Rafael Nadal & Karolina Pliskova Favorites To Win The 2017 U.S Open

By Heidi Specter
— August 28, 2017
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The U.S. Open is the final grand slam of the year starts on Monday. Rafael Nadal is seeded number one in the men’s division while Pliskova is the number one seed in the women’s division. The winner of the U.S. Open will walk away with $3.7 million and if Nadal wins, he will also end up keeping his number 1 world ranking which he reclaimed earlier this month.

The Spaniard has had a great 2017 and has silenced his critics when he won the French Open earlier this year. This is a great opportunity for Nadal to win the U.S Open as some of the top players in the men’s division have pulled out due to injury.

Novak Djokovic retired injured during the quarter final at Wimbledon due to an elbow injury and announced that he was taking the rest of the year off. There were doubts as to whether the world number 2 Andy Murray would play at the U.S. Open due to his hip injury but he confirmed his presence only to pull out 48 hours before the tournament could start. Murray said that he still felt soreness in his hip and did not believe that he could play all the way through to the finals and hence made the decision to drop out.

Some of the other top players in the men’s division who have pulled out include 2016 US Open Champion Stan Wawrinka, Japan’s Kei Nishikori who is ranked number 10 in the world and was a finalist at the 2014 US Open and world number 11 Milos Raonic.

The biggest threat to Nadal is his long time rival and world number 3 Roger Federer who is also having a great year winning the Australian Open and Wimbledon.

Karolina Pliskova made it to the 2016 US Open final and lost out to Angelique Kerber. This year the world number 1 will want to go a step further and win her first grand slam at the U.S. Open. It will not be easy for her as the women’s division is packed with a number of good players.

US Open Tennis Championships

Kerber is seeded 6th because she hasn’t been having a great year but she still cannot be counted out. The number 2 seed Simona Halep and the 2017 Wimbledon Champion Garbine Muguruza will be the biggest threats but you cannot count out veterans Venus Williams and Maria Sharapova who has received a wild card for the U.S Open.

Heidi Specter

Sports Contributor

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I’ve always loved the stories that surround sports as much as the results themselves. At Betting.ca, I write about the personalities, rivalries, and moments that make games memorable. My pieces tend to be energetic and reader-friendly. I like writing the way people actually talk about sports. Betting angles often appear in the mix too, but...