Whether you’re a fan of Canada or USA, there is plenty to cheer for at the upcoming “home” grand slam. Here are the top North American men’s singles players to keep an eye out for at the US Open this year.
1. John Isner
Source: Aug. 30, 2018 – Matthew Stockman/Getty Images North America
As the highest-ranked American and current world number 16, John is coming into the US Open with a great amount of confidence. Being back on home soil and reaching the final of the Miami Open earlier in 2019 only adds to his momentum. Although his summer season has seen some ups and downs with injury and early-round losses, we think John is ready for a turnaround. The North Carolinian had a stellar season in 2018, reaching his first grand slam semifinal at Wimbledon, his first quarterfinal appearance at the US Open and his first finish in the top 10 ATP rankings. Let’s see if he can capitalize on his hard court success and bring one home for America!
2. Felix Auger-Aliassime
Source: Aug 9, 2019 – Peter Staples/ATP Tour
This young stud has had one heck of a year. The 19-year-old has been on a hot streak, becoming the youngest ever ATP 500 finalist at the Rio Open, the youngest ever semifinalist at the Miami Open, and reaching 3 ATP finals in one season. Now standing at number 19 in the ATP rankings, he will be a top 20 seed at the US Open for the first time in his career. Pretty impressive, right? This youngin’ has a big game and we’re cheering for him to be the first #NextGenerationATP grand slam champion.
3. Milos Raonic
The 28-year-old has had a slow, injury-filled year. Milos has seen some better days in 2019, when he reached the semifinals of Indian Wells and the 4th round of Wimbledon, but his most recent campaign at the Rogers Cup was cut short once again. With a veteran coach, Fabric Santoro by his side, we’re hoping this huge-hitting Canadian can make a deep run and stay healthy to finish off the season strong.
4. Taylor Fritz
Source: Jul. 27, 2019 – @usopen twitter
Fritz has had a surge of a year to say the least. Impressively, he is now the second highest ranked American just behind John Isner. He had a strong finish to the 2018 season and his success continued into 2019. Early on, he captured his fifth ATP Challenger title in Newport Beach, successfully defending his title. He also made it to the finals of the Atlanta Open, Los Cabos Open and Eastbourne International. Growing up on the hard courts in Southern California, we think this 21-year-old will be one to watch out for.
5. Denis Shapovalov
Source: Aug. 5, 2019 – THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes
The 20-year-old Canadian is currently ranked in the top 40 and is mature beyond his years. 2017 and 2018 were successful seasons for the young gun, thanks to the hard court US Open summer tournament series. 2019 has been a good year for his hard court escapades, reaching the 4th round of Indian Wells and the semifinals of the Miami Open. Though the grass and clay seasons were a struggle, he seems to be back in solid form on the US hard courts. Plus he’s teaming up with former world number 8, Mikhail Youzhny, just in time for the next grand slam. Not afraid of the big stage, we have a feeling this young Canadian is ready to reach the top of his game in New York.
6. Reilly Opelka
Source: Jul. 23, 2019 – Alex Smith/BB&T Atlanta Open
The 6’11” Michigan native has been making a giant impact on the ATP tour this season. He started gaining confidence towards the end of 2018 and kept it going into 2019. At the New York Open, in early February, he captured his first ATP singles title defeating top American, John Isner, in the process. At Wimbledon, he reached the 3rd round of a grand slam for the first time in his career, defeating Stan Wawrinka in a hard-fought battle. He continued his winning streak in the US Open series, reaching the semifinals of the Atlanta Open. Something tells us this big-serving American will pull out all the stops to keep his winning trend going.
7. Sam Querrey
The veteran of the Americans is 31-year-old Querrey. He’s been steadily climbing back up the ranks in 2019 with a pretty eventful year. So far he has reached the men’s doubles semifinals at the Australian Open, the men’s singles semifinals at the New York Open, the men’s singles semifinals at the Houston Clay Court Championships, the men’s singles final at Eastbourne International and the men’s singles quarterfinals at Wimbledon. Although he hasn’t played much during the US Open series, we know this experienced American will give us something to root for in NYC.
8. Francis Tiafoe
This youngster is building off his triumphant 2018 season and trying to make his mark in 2019. He started off very well at the Australian Open reaching his first grand slam quarterfinal before falling to eventual runner-up Rafael Nadal. He continued to do well in the early part of the season, reaching the quarterfinals at the Miami Open, quarterfinals at the Estoril Open and 4th round at the Madrid Open. In front of a home crowd again, this 21-year-old will be counting on us to cheer him to victory for a career-breaking performance.
Other male compatriots we’ll be keeping our sights on? Tennys Sandgren, Jack Sock, Steve Johnson, Vasek Pospisil, Mackenzie McDonald, Bradly Klahn and Tommy Paul.
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