US Open First Round Picks: Fourth-seeded Alexander Zverev got a free pass through the first round of the men’s singles draw as his opponent, Emil Ruusuvuori, has withdrawn at the last minute.
According to his social media, Ruusuvuori traveled to New York City for the tournament, but then decided that he was not prepared to compete.
The Finn has dealt with injuries for several months now and still does not feel ready to compete at an elite level.
The firs round runs Monday and Tuesday, so take a look at three of our sports betting predictions.
Tennis Betting Analysis: US Open First Round Picks & Predictions
Aleksandar Kovacevic +420 vs Frances Tiafoe -649
When: Monday, August 26, 7:00 pm ET
Tiafoe is an intriguing dark horse heading into this tournament. He will be playing in front of his home crowd as he meets Kovacevic for the second time in the month of August.
Tiafoe made it to the final at the ATP Cincinnati Masters, and he usually does well at Flushing Meadows. Kovacevic pushed Tiafoe hard when they met in Washington earlier this month, but his form has faltered since then.
Now, Kovacevic gets another tricky draw in this Grand Slam; I see him pushing Tiafoe early, but Tiafoe should be able to right the ship.
US Open Pick: Tiafoe wins in four sets.
^Radu Albot +2000 vs Novak Djokovic -10000
When: Monday, August 26, 8:15 pm ET
Djokovic enters this tournament as the defending champion, but not the top seed (that honor goes to Jannik Sinner).
Novak didn’t play in any warm up tournaments, but his last action, which ended with a gold medal on the clay at the Paris Summer Games, should give him plenty of motivation and momentum.
Radu Albot is at the point where he is qualifying for the Grand Slams reliably, but opening against Djokovic doesn’t do him any favors.
It’s possible that Djokovic might open with some rust after the layoff, but it’s more likely that Djokovic has leveraged his rest into renewed energy.
The talent gap, at least at this point, is just too far for Albot to compete.
US Open Pick: Djokovic wins in three sets.
^Carlos Alcaraz -10000 vs Li Tu +2500
When: Tuesday, August 27, 7:00 pm ET
Alcaraz has spent most of 2024 dominating tennis. He won at Indian Wells. He won the French Open despite having to spend most of the clay season rehabbing from an injury.
Furthermore, he followed that up with a three-set sweep of Djokovic in the Wimbledon final. When he met Djokovic again in the gold-medal match at the Paris Olympics, though, he ended up falling just short, losing a pair of tiebreakers.
He followed that up with a shocking loss in the first round at Cincinnati, where he got undressed by Gaël Monfils.
Tu stopped Alejandro Mono Canas and Marco Trungelliti to make it to the final qualifying round for Flushing Meadows, and then he beat Jesper de Jong in the final qualifier, coming back from a lost first set, and now he has his first berth in a U.S. Open.
Beginning with a Carlos Alcaraz ready for some payback won’t be the best welcome to a Grand Slam.
US Open Pick: Alcaraz wins in three sets.
^This is a handsome matchup. pic.twitter.com/2T8A6Edr2Y
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) August 26, 2024
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