Former world number seven Barbara Schett predicted the 2024 US Open and declared Iga Swiatek as the top favorite despite her recent struggles and loss to Aryna Sabalenka.
While women's tennis has historically been known as the side of tennis with more parity in general, a few players have mostly dominated in recent years. Heading into this year's US Open, only a handful of players could realistically win the event.
Most analysts would possibly pick Sabalenka as the top favorite due to recency bias. She played in the final of the New York Slam last year and recently won the Cincinnati Open with very few issues, beating Swiatek along the way.
For former WTA player Schett, who has been part of the Eurosport media team for a while, the top favorite has to be the Pole. Her recent performances haven't impressed many, especially since she lost the last two big matches she played.
The first one came at the Paris Olympics, where she was beaten by Qinwen Zheng. The second loss came recently at the Cincinnati Open against Sabalenka. Despite that, Schett would put her above the Belarusian, even though the World No. 2 is not far behind, according to the 48-year-old
"On the women’s side, you have to go with Iga Swiątek. She’s the absolute number one at the moment, even though she lost to Aryna Sabalenka in the semis in Cincinnati. Then, of course, I would definitely go with Sabalenka as well."
Besides those two, two more players—Elena Rybakina and Coco Gauff—are in the mix to win the trophy but trail considerably behind Sabalenka and Swiatek.
Rybakina hasn't played much lately and didn't look that great at the WTA 1000 event in Cincinnati, with an early loss to Leylah Fernandez. Gauff has been massively struggling for over a month now, and while she will likely pick up a couple of wins, going all the way seems impossible for her right now.
"Probably the one struggling the most right now is Coco Gauff. She hasn’t been performing well this year, especially in the last couple of weeks. I think she’s feeling the pressure."
"And then you can never rule out someone like Elena Rybakina. You never know how she’s feeling, as she often has health issues, particularly with her immune system. But those three are my favourites."
There are some other players who could surprise from the shadows. Jessica Pegula is entering the US Open with a 9-1 record in her last 10 matches, and she's certainly not a player who could be discounted.
The biggest drawback is that she's never done it before, which creates skepticism about whether she can. Madison Keys is a player who traditionally does extremely well in New York, including a semi-final appearance last year.
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