FITZGERALD: “On the last couple of years of history, I’d quickly say Sabalenka and if you’d asked me this a year ago, I would’ve said that she’s the best hardcourt player in the world. I think that court just suits her. The ball comes onto the racket and it’s in her hitting zone and she’s all power. She’s already a great player, but to make her an all-time player, I think she’s gotta keep developing a few more nuances, winning points in different ways.”
PRATT: “I think Sabalenka will likely make the semifinals, but it depends a little on the draw and who she draws as a potential quarter. There are some dangerous players ranked No.5-No.12 including Rybakina, Anisimova and Paolini.”
REA: “I think Sabalenka’s going to be right around the mark. I think she’ll get conditions to suit her here – the courts and balls are lively enough. She will have reenergised, refocused and reprioritised what she needs to do in her game through the preparation phase and into Cincinnati, so I’d expect Sabalenka to be in the last four, if not beyond and right in the mix to hold up the trophy at the end of the fortnight.”
Iga Swiatek looks to have broken the shackles following her Wimbledon triumph after claiming the silverware in Cincinnati. If not the Pole or Sabalenka, who is best placed to land the title in New York?
MASUR: “You look at Iga, well, she seems to be back. I always think the US Open is a bit tougher for her because it’s a little bit faster and some of the girls can get that ball hard and fast into her forehand. The interesting one is Coco Gauff. She seems to have these serving woes that have crept back in when it was something that looked like she was kind of moving forward on. Isn’t she a tough cookie though. The hardest thing in tennis is when you’re not playing your best sometimes you get really despondent, but she puts it all behind her. I put Swiatek and Rybakina in a little group a millimetre behind Sabalenka. Madison Keys is probably struggling a bit. I always think she’s a great hard-court player though. Maybe that Montreal final is a real fillip for Naomi Osaka and she starts to show us the kind of form that was winning Slams. The really interesting one is Victoria Mboko. I watched her at the French and thought, ‘Oh my god, this girl is good’.
FOURLIS: “Looking at the list of players – Keys, Anisimova, Pegula – there’s a lot of Americans that have had a good last couple of months, but I think from Iga’s perspective, momentum is so big in tennis and she’s definitely shown that the last couple of weeks after Wimby and at Cincinnati and she has a lot of belief now that everything’s going right. I think she’ll continue to try to ride that momentum, that wave through the whole US swing.”