Since we ticked into the new millennium, the four Grand Slams have dished up something remarkable on numerous occasions, but tennis fans always love one thing the most and that is someone winning their maiden title.
The upcoming event at Flushing Meadows poses an abundance of excitement for tennis pundits due to the fact that the US Open has seen an astronomical number of different champions compared to the other three.
Since 2000, 20 different men have progressed to the title match at the Billie Jean King Tennis Centre and 14 of them have gone on to hoist the trophy.
It is the one major where the Big Three of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic have not gone on to dominate completely, despite Federer’s five successive triumphs from 2004 to 2008.
But aside from that, it is the major where players seem to clinch their maiden crowns, as nine different stars have commenced their major winning careers in the city that never sleeps.
The number of first-time winners at the US actually eclipses the total number of champions at the Australian Open, Roland Garros and Wimbledon in that same time.
Melbourne Park has seen just six champions since 2000, Paris has had eight and the All England Club has enjoyed eight.
It is unknown as to why, but New York seems to be the breeding ground for players making their breakthrough, and some of those have been simply unbelievable narratives, from Del Potro’s golden run in 2009 to the way Carlos Alcaraz overcame a plethora of bruising contests in 2022.
Perhaps the most famous is how Daniil Medvedev ruined Novak Djokovic’s calendar Grand Slam dreams in 2021 thanks to a famous straight sets victory, or Andy Murray finally securing his Grand Slam trophy in 2012.
That decider for Murray saw him in a fifth major final, where the recently crowned Olympic champion was pushed to five by Djokovic after holding a two-set lead.
2014 also saw a bizarre tournament, being the first major final since the 2005 Australian Open that was uncontested by a member of the Big Three as Marin Cilic and Kei Nishikori blitzed through the draw with the Croatian coming out on top in straight sets.
Then there was the Covid Slam in 2020 where fans were completely locked out for one of the most dramatic finals in recent history as Dominic Thiem rectified a two-set deficit to overcome Alexander Zverev in one of the quietest atmospheres that a major has ever seen.
So, who are the ones that will look to benefit from this statistic in 2023?
Jannik Sinner is fresh off his maiden Masters 1000 crown in Canada, finally edging through for the biggest title of his career to date and no doubt full of confidence considering it took a herculean performance from Alcaraz to overcome him in last year’s quarterfinal, largely described as one of the best Grand Slam contests in the open era.
Then there’s Holger Rune, who continues to go from strength to strength in 2023.
The Dane is at a career high seeding of four and will be brimming with enthusiasm despite heading into the event under an injury cloud.
Can Stefanos Tsitsipas silence the doubters? He has never ventured past the round of 32 in New York and will be driven to finally kiss one of tennis’ four pinnacle prizes?
Or, can Taylor Fritz finally end a 20-year wait for an American male to take home a major?
There is so much on the line for the 128 men in the field, and if history is anything to go by, the US Open is going to dish up something unexpected.
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