This year's US Open is a cool one. It's the 50th anniversary of the Open Era, which is enough reason for celebration. But that's only part of the fun. This year also marks the debut of the new Louis Armstrong Stadium, which gives the US Open its second retractable roof. I'll admit, I'll miss the old one. I'm not old enough to remember it being the main stadium (my first US Open was 1998, the year after Ashe opened), but I still have plenty of memories from the old Armstrong. And it'll definitely be weird to walk on the grounds and not see that USTA museum in the corner of the stadium where you could wait during a rain delay.
But it's kinda fitting that the new stadium opens in time for the 50th anniversary US Open and the 40th anniversary of the National Tennis Center. The grounds have been completely transformed over the last five years in preparation for this anniversary, and it's cost the USTA plenty.
Although, I must say I'm not a fan of one of the corresponding changes for this year's US Open. They're going to have dedicated night sessions at both Ashe and Armstrong, which makes sense (the Australian Open does the same thing at its two main stadiums). No problem with that. I have a big problem, though, with their decision to reduce day sessions on Ashe from three matches to two.
In a way I kinda get it. ESPN for some reason, despite being the "exclusive home" of the US Open, didn't start coverage until 12, even though play started at 11, which didn't make much sense. Now play and coverage will start at the same time. Likewise, a long men's match that made the day session last into when the night session was supposed to start created all kinds of headaches as they tried to empty the stadium quickly so that the 25,000 people with night-session tickets could get in.
Here's why I have a problem with it, though. Tickets still cost the same (maybe even more). And US Open tickets are ridiculously expensive! So, you're not really getting much value for that $75 ticket if the two day matches inside Ashe are blowouts. Yes, they'd theoretically move a third match in if play is done by, say 3:30. But the value of an Arthur Ashe ticket in the early rounds provides you significantly less value than it used to...especially since, with only four matches on Ashe, the top players will be all over the grounds that first week.
Case in point, defending women's champion Sloane Stephens, former men's champs Andy Murray and Juan Martin Del Potro, women's No. 1 Simona Halep and two-time finalist Vika Azarenka are all playing on Armstrong on Monday. Just Nadal, the Williams sisters and an excellent Stan Wawrinka-Grigor Dimitrov match are on Ashe. And I think it's safe to say Tuesday's Ashe schedule will likely only include the names Federer, Djokovic, Wozniacki and Sharapova.
Speaking of Djokovic and Federer, they have to be the two biggest favorites on the men's side. Novak is definitely back from the injuries that forced him to miss last year's US Open. He won Wimbledon and the US Open Series event in Cincinnati, where he beat Federer in the final. Roger, believe it or not, is looking for his first US Open title since his five-in-a-row string ended a decade ago. But we all know what Roger's capable of.
Since Djokovic is only seeded sixth, either Federer or Nadal was potentially gonna end up drawing him in the quarters. Well, it was Roger that drew the short straw, which sets up what could be a tremendous Wednesday-night quarterfinal between those two heavyweights (it reminds me of Sampras-Agassi in 2001). Get your tickets now! Those ones will most definitely be worth it.
Last year they had that idiotic scenario where Roger and Rafa were in the same side of the draw, even though they were the top two players. Fortunately, that won't happen this year. And, even if we do get withdrawals, there are plenty of other big names actually in the draw this year that it won't make too much of a difference.
Nadal is the defending champion, but I think it'll be a very difficult road for him to defend (for starters, I didn't go last year, but I am this year). He's got plenty of healthy challengers to contend with, starting with Juan Martin Del Potro, who he beat in the semis last year, and Wimbledon finalist Kevin Anderson, his US Open final opponent in 2017. That's also where John Isner and Andy Murray are hanging out. Meanwhile, joining Federer and Djokovic in the bottom half of the draw is former champ Marin Cilic.
I've got the Federer-Djokovic winner winning the entire thing. And I think that'll be Djokovic. He beats Del Potro in the final, with Nadal and Cilic joining them in the semis.
On the women's side, the big story is that the Williams sisters could end up meeting in the third round, their earliest Grand Slam matchup in nearly 20 years. Serena's run to the Wimbledon final got her ranking closer in line to where it should be, so she was only bumped up eight places in the seedings here. That only bumped her up to 17, though, which was appropriate, since it didn't move her into the next seed block (which would've bumped Venus down). But, as a result, No. 16 Venus and No. 17 Serena ended up with each other in the third round...with the winner getting No. 1 Simona Halep in the fourth round.
That draw obviously favors the rest of the women in the field much more than it does the Williams sisters. And we've got a lot of top women showing up at Flushing Meadows with confidence. After all Sloane Stephens' win here last year started a string of three straight first-time Grand Slam champions, and the other two (Halep and Caroline Wozniacki) are the top two seeds. Let's not forget, too, 2016 champion Angelique Kerber won Wimbledon and is starting to look like the No. 1 player she used to be.
So, yeah, once again we've got a wide-open women's tournament. I'm gonna go with Woz. She's a two-time finalist here, and now that she's a Grand Slam champ, I think she finally takes her game to another level and gets that US Open title she's always looked destined to win.
We're unlikely to see a repeat of last year's All-American semis. In fact, I don't have a single American woman reaching the semifinals. I've got Wozniacki beating Kerber, while my other semi is Karolina Pliskova (who beats Serena in the quarters) vs. Julia Goerges (who beats Stephens), with Pliskova as Wozniacki's final opponent.
Either way, this US Open is guaranteed to be historic. They'll honor every living US Open champion at the Opening Ceremony on Monday night. Will somebody new join them? Or will it be historic for another reason? Roger would set a record with his sixth, while Serena is still looking to tie the women's all-time record with her 24th overall. Just some of the storylines to follow at the 2018 US Open.
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