Starting Monday Aug 27, the final Grand Slam event of the tennis season gets underway at 
Flushing Meadow, New York as the world’s top players convene to try and play their way to victory at the US Open.
In this preview, we will learn a little more about the event, its history and also the top seeds competing in the Men’s and Women’s tournaments. We’ll also take a look back at which players have enjoyed success in the Grand Slam events already this season, before we give you our tips for the winners of both male and female tournaments.
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Let’s now learn a little more about the event and its history before we take a closer look at the men’s and women’s tournaments.
The US Open – A Historical View
This year’s tournament will be the 138th edition contested and takes place at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, New York.
The event has been held at this venue since 1978 and prior to that from 1915 to 1977, it was held at the West Side Tennis Club. From 1881 to 1914, it was initially held at Newport Casino.
Prior to 1975, the US Open had been held on grass courts, but in 1975 that switched to clay courts although the changed was only short-lived as by 1978, the tournament had moved to its current venue and would now be contested on hard courts.
Jimmy Connors has the distinction of being the only player in the history of the game who has won the US Open on grass, clay and hard courts.
The tournament is the fourth Grand Slam of the year and is traditionally played over the last weekend of August and into September, encompassing Labor Day weekend in the United States. A total of $53,000,000 in prize money is available to be won. Both men’s and women’s champions in 2018 will receive a record $3,800,000 for winning the tournament.
The current defending champions are Rafael Nadal of Spain in the men’s tournament and United States star Sloane Stephens in the women’s.
All records outlined below are from the Open Era in tennis (which began in 1968)
Most Men’s Singles Titles – Jimmy Connors, Pete Sampras and Roger Federer – 5 each
(Richard Sears, Bill Larned and Bill Tiden won seven titles each before the Open Era in tennis)
Most Women’s Singles Titles – Chris Evert and Serena Williams – 6 each
(Molla Bjurstedt Mallor won eight titles before the Open Era in tennis)
The 2018 tournament will be the final US Open that has 32 seeds, as from 2019 the tournament will revert back to having just 16 seeds. The US Open is also the only Grand Slam tournament which will see a tie-break used to decide the outcome of the fifth set, rather than the players playing until one player wins by two clear games.
US Open – Men’s Singles Seeds and Tips
2018 Men’s Singles Grand Slam Winners
- Australian Open – Roger Federer (Swi)
- French Open – Rafael Nadal (Spa)
- Wimbledon – Novak Djokovic (Ser)
Men’s Seeds
- Radael Nadal (Spain)
- Roger Federer (Switzerland)
- Juan Martin del Potro (Argentina)
- Alexander Zverev (Germany)
- Kevin Anderson (South Africa)
- Novak Djokovic (Serbia)
- Marin Cilic (Croatia)
- Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria)
- Dominic Thiem (Austria)
- David Goffin (Belgium)
- John Isner (United States)
- Pablo Carreno Busta (Spain)
- Diego Schwartzmann (Argentina)
- Fabio Fognini (Italy)
- Stefanos Tsitsipas (Greece)
- Kyle Edmund (Great Britain)
- Lucas Pouille (France)
- Jack Sock (United States)
- Roberto Bautista Agut (Spain)
- Borna Coric (Serbia)
- Kei Nishikori (Japan)
- Marco Cecchinato (Italy)
- Chung Hyeon (South Korea)
- Damir Dzumhur (Bosnia Herzegovina)
- Milos Raonic (Canada)
- Richard Gasquet (France)
- Karen Khachanov (Russia)
- Denis Shapovalov (Canada)
- Adrian Mannarino (France)
- Nick Kyrgios (Australia)
- Fernando Verdasco (Spain)
- Filip Krajnovic (Serbia)
Men’s Tips
The men’s tournament does seem to be a little more open than the previous two Grand Slam events, although it is worth noting that the ‘big three’ of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic have all landed the top prizes in men’s tennis so far this year.
Of course, these three will be the favourites in the betting as is outlined below as they are well clear of the other top contenders in the men’s event.
For me, I think Novak Djokovic is the pick here. Federer’s strengths on grass are not quite so prevalent on the hard court and the same is true of Nadal’s power on clay compared to the harder, faster surface. Djokovic showed at Wimbledon he is slowly getting back to top form and he is the man to beat here for me.
For an outside bet in the men’s perhaps as an each way punt, then Stan Wawrinka at 33/1 is a decent each way option. The Swiss ace has a solid hard-court game, is a grand slam winner and is recovering well from some health issues which dogged him over the past few years.
US Open – Women’s Singles Seeds and Tips
2018 Women’s Singles Grand Slam Winners
- Australian Open – Carolina Wozniacki (Den)
- French Open – Simona Halep (Rom)
- Wimbledon – Angelique Kerber (Ger)
Women’s Seeds
- Simona Halep (Romania)
- Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark)
- Sloane Stephens (United States)
- Angelique Kerber (Germany)
- Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic)
- Caroline Garcia (France)
- Elina Svitolina (Ukraine)
- Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic)
- Julia Gorges (Germany)
- Jelena Ostapenko (Latvia)
- Daria Kasatkina (Russia)
- Garbine Muguruza (Spain)
- Kiki Bertens (the Netherlands)
- Madison Keys (United States)
- Elise Mertens (Belgium)
- Venus Williams (United States)
- Serena Williams (United States)
- Ashleigh Barty (Australia)
- Anastasija Sevastova (Latvia)
- Naomi Osaka (Japan)
- Mihaela Buzarnescu (Romania)
- Maria Sharapova (Russia)
- Barbora Strycova (Czech Republic)
- CoCo Vanderweghe (United States)
- Daria Gavrilova (Australia)
- Aryna Sabalenka (Belarus)
- Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Russia)
- Anett Kontaveit (Estonia)
- Dominika Cibulkova (Serbia)
- Carla Suarez Navarro (Spain)
- Magdalena Rybarikova (Serbia)
- Maria Sakkari (Greece)
Women’s Tips
Like all the Grand Slam events this year for the top women, this is a much more open field than in the men’s event and you can make a case for almost anyone in the top 16 having a real chance of winning the title. Serena Williams has shown great form since returning from having her baby but she is still not quite at her very best but she is the home pick here and the current favourite.
For me though I think last year’s winner Sloane Stephens at 10/1 is the best United States pick, but I think having broken her duck at the French Open, I am expecting Simona Halep at 13/2 to end the season on a high with her second Grand Slam win of the year.
For an outside bet, Madison Keys, the talented young American, is a very decent option at 20/1 in what is a very open women’s singles tournament.
