ALEX CORRETJA PREVIEWS THE 2020 US OPEN

How would you feel about playing at the US Open as things are at the moment?
Well, it’s always easy to speak when you are not in the situation.  My feeling as a competitor is that if I will have a chance to play I will definitely like to go and play, especially since we couldn’t do that for so many months and I would be desperate to go and play and compete and see how I feel and how I manage and how I build the situation. 

So, I feel like I would definitely go even if I know the conditions are very weird and unique and difficult. As I say, this is a unique world right now and if we are not capable to understand that, it’s because we still didn’t understand what is going on in real life. This is not a bit of tennis now, this is a bit of surviving in life and luckily we are not sick, we are okay.

I hope it also helps the players to mature and understand how fortunate they have been that they are.

Who are your favourites for the US Open?
I think of course Novak Djokovic will be one of the favourites. Daniil Medvedev, I read an interview with him, and I was very impressed by the way that he was answering, it looked like he was dealing with the situation like “okay, this is what it is” and he proved to himself that he can play well on those courts. Daniil knows how to win tough matches and he knows how to suffer. He actually had the whole crowd against him last year and he was enjoying it so much so it is not going to be easy.

Let’s see how Tsitsipas is with the pressure. Also with the other players, maybe you are expecting someone in your draw and then he loses and then it opens up.  Before it used to be that you had so many top players that every side of the draw, it was like covered from some of the top guys you know.  Now, for sure, it will be open places that will give chances to many other players.

Without Rafa or Roger, does it mean that Novak has got a clear path to the trophy in Flushing Meadows?
I don't think so. Of course, when you start a tournament and some your biggest opponents are not there, it is always better for you but he will have so many concerns about the other things and the other players, it is going to be very, very difficult still to win the tournament. 

It probably gives him a little bit of feeling like okay, if I do my things properly there are not that many guys that can beat me. With Rafa and Roger there, they are players that can hurt him.

I mean imagine if it is Andy Murray in the first round? It will be shocking because it could be such a difficult match for him. I think he is more concerned now to be healthy, to be physically okay.

A lot of talk around Serena Williams winning her 24th Grand Slam in New York – is it now or never do you feel?
No, not really because she already stopped playing as she had a child and she came back very strong, she played finals of several Slams already and was very close to winning. 

I think she has been preparing very well.  She has had some weird feelings with the New York crowd who were supporting her very much but at the same time they had some tough experiences with her so I think she is going to be more worried about business itself. 

In this moment of her life, she has the experience, she doesn’t need the crowd to support her to win matches. She doesn’t need to express herself to anyone so I think she has a good chance to do very well in New York and yesterday [Tuesday] you could see when she won, how happy she was and the way she is acting, she is hungry to win and for someone as special as Serena, she is hungry for that so you convert her into a very dangerous player. 

Will the lack of fans there help her or will it hurt her? 
Honestly, I don’t think it will matter much at this moment. I think for Serena, this time there will be no crowd, I think she will think more about herself and not worrying about other stuff.

A couple of years ago, the issues that she had in the final - everybody is asking her to win and supposedly she has to win. At the moment she is on her own, with her team a little and that’s it.  She is not as exposed as other players.  In New York she is the most famous player so the fact that there is no crowd this year, I think honestly that this time it can benefit her because she will be more focused on herself.

The next question, how tough will it be to change from the hard courts of New York to the clay of Paris, Roland Garros?
The bad thing is that they are missing Madrid now, which is a shame. If you are not a clay court specialist, you will suffer a lot because it is a totally different perspective of the game where you will play best of five. Your serve is not as important, you need to know how to slide, you need to physically be ready for long matches, your legs are getting heavier because the points last longer so it will be very tricky.

That’s why I think Rafa decided not to do that because he knows how difficult it is there with the conversion from one side to another and knowing that he would rather stay on clay he say okay, I would like to prepare my body, my movements and everything for clay and just stay there, not take any risks of any other issues so of course there were a couple of weeks before and maybe a bit more because not everybody will get to the finals of the US Open so they will have three weeks, most of them. Whoever plays well in the US Open, it will be very difficult to just go straight ahead and play on clay, they will need some time to rest and recover and then be ready for Roland Garros.

Alex Corretja is part of Eurosport's US Open tennis coverage, which starts on Monday 31 August LIVE on Eurosport and the Eurosport App across Europe (exc UK&Ire).