MATS WILANDER PREVIEWS THE 2020 US OPEN

Who do you think will win the US Open, and for whom will you be watching?
Yes, I’m paying particular attention to Novak Djokovic and Dominic Thiem because they are the two favourites, so I want to see how they do early on in the tournament.  Apart from that, I am paying particular attention to the two Canadians, to be honest, Shapovalov and Felix Auger-Alliasime.  To me, they are the ones who haven’t broken through yet, that can win a major straight away. 

Stefanos Tsitsipas, I am paying attention to him but I think he is way more ready.  He has shown that he can and he has been in the semis, the other two we haven’t really seen them at their best in majors and I am really expecting them to be, to be very, very huge threats, especially because it’s five sets. 

And who do you think is going to win the whole Tournament in the men’s side?
I think Novak Djokovic and Dominic Thiem are very clear favourites because it’s a major and because it’s five sets.

If you were a player right now would you have gone to New York?
I would have, yes.  I would have definitely gone.  As much as I enjoyed practising, I think the reason why I was a top player is I enjoyed matches more so. I think I’d be crawling out my skin to not have any meaningful competition when that’s all I’m really living for as a professional. Yes, I would have gone.

Would you think the US Open could be the beginning of a new era in men’s tennis?
I hope so!  I hope we see new players breaking through. I mean you’re going to have some seriously, some strange match ups you might not have seen in the later rounds before, that’s pretty obvious. I think it could be a very interesting US Open in terms of the tennis and of the faces that we will see.  Certainly, it helps to not have Roger and Rafa there if you are interested in a new phase of professional men’s tennis. 

Do you think the US Open is kind of devalued by the fact that Roger and Rafa aren’t there?  Or do you just see this as a massive opportunity for some of the players?
There is no difference to me.  It is a Major, the people who can play are playing, that’s the way it’s always been.  Some years you just have some players that can’t play for whatever reason so I don’t see a massive difference and I do not think it should diminish the winner in any shape or form not having Roger and Rafa in it, nor on the women’s side either.

Who do you think is going to win the women’s?
I think the younger players, Naomi Osaka will be tough to beat, I think this will be good for her; I think there’s a lot of young players that are so good in terms of hitting the ball and when there’s no crowd involvement I think they’ll flourish but there are 25, 30 women who can win the tournament in my eyes because the crowd is not going to be a factor.

Surely if there’s a time for the NextGen to come through and make a big splash the surely this Open is the time?
Yes, I say that on the women’s side it is very hard to pick one.  I think we have seen the splash of quite a few new winners on the women’s side so I would say on the women’s side it is pretty straightforward: if Serena Williams doesn’t win this one, I am starting to worry that she might not in her own mind think she has a chance to win another one somewhere else. 

She has to win this one because of the lack of top players being there, she has to feel like ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, … I have to do this.’  It’s not easy when there’s no one watching the Americans, Serena Williams for example, but that could help her too when you look at how the crowd has affected her in the last few finals, it hasn’t been positive at all.  So, maybe this is a perfect situation for Serena. 

On the men’s side, it is Thiem, Djokovic and then you have Stefanos Tsitsipas who obviously is there, he is the third favourite to me and then you have Dennis Shapovalov, Felix Augere-Alliasime – two guys from Canada, best friends, same age pretty much – are the next two.

I really feel that, I don't know if the older guys can keep up with these young guys because they smack the balls and if the Canadians can just find some consistency on their worst days, then they certainly have games that can bother even the great Novak Djokovic and certainly Dominic Thiem. 

Talking a bit about the women’s tournament, a very large number of withdrawals sadly but surely this is Serena Williams’ best chance to win the 24th slam?
I think she has to win this one.  If she doesn’t win this one, I would think people, and more specifically she herself, would most probably doubt that she can win another one.  If she doesn’t win this one, it’s going to be harder to win the next one and the one after that.  If she can win this one, I think it will give her some confidence that she can go on and win a couple more but if she doesn’t win this one when only three or four out of the top ten are there, I think that will be a blow to her.  Maybe no crowd helps her too.  They are pulling so much for her that I think she gets caught up in the whole historical thing and maybe this is a chance for her to walk around with her baby in a stroller in the grounds of the US Open, can you imagine that?  There’s no way she could do that, now she can do that.

Is Coco Gauff ready to win a slam yet or she still a bit of a work in progress?
She is not ready to win a slam yet and I do believe it will really be way worse for her to not have a crowd because when you are a backed by a home crowd like she is that’s very, very intimidating to the other person who is now maybe in the prime of career - here you are against some 16 year old and the crowd is just going nuts for her, it’s in New York.

First of all, I think is it is easier for the other players to lose to a 16-year-old when no one is watching, second of all it is also easier to look at the other player not as a 16-year-old but just a player that is in my way.  So, I think she is not ready and this is not a great situation for her, I think she will do much better when the attention is on her and her opponent and she seems to be able to deal with the limelight much better than most.

Mats Wilander 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).