American Coco Gauff is the reigning U.S. Open women’s singles champion (Photo by All-Pro Reels. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license).
It’s Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz and Serbian Novak Djokokic who’ve won the last two U.S. Open men’s singles tennis titles. They’ve already staged epic battles this year in the finals at Wimbledon and in the gold medal match at the Paris Summer Olympics.
It’s no surprise then that these two tennis superstars are being pegged to stage a repeat performance in the U.S. Open. In the latest U.S. Open tennis betting lines at online sportsbooks, defending champion Alcaraz is the +175 favorite, just ahead of 2023 winner Djokovic at +225.
On the women’s side, Aryna Sabalenka (+250) and Iga Swiatek (+350) are the best bets to wear the U.S. singles crown.
Are there players laying the weeds, awaiting their chance to topple the favorites and make their own case to be champion? There most certainly are. Let’s take a look at some of the sleepers who might be worth taking a flier on in the U.S. Open betting lines.
Men’s Singles
Beyond four-time winner Djokovic and 2023 champion Alcaraz there aren’t many former champions on the men’s singles side worthy of consideration to wear the crown again.
Stan Wawrinka (2016) is 39 and on the downside of his career. Former World No. 1 and four-time winner Rafael Nadal says he isn’t playing in the tournament this year. Even at that, he hasn’t won this event since 2019.
Dominic Thiem (2020) is heading into retirement, Marin Cilic (2014) will miss the tourney while recovering from knee surgery and Andy Murray (2012) hasn’t been the same player since undergoing experimental hip surgery.
That doesn’t mean there aren’t a number of players capable of upsetting the form charts in Flushing Meadows.
Daniil Medvedev
The 2021 U.S. Open men’s singles champion might just be the player with the best chance to derail the Alcaraz-Djokovic train. The world No. 5 is offering solid value at odds of +1400 to win the tournament.
Russia’s Medvedev was the losing finalist to Djokovic last year, succumbing 3-6, 6-7(5-7), 3-6. Truth be told, though, Medevev’s hard court run-up to Flushing Meadows hasn’t been stellar. He was ousted in the Round of 32 in both Cincinnati and Montreal.
Jannik Sinner
Currently the world’s top-ranked player, Sinner is the reigning Australian Open champion, so he’s won the only men’s singles Grand Slam title this year that was contested on a hard-court surface.
The Italian is the third betting choice at +300. Sinner can hammer serves and destroy opponents with his baseline game. But nagging injuries have hampered him at key moments throughout the 2024 campaign.
Casper Ruud
Imagine getting a betting line of +10000 on a 2022 U.S. Open men’s singles finalist. Would that be something that might interest you? Well, it’s right there waiting for you on Norway’s Ruud.
Two years ago, the Norwegian fell 4-6, 6-2, 6-7(1-7), 3-6) to Alcaraz in the men’s singles final at the Arthur Ashe Stadium. Last year, he was ousted in the second round. While his game is best suited to clay courts, Ruud is always a threat in a Grand Slam event.
Ben Shelton
American Ben Shelton is at odds of +6600 to win the 2024 U.S. Open men’s singles title (This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license).
Arguably the great American hope in U.S. Open men’s singles play, Shelton won his quarter during last year’s tournament, ultimately reaching the semifinals.
He’s at odds of +6600 to win this year and the reality is that at 21, Shelton’s all-around game probably hasn’t matured to the point where he can get the job done in a Grand Slam tournament. Still, he might be worth a prop play to win his quarter.
Women’s Singles
Variety has proven to be the spice of life when it comes to women’s singles competition at the U.S. Open. There’s been five different winners over the past five years and eight different champions through the past nine tournaments.
Sabalenka missed Wimbledon due to a shoulder injury. She was a finalist in this event last year and her power game always makes the Belarusian a dangerous foe in hard court events.
Among recent winners, Great Britain’s Emma Raducanu (2021) has slumped to 71st in the world rankings, while Bianca Andreescu (2019) is currently ranked 172nd in the world.
Coco Gauff
The reigning U.S. Open women’s singles champion can be had for a betting line of +900. American Gauff always seems to get fired up playing in front of the home crowd in this tourney. And that will most certainly make her tough to beat.
She’ll need that kind of positive reinforcement. Lately, Gauff’s game has gone south. At the Olympics, she was ousted in the third round.
Naomi Osaka
The mental health struggles of the two-time U.S. Open champion Osaka (+2200) are well documented. She’ll be playing in her first U.S. Open since losing in the first round in 2022.
Osaka won here in 2018 and 2020. But her most recent Grand Slam title came at the 2021 Australian Open. She’s just eight months into her return to competitive tennis.
Elena Rybakina
Considered the world’s greatest female player on grass courts, Rybakina lost in the finals at Wimbledon. She’s +900 to win the U.S. Open.
Her strong service game should be an asset here. However, the Kazakh player has never made it past the third round in Flushing Meadows.
Danielle Collins
Sure, you can argue that maybe this is more of a romantic pick than one based on logic. American Collins is playing her farewell campaign on the WTA Tour. She’s also playing sensationally.
Collins (+2500) won on the hard courts at Miami this year and her power game from the baseline always makes her a threat on this surface.
