Novak Djokovic might have won the 2018 Wimbledon but former Aussie tennis great Pat Cash believes Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal will start off as favourites at the US Open.
The former world number Djokovic, who had slipped down the rankings chart due to form and injury issues, won his fourth title at Wimbledon by demolishing Kevin Anderson in the final last Sunday.
Earlier, he had also beaten Nadal in humdinger of a semi-final that lasted the distance after Anderson had sent Federer out in his quarter-final match.
However, Cash believes despite Djokovic’s remarkable comeback and a title victory to boot ahead of Federer and Nadal, he wouldn’t be the favourite to win the final Grand Slam of this year.
Cash said: “I thought Novak would peak at the US Open. I think it is impressive he came back a little bit early. I thought the US Open would be about the right time – it is very interesting.”
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Praising the likes of Federer and Nadal, he added: “We still have these older players. It is an unbelievable bunch of talent of young players. The older guys still have it mentally. They still have the craft and the young guys need it.”
Surprisingly, however, bookmakers have installed Djokovic as the favourite to win the 2018 US Open with an offer of 10/3 for him to add to his collection of Grand Slam titles. Federer is a close second at 15/4 while Nadal is 5/1 to win the US Open.
Other US Open winner odds have Alexander Zverev, Andy Murray and Juan Martin del Potro at 12/1, Marin Cilic and Nick Kyrgios at 25/1 and Dominic Thiem at 30/1 for this edition of the competition.
The previous four editions of the US Open have seen four different winners with Nadal starting out as the defending champion this year. This was after Marin Cilic won it in 2014, Djokovic in 2015 and Stan Wawrinka in 2016. The last time Federer won the men’s singles title at the US Open was in 2008.
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