An early look at the US Open

[Cuckoo4Coco]

The women's game is very deep and there are definitely no guarantees to pretty much every tournament they go into(even the slams). Before when Serena was there and winning all the time and even when Ash Barty started to take over you could sometimes predict the way things would go, but most of the time in the women's game it is up for grabs and now it definitely is. Even with a player like Iga you never know what will happen.

In just over a month we could be talking about another unknown ladies player who is rolling through the USO out of nowhere. Who knows?

I am not going to say that Emma , Elena, Bianca, Leylah or any of those young players will ever be a Serena or even Ash Barty because it probably won't happen, but you never know.

I can see Leylah and Elena surpassing Barty's accomplishments on paper - 3 Slams, a run at #1... If Barty hadn't retired, I think she would have set the bar out of reach for them. I think Emma can have a solid Top 20 career and challenge for more Slams. Bianca is iffier based on durability and motivation, but certainly the tennis is there.

Injuries play a factor in a lot of these players futures for sure. Ash Barty, I think could have won many more Slams if she decided to play into her 30's. She might come back, but I doubt i. It seems like she is very happy with what she is doing and she is probably going to be starting a family soon. A player like Iga also has that ability to run off and win a slew of slams, but will she be the next to do it? That remains to be seen. I think predicting the winners of the women's game is the hardest thing to do in every tournament. It usually is up in the air with a ton of upsets.

[Suliso]

Three Slams is a lot higher bar than most of you seem to think. You'll probably agree that Halep, Azarenka and Kvitova are great players. They couldn't do it...

[ponchi101]

Three Slams is a lot higher bar than most of you seem to think. You'll probably agree that Halep, Azarenka and Kvitova are great players. They couldn't do it...

We would be splitting hairs and getting into semantics. "Great", "Very Good". Sure, totally acceptable terms whichever way you say it. But, of course, 3 slams is not so unheard of.
Heck, you can keep going. Mugu also has two, Austin stayed at two, Kuznetsova two. But if you have one already, the bar is there to see. It is not the 4 from Mandlikova, the 5 from Sharapova, and so on.

[Cuckoo4Coco]

The accomplishment of winning one of the 4 major events in the sport of tennis is something to be proud of for any professional player. I don't care if they have won just one of them or 23 or 24 of them over their career. It has to take a lot of effort and dedication over that two week span to get that done. Many of these men played 5 hour matches to get it done and women played over 3 hours to get it done. Dealing with the heat and even some with injuries. So whether you are Emma Raducanu or Serena Williams they have accomplished something that they should both be extremely proud of and I bet they really are because it is not an easy thing to do at all.

[ashkor87]

Three Slams is a lot higher bar than most of you seem to think. You'll probably agree that Halep, Azarenka and Kvitova are great players. They couldn't do it...

Halep, yes, she simply isn't resilient enough but let us not forget the horrible knife attack on Kvitova and the custody case that derailed Vika precisely when she was hitting her stride....they have excuses...but there are several other 2-time champions, interestingly enough, to whom your comment does apply..Kuznetsova, LiNa, muguruza..

[Cuckoo4Coco]

I still think when it comes to the women's draws in slams there is a much larger pool of players that could be raising the trophy at the end of the two weeks compared to the men's draw. It does seem if Novak or Rafa are in the draw at least one of them makes the final and then there is Medvedev as well. Then there is a handful of others that are vying to play them in the final. For the women you really never know who is going to make the finals. Yeah, there can be the strong favorite in Iga, but there really is no absolute guarantee even with her. That is why I think a lot of these top women's players have a great chance of picking up 2 or 3 slams along the way because there really isn't no one on the tour that is really dominating the tour right now. If Iga takes that over then that might change, but as for right now a lot of the women's players could be winning these slams in the near future.

[ponchi101]

I have been talking about this for about three years now. The parity we see in the WTA is what we will see in the ATP when Rafa and Novak retire. This will become golf: a bunch of one time winners, a few 2-3 champs, a scarcity of multiple slam winners.
I think it is the reason Rafa and Novak are still putting so much effort in their careers. They know that whomever ends up with the slam record, will be so forever. Even though I also say forever is a mighty long time.

[Suliso]

I wanted to say that. Pete probably thought his record would last for decades.

[Cuckoo4Coco]

I have been talking about this for about three years now. The parity we see in the WTA is what we will see in the ATP when Rafa and Novak retire. This will become golf: a bunch of one time winners, a few 2-3 champs, a scarcity of multiple slam winners.
I think it is the reason Rafa and Novak are still putting so much effort in their careers. They know that whomever ends up with the slam record, will be so forever. Even though I also say forever is a mighty long time.

When I am in my 30's and 40's and some hot shot player on the tour is approaching either Rafa's or Novak's Slam record, I am going to go back in the archives here and pull this up.

[ponchi101]

When you get to your 30's or, even more extreme, your 40's, this forum will be long gone and will be named "Mumble about tennis", because the rest of us will be so old.
And we won't even remember how to look up for the forum in our antediluvian laptops
Alcaraz: Maybe, a huge maybe 6 slams. The field is too even.

[Cuckoo4Coco]

When you get to your 30's or, even more extreme, your 40's, this forum will be long gone and will be named "Mumble about tennis", because the rest of us will be so old.
And we won't even remember how to look up for the forum in our antediluvian laptops
Alcaraz: Maybe, a huge maybe 6 slams. The field is too even.

Oh No!!!!! I will have to keep it going for the next generation.

[ti-amie]

[Cuckoo4Coco]

Not really sure how I stand on this. Being a huge tennis fan , I would love having one of the best players of all time in the tournament for sure, but do we really start giving special people exemptions? I don't know if that is the right thing either.

[ashkor87]

US citizens already have exemptions

[Cuckoo4Coco]

US citizens already have exemptions

I see what you are saying. If you are a US citizen living elsewhere within the world and unvaccinated you can come into the United States.