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‘Novak Djokovic is the huge favourite, but expect crazy results at US Open,’ says former top coach


Brad Gilbert, who has coached Andre Agassi, Andy Murray, and Andy Roddick, believes we should expect some ‘crazy results’ in the US Open – but thinks Novak Djokovic is the ‘huge favourite’ to win it.

Both Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer will be missing from the draw in New York, making it arguably the most open major competition in 20 years.

Novak Djokovic will be there though, and many believe the absences of the rest of the ‘big three’ will make an 18th Grand Slam title for the Serb all but a formality.

Gilbert, though, while agreeing Djokovic is definitely the man to beat, says unpredictability may reign supreme at Flushing Meadows.

ā€œThere are a lot of unknowns, but if he [Djokovic] is 100 per cent healthy, on this surface, heā€™s a huge favourite,ā€ Gilbert admitted in an interview with atptour.com.

ā€œItā€™s a tough call, itā€™s just really hard to know. Maybe [it will benefit] someone like a big server.

“All of a sudden if someone like John Isner, if his serve is fine, the guy can hold serve and you never know,ā€ he said.

ā€œItā€™s hard to put your brain around it, especially if someone plays a tough five-setter, how will they recover and manage it? That part Iā€™m most curious about.

“Iā€™m not sure who it helps the most or hurts the most. But I do think thereā€™s going to be somebody who I say, ā€˜Whoa! I didnā€™t see that coming.’ā€

ā€œI do think weā€™re going to see some crazy results.

ā€œBut letā€™s say even if the Big Three was playing after all this time, I just donā€™t think that after something like this youā€™d expect it to be business as normal.

“I do think somebodyā€™s going to make a semi or final who is going to be a real surprise.

“I do think the biggest surprise is going to be somebody who maybe you donā€™t think about and doesnā€™t play that well on a big stadium or a big crowd.ā€


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Michael Graham, Tennishead.net Editor, has been a professional sports journalist for his whole career and is especially passionate about tennis. He's been the Editor of Tennishead.net for over 5 years and loves watching live tennis by visiting as many tournaments as possible. Michael specialises in writing in-depth features about the ATP & WTA tours.