US Open 2024 preview: Alcaraz aiming for third slam in a row whilst Novak looks to defend title in New York

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As attention has turned to the early stages of the US Open, with many rookies looking to make a name for themselves before the big players are introduced, what can we expect from this years’ tournament? I spoke to a tennis expert to find out more.

Transcript

00:00And the US Open, obviously, you know, it's getting to this time of year when most of

00:07the majors finish. That's the final one on the calendar this year. I mean, it's a great

00:11occasion for the sport. Why is it so special to go and win this one?

00:17I think it's been such an amazing year. Like, we've had, you know, Yannick Sinner really

00:22being the top player in the first part of the year. Then we've had Alcaraz really, like,

00:28being the best player over the summer. And then suddenly, Novak Djokovic has shown that,

00:33hey, don't forget about me, guys. I'm back. You've also got other players like Mazzetti

00:37in the background as well, and then some Americans like Tommy Paul, who can do a lot of damage

00:42on the hard courts as well. I think it's really incredible to see who's going to win that.

00:47It feels like there's everything to play for. Nobody really knows what to expect. It's really

00:52exciting again now. I think everybody was really kind of mourning the end of the Big

00:55Four and the Big Three. And then it looked like Novak, you know, some people were going,

01:00he's done and dusted now, the knee. Is he ever going to recover? Is he going to go down

01:03like Roger Federer because of the knee? And I think he's shown that he's back now. And

01:08it does remain to be seen how motivated he's going to be now. Is he going to suddenly be

01:12like, oh, my gosh, there's nothing to play for? Or is he going to really sort of revel

01:16in that rivalry with Sinner and Alcaraz for a little while before kind of like seeing

01:21the end of his career through? Yeah, I'm really excited to see what's going to happen

01:26in America.

01:27And who do you think could have the biggest chance of winning? Obviously, Alcaraz has

01:32a chance of going for three slams in a row. I mean, if Novak doesn't win, it'll be the

01:36first time since 2017 that he hasn't won one. Surely, it'll be an interesting match.

01:42Yeah, it will be. I don't think Novak's going to be bothered, to be honest. I mean, he's

01:45still got 24 slams and he wanted the Olympic gold out of the way. I think that was really

01:50just on his mind always and maybe dimming some of the motivation for the slams because

01:55he was always focused on the whole calendar was about that. So I'm not that bothered if

02:01Novak doesn't win it. I mean, I think Sinner and Alcaraz, to be honest, I think they're

02:05the guys to watch. I mean, it'll be interesting to see how Sinner performs now. He's playing

02:09in Montreal. Is he going to be able to, you know, sort of like really get back in the

02:14swing of things? I think he probably feels like he's been missing out on a lot of the

02:18action and maybe he wants to show everybody that, hey, I'm the number one player in the

02:23world. So I think it's really exciting. Alcaraz, obviously, got everything going for him, but

02:28you never know. It's just that one match, you know, somebody can beat you, have a really

02:33good run. You know, players like Thiafoe, you know, there's so many exciting players

02:37that can really go deep at the US Open. So very, very excited to watch that one.

02:43If he stays injury-free, it's frightening to think what Alcaraz is going to do in his

02:48career. And I think he's definitely going to win an Olympic gold. He's probably going

02:51to do it next time, if not, you know, the time after that. And he's got a lot of years

02:55to look forward to.

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