Familiar faces sit atop the men’s and women’s favorites at the 2015 US Open from New York, NY. Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams are ranked above their respective peers for good reason this year. Their results have been nothing short of superb and it’s become quite clear that they’re both prolonging the primes of their careers.
Novak Djokovic (EVEN) is slated to walk away with the trophy for the men, while Serena (-150) looks to be a sure bet on the women’s side.
THE JOKER
At the age of 28, Novak has accomplished a sensational amount. He’s won 9 majors (5 – Australian Open, 3 – Wimbledon, 1 – US Open) and will now compete for his second US Open title at Flushing Meadows. Aside from his past career totals, 2015 has also been very kind to ‘The Joker’. He beat Andy Murray for his fifth Australian Open title. He finished second to Switzerland’s Stan Wawrinka at the French Open and won his third Wimbledon title beating Roger Federer in four sets.
Djokovic also enters the US Open coming off a second place finish against Andy Murray in Montreal, QUE at the Rogers Cup.
THE QUEEN
Though she’s less than a month away from her 34th birthday (September 26th), Serena Williams has showed very few signs of slowing down. While her pace is still as quick as ever, she has displayed a little more caution this year with preventive injury measures. Williams has withdrawn from the Italian Open, Indian Wells and Swedish Open due to soreness in each.
This could be accredited to age, but more likely this accounts to extended preparation for the season’s biggest tournaments. Serena has been fantastic at the majors in 2015. She beat Maria Sharapova in straight sets to take the Australian Open in February. She then took out Lucie Safarova at Roland Garros for her third French Open title. Then this past July, she was too much for Gabrine Muguruza, as she went straight sets for her sixth Wimbledon crown.
THE CONTENDERS
On the men’s side, look out for the well-rested Roger Federer. The 34-year-old has started to show his age a little bit, but he seems to be peaking this season at the opportune time. After his third-round loss at the Australian Open this past winter, he has done nothing but improve finishing as a quarter-finalist at the French Open and finalist at Wimbledon. Federer also recently sat out the Rogers Cup in Montreal, QUE to prepare for Cincinnati (where he played some superb tennis to beat Djokovic and clinch the title) and the US Open.
Andy Murray of course is on everyone’s radar to capture his second US Open title. Murray has not had his most decorated year by any means, but he’s been a two-time semi-finalist at majors this year and a one-time finalist – losing to Novak Djokovic in Melbourne. He does have two tournament wins this summer alone, taking the Queen’s Club Championships in June and Rogers Cup this past month. Also keep in mind that Rogers Cup victory came from defeating number one seed Novak Djokovic.
In women’s singles, Victoria Azarenka has beaten five top ten ranked competitors this season and has pushed Serena to three sets in each of their three meetings this year. The Belarussian’s best major finish came at Wimbledon earlier this summer, when she lost in the quarterfinals to the world number one Williams.
Meanwhile, Maria Sharapova will be another serious contender yet again. Maria lost to Williams at the Australian Open earlier this year, in her lone major finals appearance. Sharapova then lost to Serena again at Wimbledon in the semis, so you know she’ll be anxious and ready in the final major of the 2015 season. Her wins this year came in Brisbane and at the Italian Open in May.
THE SLEEPERS
Keep an eye out for Stan Wawrinka. The silent killer is coming off a victory at the French Open, along with two other tournament victories this season. Wawrinka beat Djokovic at Roland Garros after going through Jo-Wilfred Tsonga and Roger Federer. It wasn’t an easy road for the young Swiss, but it’s not the first time he’s had to battle through a gauntlet. At the international BNL d’Italia, he took out Rafael Nadal in straight sets before being ousted by Roger Federer. While in Rotterdam, he had to battle through Milos Raonic and Tomas Berdych to take the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament title.
Wawrinka is used to shocking the world and he could keep that habit alive this September.
Meanwhile on the women’s end, look out for 18-year old Swiss Belinda Bencic. The teenager is entering the US Open after shocking world number one seed Serena Williams, along with fellow top ten seeders Ana Ivanovic and Caroline Wozniacki at the Rogers Cup in Toronto, ON. Bencic is sitting at +2,500 right now, which could be a steal considering the way she’s been playing as of late.
Now while she’ll likely compete, there is a chance Bencic may not participate in the US Open following a nearly exit from the WTA Western and Southern Open in Cincinatti, OH. If this is the case, Caroline Wozniacki could be the one to watch outside of the major contenders. Wozniacki is a hard court specialist and has beaten five top ten opponents this season. She’s made it to the fourth-round at Wimbledon five times (including this year) and has been in the US Open final twice (including last year).
She lost to Serena in straight sets in 2014 and would love to see the final round again to end the 2015 major season.
To see all our predictions for upcoming matches, based on our machine learning model analysing results since 1960, see our tennis predictions page here.
