The women’s singles draw of the U.S. Open is without Serena Williams, and
four of the top five seeds have never won a Grand Slam title. Five of the top
11 men in the ranking, including last year’s finalists, Stan Wawrinka and
Novak Djokovic, will miss the tournament because of injuries. So
opportunities abound for less-decorated players to make their mark in
Flushing Meadows.
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Madison Keys
Keys, 22, is reunited with her coach Lindsay Davenport and seems to be fully
recovered from wrist surgery late last year. Her rising level of play makes
her a serious threat to contend for her first major championship. At the
tournament in Stanford, Calif., this summer, she overpowered Garbiñe
Muguruza and Coco Vandeweghe to win the title.
Keys, seeded 15th, has one of the game’s best serves, which she hits with a
beautiful, flowing motion that generates tremendous speed and spin. Her
ground game is balanced and powerful as she looks to dominate her opponent
with flat, penetrating strokes that allow her to move forward and control
court positioning. Since returning from wrist surgery, Keys looks more
comfortable attacking the net. With Davenport’s steadying influence, she
seems ready to navigate the treacherous path through a Grand Slam draw.
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Ekaterina Makarova
Makarova, a former top-10 player, has seen her singles ranking fall as she
focused on winning the Olympic gold medal in doubles with Elena Vesnina last
summer. She has had an excellent North American hardcourt season, winning the
Washington Open and scoring victories over No. 2 Simona Halep, No. 6
Angelique Kerber and No. 7 Johanna Konta. The 5-foot-9 Makarova uses a wicked
left-handed slice serve to pull opponents off the court, then hits her best
shot, a two-handed backhand, into the open court, a devastating one-two punch.
Ranked 38th, Makarova will be unseeded in New York, but she is playing well
enough to score a few upsets. After winning the Wimbledon doubles
championship with Vesnina last month, Makarova, 29, set her sights on winning
her first Grand Slam singles title. With the women’s game lacking a clear
favorite, Makarova has the game and the experience to contend at the Open.
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Sloane Stephens
Her ranking plummeted to the 300s after she was sidelined by foot surgery to
repair a stubborn stress fracture. She experienced some early-round losses in
her first few tournaments since returning this summer, but Stephens has gone
on a tear recently, reaching the semifinals of the Rogers Cup in Toronto and
in Cincinnati last week. In Toronto, she took out a trio of left-handers,
defeating Petra Kvitova, Kerber and Lucie Safarova before losing to Caroline
Wozniacki.
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Now ranked 84th, Stephens, 24, is a bold player, a shotmaker who can
transform a backcourt rally at any time with an audacious, risky shot. She
revels in the big-match atmosphere in New York, and she will be buoyed by the
boisterous, appreciative crowd.
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Grigor Dimitrov
Dimitrov, 26, dominated the field to win his first Masters 1000 tournament in
Cincinnati last week. He had five straight-set victories and held serve 52
out of 53 times. Dimitrov, a lithe Bulgarian, has long been compared to Roger
Federer and covers the court with the same ease and seeming effortlessness.
Under the tutelage of Dani Vallverdu, Dimitrov is having the best year of his
career, cracking the top 10 and competing at a consistently high level.
In the semifinals of the Australian Open, Dimitrov had double break point at
4-4 in the fifth set against Rafael Nadal, but Nadal elevated his game to
stave off the upset. Against Nick Kyrgios in the Cincinnati final, Dimitrov
played a calm, purposeful match, holding serve and using a short slice
backhand crosscourt to keep the ball away from Kyrgios’s forehand. With his
improved mental game and shrewd use of tactics, the seventh-seeded Dimitrov
has matured into a player capable of winning the United States Open title.
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Nick Kyrgios
On his way to the Cincinnati final, Kyrgios upset Nadal in straight sets,
serving bombs and outhitting Nadal from the baseline. What was striking about
Kyrgios’s performance at the tournament was the absence of outbursts. He
kept his volcanic temper in check and played his best tennis of the year.
Rather than fume and scream after a lost point, Kyrgios applauded his
opponents’ winners and moved on to the next point. The improved mental game
was evident in the Nadal match when Kyrgios was broken while serving for the
match. He kept his cool and promptly broke a stunned Nadal at love.
Kyrgios, 22, can serve north of 140 miles an hour and follows that up with a
lethal forehand, hit with astonishing racket-head speed that generates heavy
topspin and force. But Kyrgios, the No. 14 seed and a possible fourth-round
opponent for Federer, can also grind out longer baseline exchanges with a
surprisingly high shot tolerance. If he can continue to tame his demons,
Kyrgios can beat anyone in the draw.
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Denis Shapovalov
Shapovalov, 18, electrified the tennis world by upsetting Juan Martín del
Potro and Nadal in Montreal this month. His run to the semifinals heralded
the arrival of a future champion, as Shapovalov, a left-handed Canadian,
displayed remarkable grit and spirit in addition to incredible ball-striking.
Against Nadal, he had multiple opportunities to falter, but he seized the win
with brilliant execution under pressure.
Shapovalov, who earned a spot in the Open main draw through qualifying, has a
strong serve and a rock-solid one-handed backhand, but he looks to dominate
points with his best shot, an inside-out lefty forehand that he used to
bludgeon the Nadal backhand. With his backward baseball cap and irrepressible
enthusiasm, Shapovalov looks like the teenager he is, but he plays with
maturity and self belief.