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US Open Tennis 2020: Sleepers to Watch, Latest Betting Odds to Win Championship
August 27, 2020
Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams are listed as the unsurprising favorites to win their respective U.S. Open draws.
The two most successful players in the field have a good chance to add to their illustrious resumes in weakened fields.
However, there is a chance some unexpected players try to challenge the storied winners and other major champions in the field.
Some players used the Western & Southern Open as a chance to refine their form and test higher-seeded athletes, while others could benefit from a recent uptick in major championship results to spring some upsets and potentially challenge for the U.S. Open crown.
U.S. Open Odds
Men's Singles
Novak Djokovic (-125, bet $100 to win $80)
Daniil Medvedev (+700, bet $100 to win $700)
Stefanos Tsitsipas (+700)
Dominic Thiem (+1000)
Alexander Zverev (+1700)
Women's Singles
Serena Williams (+650)
Naomi Osaka (+1000)
Karolina Pliskova (+1400)
Petra Kvitova (+1400)
Sofia Kenin (+1600)
Sleepers to Watch
Filip Krajinovic
Filip Krajinovic should enter the U.S. Open with more confidence and better form than most of the other lower-seeded players.
The Serb won a trio of matches at the Western & Southern Open, including a second-round upset of No. 2 seed Dominic Thiem.
The 28-year-old dropped out of the warm-up tournament in the quarterfinals, but he did push Milos Raonic to three sets.
Before the shutdown, Krajinovic produced two semifinal runs at ATP Tour events in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and Montpellier, France. He lost both semifinal matches to Gael Monfils.
He does not have the best history at the USTA National Tennis Center—he has a single second-round appearance in the last three years.
Krajinovic's success on the New York hard courts at the Western & Southern Open and a decent string of results in 2020 could propel him to a deep run over the next few weeks.
The one benefit he and other players in the field have is not many participants on the men's side carry a wealth of major experience, which could give us a wide-open tournament around Djokovic.
Ons Jabeur
Ons Jabeur has knocked off her share of top women's players in 2020.
The Tunisian advanced to the Australian Open quarterfinals by upsetting Johanna Konta in the first round and beating Caroline Wozniacki and Wang Qiang.
She also made waves at the Western & Southern Open by taking out Madison Keys in the second round.
Jabeur eventually fell to Victoria Azarenka in the fourth round, but she pushed the veteran player to a first-set tiebreak.
Since the resumption of play, Jabeur has five victories between the Western & Southern Open and the Top Seed Open in Lexington, Kentucky.
Her string of upsets could help her confidence going into matches against higher seeds and more experienced major champions.
In 2019, Jabeur took out Carolina Garcia in the first round and pushed Karolina Pliskova the distance in the third round in New York.
Jabeur is more of a known quantity than she was a year ago, but she is still flying under the radar with Williams, Pliskova, Sofia Kenin and others favored to take the title.
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Statistics obtained from ATPTour.com and WTATennis.com