
exactly what she needed out of this summer lead-up.”
“I do think
there's a little bit of a thing—she's never been past the quarters of a Grand
Slam. That is a question that she will hear about a lot if she wants to make it
past the quarters of a Slam.”
Regarding
the world No. 1 Iga Swiatek, he praised her as the best player in the world,
but Roddick mentioned that she’s not yet clearly the best player on hard
courts: “Iga Swiatek is always in the conversation; she is the best player in
the world. It’s just a matter of ‘Is she the best fast-court player in the
world?’ I think that is still up for debate. She’s the most dominant player on
clay, you know, one of the most dominant players ever on clay, but I do think
Sabalenka’s game translates better to fast-court surfaces.”
Roddick
identified two other players to watch out for, who could make strong runs at
the US Open, even if they aren’t favourites: “I just want to say the
name—Jasmine Paolini. She could reach a third straight major final and win a
gold in doubles at the Olympics, so she’s great.
Mirra Andreeva—she's a name
that will win a Slam. I don't know if it's going to be in the next two weeks,
but it wouldn't stun me if she made a run to the finals.”
On
potential strong runs from local players, Roddick mentioned
Danielle Collins,
who has already won a title this year at the WTA 1000 Miami Open: “This is her
last Grand Slam; this is a surface she loves, so that can go either way when
you haven't dealt with something before. I retired at this tournament—not an
easy thing,” Roddick stated.
“I wouldn't
be surprised if emotions got hold of her, and you all of a sudden think back
over your entire life and think, ‘I don't get to do this again on this stage,’
she's going to play out the rest of the year,” he added. “She has been in form.
I love that story, especially if she starts progressing—quarters, semi-finals,
which I think is a realistic scenario.”
Finally, he
picked
Amanda Anisimova as one of the players no one would want to face in the
draw: “Sleeper—no one wants to see her in the first round. She's ranked 49 in
the world currently, was ranked outside of the top 100 like 10 days ago. A ball
striker, has made the semis of a Grand Slam before, and took some time away to
deal with some mental anxiety issues—props to her. She's back playing well
again.”
“We're
happy to see her back. I think she is on the shortlist of people that no one
wants to see,” Roddick added. “Listen, if your ankle hurts and you treat it, no
one says anything. If your brain hurts, I think you should treat it too,” he
concluded.