Alcaraz’s withdrawal means we don’t get the excitement of seeing if a men’s player can win the USO as his debut slam and then follow it up for the first time with an AO title.
So, what excitement could we get?
That depends on who you’re a fan of I guess. Djokovic fans must be in heaven right now. Their player is getting the full redemption narrative with Nick Kyrgios supporting him with their Friday night exhibition and Craig Tiley asking fans to refrain from jeering the fourth seed.
Djokovic got a nice draw, too. Really nice.
Djokovic’s draw from 3r: Dimitrov/Busta/Rune or Kyrgios/Ruud (with 8th seed Fritz lurking)/ Nadal.
As an idealist, I do think Dimitrov could be tricky and then there’s Busta who’s not afraid of Djokovic. Rune in the quarters could be tought too.
However, as a realist, Djokovic has to be the favorite. Yes, some of these players could bother him, but they’re unproven at doing it to him at this elite level. (Okay, Rune beat him in the Paris-Bercy final, but this is five sets and a slam). Unless we count with the help of divine interference like Busta got at the 2020 USO.
Some help from the tennis Gods might come to these players anyway. There has been talk of a Djokovic hamstring injury, but we’ve been here before with the Serbian and his ailments and let’s hope his opponents don’t get psyched out.
If you’re a Nadal fan, you could be in for some ride. Since his USO loss to Tiafoe, he’s 1-6. He got an okay draw, not as easy as some and not that great for a top seed.
Nadal’s draw from r3: Nishioka/ Tiafoe/ Medvedev/ Tsitsipas/ Ruud.
His winning would be a surprise, but then again, last year he managed to sneak one up on us, and he could do it again. We’ll be a lot more informed after his first round with Jack Draper. That’s one of the trickier first round matches you could get right now with Draper just breaking into the top forty.
Elsewhere, fans of the next gen will be hoping for Sinner, FAA and Ruud to make something happen. They all have the potential and I’ll be following their paths in later posts. Next Gen have started to deliver now with Alcaraz being no.1 and the USO champ so it’ll be interesting to see how they handle themselves in this first slam of 2023.
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