Top 5 favorites at the US Open 2024

The 2024 US Open is just around the corner. It is the last Grand Slam tournament of another exciting tennis season. Will the WTA season produce more surprises at the major tournaments this year?

Even though Barbora Krejcikova won the last major at Wimbledon (completely out of the blue), tennis fans believe they are in for another fairytale. But the consistency shown by the top players at these events, especially in the last two years, suggests we may be in for a familiar script.

With that in mind, here is a list of the top five favorites for the 2024 US Open Women’s tournament. We also have a separate article with the top 5 favorites for the men.

The top 5 favorites to win the 2024 US Open Women’s Tournament

#5. Elena Rybakina

The main reason Elena Rybakina is so low on this list is documented health issues. She hasn’t revealed what’s been bothering her over the past few months. She didn’t compete in the Olympics and had a nervous breakdown after two match points in Cincinnati last week, losing her opening match after making 17 double faults. But if Rybakina is able to bring her game to full speed and overcome what’s hurting her, she could still end her Grand Slam season with a win.

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#4. Coco Gauff

Coco Gauff is the reigning champion, but it’s been a decade since a WTA player defended the US Open. Like last year, when Gauff emulated her childhood idol Serena Williams and won the US Open as a teenager, she will be looking to do it for the second year in a row (Serena last did it in 2012-2014).

The 20-year-old has massively underperformed in her last two warm-up contests, a complete contrast to 12 months ago when she won Washington and Cincinnati. The odds are against her, but if the draw is as wide as it was last year, Gauff will take the bull by the horns.

#3. Iga Swiatek

The US Open is the only Grand Slam tournament Iga Swiatek has won in her career that is not played on clay, so if she were to win another major tournament on hard court, it would most likely be in New York. Last year’s loss to Jelena Ostapenko was painful. Swiatek is going into this year’s tournament with a much better attitude.

Many critics believe that Swiatek’s semifinal loss to Qinwen Zheng at the Olympics would ruin the rest of her season. But she has at least shown that she can compete without relying on past near-losses and narrow defeats. She is only third on this list because the two women ahead of her came to the tournament in exceptional form.

#2. Jessica Pegula

Could this be the year Jessica Pegula wins her first Grand Slam? At the start of the season, many fans and experts were convinced that Pegula would break the quarterfinal hurdle at a major. However, a crushing defeat in the second round of the Australian Open was undoubtedly not what the doctor ordered. There was a change in coaching staff mid-season and the experienced 30-year-old had to adjust.

Pegula also suffered two injury setbacks and only got her season back on track with the switch to grass courts. She comes to New York having won two finals in Toronto and Cincinnati. She successfully defended the National Bank Open in Canada (for the first time since 2000) and almost achieved a rare double, but lost the final in Cincinnati. She has what it takes to win the US Open; at the moment, however, it is more of a mental challenge than a physical one. If she can do that, we could be looking at a new Grand Slam champion winning for the first time.

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#1. Aryna Sabalenka

She is the biggest favorite for several reasons. Since the 2022 French Open, Aryna Sabalenka has not lost before the quarterfinals at any Grand Slam tournament (except for Wimbledon 2024 after she withdrew due to injury). During this time, the Belarusian played in three Grand Slam finals, won the Australian Open twice and finished runner-up at the 2023 US Open. She also goes into this year’s New York Slam full of confidence after winning the last high-profile WTA 1000 tournament of the summer hard court tour in Cincinnati.

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