US Open preview: Reigning champs Novak Djokovic, Coco Gauff headline final tennis major of 2024 - Schedule, how to watch
Djokovic is coming off of his historic Olympic gold medal at Paris 2024, while Gauff has had a summer to forget. Top seeds are Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek. Here's all you need to know.
Tennis
The Grand Slam tennis season for 2024 ends - as it always does - in New York City.
The top players in the world are set for the US Open in Queens, where Novak Djokovic and Coco Gauff are the defending champions. But the two arrive in the city that doesn't sleep off the back of vastly different summers, as the American Gauff has struggled while Djokovic captured a long-sought-after Olympic gold medal at Paris 2024.
Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek are the respective top seeds of the year's final major, which gets underway on Monday (26 August) and runs for two weeks, through to 8 September.
News came out in recent days that Sinner had tested positive for the banned substance clostebol in March, but that he bore "no fault or negligence," by an independent tribunal.
The Italian, who won his first major at the Australian Open in January and captured the Cincinnati Masters earlier this week (19 August), will face American Mackenzie McDonald in the first round.
The men's draw sees the top two seeds in Sinner and Djokovic on opposite sides of it, while No.3 Carlos Alcaraz, the Olympic silver medallist who won both Roland-Garros and Wimbledon earlier this year, is on the top half with Sinner and No.4 seed Alexander Zverev, the Tokyo 2020 champion, joining Djokovic on the bottom.
Swiatek has 2022 Wimbledon winner Elena Rybakina on her half of the draw, while Gauff is joined by No.2 seed Aryna Sabalenka on the bottom, who was champion in Cincinnati, too.
Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen is seeded seventh, with Sabalenka her seeded quarter-final opponent - a could-be re-match of their Australian Open final from January, which Sabalenka won.
US Open tennis: Three things to watch
The top 128 men's and women's singles players are set to take the hard courts of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, with doubles, mixed doubles and juniors in action, as well. There will be no wheelchair event this year with the Paralympic Games Paris 2024 held concurrently.
Here are three things to watch.
Novak's GOAT status sealed
The tennis GOAT debate feels over: The Serbian superstar sealed his status as "greatest of all time" with his Olympic gold medal in singles, a feat he had long - and openly - sought. Djokovic has the Open Era record of 24 major singles titles won, and with a winning record over rivals Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray, there is appears to be little left for him to accomplish in the game.
Speaking of Federer, Nadal and Murray - none of them will be in New York. Federer and Murray are now retired, and Nadal announced he would skip the Open as he weighs his next step.
A few months ago, Djokovic, undeterred by a knee injury at the French Open, made the Wimbledon final before flipping the script in a nearly three-hour two-set Olympic gold medal tilt with Alcaraz, saying he felt emotions he had never experienced before when he finally claimed his Olympic gold.
The US Open will be his first tournament since Paris.
Can Coco find her NYC mojo?
The 20-year-old American was on a red-hot tear at this point last year, winning titles in Washington, D.C. and Cincinnati in the lead-up to her home major. But the Florida native has struggled over the last two months, going 3-4 across her last seven matches, including a third-round loss to eventual silver medallist Donna Vekic at the Olympics.
Gauff will look to re-capture her New York mojo, opening her tournament against Frenchwoman Varvara Gracheva, with a potential third-round clash against Elina Svitolina looming.
Zheng, Vekic, Musetti eye Olympic bounce
What can an Olympic medal do for one's confidence? That's the question in play for all the tennis podium placers from the Games, but in particular for the Chinese star Zheng, who claimed her nation's first-ever gold in singles. The 21-year-old has a tough test to start: Big-hitting American Amanda Anisimova, who recently made the final at the Toronto Masters.
Women's silver medallist Vekic will look for a similar buoy to her form, the 28-year-old Croatian having been on tour for some 13 years.
Men's bronze medallist Lorenzo Musetti of Italy is in the same camp, too. He opens against huge-serving Reilly Opelka.
US Open tennis: Schedule of play
Matches get underway daily at 1100 local New York time (EDT, GMT -4), with an evening session inside both Arthur Ashe and Louis Armstrong Stadiums at 1900.
A full tournament schedule can be found here. A daily order of play for matches can be found here.
Monday & Tuesday, 26 & 27 August - Men's & women's singles first round
Wednesday & Thursday, 28 & 29 August - Singles second round; doubles underway
Friday & Saturday, 30 & 31 August - Singles third round
Sunday & Monday, 1 & 2 September - Singles fourth round
Tuesday & Wednesday, 3 & 4 September - Singles quarter-finals
Thursday, 5 September
1500 - Women's (or mixed) doubles final
1900 - Women's semi-finals
Friday, 6 September
1200 - Mixed (or women's) doubles final
1500 - Men's semi-final (one of two)
1900 - Men's semi-final (two of two)
Saturday, 7 September
1200 - Men's doubles final
1600 - Women's singles final
Sunday, 8 September
1400 - Men's singles final
US Open tennis: How to watch
The US Open provides full broadcast information for fans here.
Some of the major broadcast partners of the tournament include:
- USA - ESPN
- People's Republic of China - CCTV
- Brazil - sportv
- Australia - Channel Nine & stan sport
- Europe (selected countries) - Sky Sports
- Italy - SuperTennis
- Canada - TSN & RDS
- Spain - Telefonica/Movistar
- Japan - WOWOW
- Tunisia - beIN Sports