For the past month, it’s felt like the US Open hired a new PR team, because I do not remember ever hearing and seeing this much hype for the last Slam of the year. They’ve got American players doing Vanity Fair photoshoots, they spent a whole week before the US Open doing fan events and media events, and seemingly every practice has been open to the public, as have the media events. The Open starts today, and I’m including some photos from the many events and practices over the past week.

I’m focused mostly on Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz and Coco Gauff, because those three are coming into the Slam with the most buzz. Coco won her two biggest titles (DC and Cincinnati) in the lead-up to New York, and she’s now the betting favorite to win her first Slam. I’m actually shocked by her turnaround now that she’s working with coach Brad Gilbert, honestly. Within a month, she cleaned up her game and her mentality improved by leaps and bounds.

Meanwhile, everyone is hyping the “rivalry” between Novak and Carlos. I mean, it is a real rivalry – they’ve played three times this year, they’re #1 and #2 in the world, and their past three matches were gritty, attritional affairs. Which is why I kind of doubt they’ll meet in the final. One of them will choke, surely? In modern tennis, it’s just really hard for players to “defend” their US Open titles – no man has defended their title in New York since 2008 (Roger Federer). Carlos is the defending champion, so I kind of wonder if he’ll make it past the quarters. I’ve been wrong about him before! I don’t know.

It does seem that Novak has perked up now that Carlos has beaten him a few times. Suddenly, the 36-year-old Djoker is interested in taking this kid to the woodshed. My hope is that we get a repeat (in every way) of the 2021 final: Daniil Medvedev defeating Djokovic. Meddy loves New York as well, and he also enjoys flying under the radar – less pressure.

This is also Djokovic’s first time in North America since 2021. He couldn’t play tournaments in America last year because his ass is still unvaccinated and there were travel restrictions on unvaxxed foreign nationals. Considering there’s a Covid surge in New York, I’ve got to wonder if the Open will ask players to consider masking up again. I’ve got to wonder if Covid will play a role in this USO yet again.

Coco and Novak play their first-round matches tonight, they’re playing back-to-back in the night session on Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.