Who will win US Open men’s singles title? Neither Djokovic nor Alcaraz and Sinner, says former American tennis player

The draw for the upcoming US Open men’s and women’s singles competition was unveiled on Thursday with 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic finding himself on collision course with Carlos Alcaraz. The winner of that potential showdown could then square off against defending champion Jannik Sinner, who lies on the other side of the draw, in the final.

As for women’s singles, defending champion Aryna Sabalenka and world No 2 Iga Swiatek find themselves on opposite sides of the draw, with the latter potentially facing home favourite Coco Gauff in the semis.

With a couple of days to go for the opening round to get underway, the predictions are starting to come in from experts and fans on this year’s winners; while some predict Djokovic might finally win the elusive, record-breaking 25th Grand Slam, others expect a third consecutive showdown between Alcaraz and Sinner, who currently are 1-1 in the last two Grand Slam finals.

McEnroe believes an American will emerge triumphant

Tennis commentator and former player Patrick McEnroe, though, doesn’t think either of these three will be lifting the trophy on 7 September despite their tag as clear favourites. Instead, he believes it will be an American who will be crowned champion in the upcoming event, though he did not mention a specific name.

“I’m going to say there’s going to be an American man winning this year’s US Open, and you can all try to figure out which one that is, because I’m not going to tell you,” McEnroe was quoted by Forbes as saying.

The US Open men’s singles event has not been won by an American since Andy Roddick, who had defeated Spain’s Juan Carlos Ferrero, in 2003. McEnroe’s brother John had won four of his seven career Majors at Flushing Meadows between 1979 and 1984.

That, however, is not the case with women’s singles, where world No 3 Gauff had won the title as recently as two years ago.