"I don't think Coco is in my top three": Roddick shares US Open favourites

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.

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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.”

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“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.”

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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.”

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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.