US Open Players to Watch in 2022

There are many up and coming tennis players who have been around for a few years or have just recently broken onto the scene. There are a lot of potential future stars currently plying their trade at the top level. Here are some players who are tipped to perform well in the next US Open and the following tournaments.

Top Men Players to Watch in 2022

Though Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic will both compete in the upcoming US Open men’s singles, and Djokovic is the favourite to win, this list will look at the players outside these two giants. The players listed here are full of potential and if they do not win the upcoming US Open, they are highly likely to be favourites in future US Open tournaments.

Daniil Medvedev

Medvedev is a Russian tennis player who is the defending US Open champion. He won the 2021 US Open in straight sets against Novak Djokovic, and what's more impressive is that he only lost one set in all seven games of the tournament. 2021 was a successful year for the 26 year old Russian tennis player, winning the Davis Cup, ATP Cup, and one more title in the ATP Tour Masters 1000. He has performed well at Grand Slams, especially the hard court surface tournaments, the Australian Open and US Open.

Carlos Alcaraz

Alcaraz is one of the most talked about players in the tennis world currently, because he is extremely young and he is already showing world class talent. Born in 2003, he is by far the youngest on this list, and he has already won 2 ATP Masters 1000 titles and is currently sitting in the 6th place in the world rankings. He started playing Grand Slams in 2020, though it was not until 2021 when he started making some progress, going as far as reaching the quarter finals in the US Open, but retired from the match. He has a strong resemblance to his idol Rafael Nadal, and he is amongst the favourites going into the upcoming US Open.

Alexander Zverev

Zverev is a strong handed player who has won 5 ATP Tour Masters titles and won ATP Finals in 2018 and 2021. He was born in 1997, and has all the best years of his career ahead of him. Currently ranking third, behind Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev, Zverev has yet to win a Grand Slam, although he reached the finals of the US Open in 2020 and has also reached the semi-finals of the Australian and French Opens. He is an all-court player, although he has a strong affinity for hard courts, which will come in useful when he plays in the upcoming and future US Opens.

Stefanos Tsitsipas

Tsitsipas was born in 1998, and currently sits in the fourth place in the ATP World Rankings and has won 8 ATP titles including two ATP Tour Masters 1000 titles. In 2019 he won the ATP Finals and reached the Australian Open semi-finals, propelling to number 5 in the world rankings. Tsitsipas came closest to winning his first Grand Slam in the 2021 French Open finals. He won the first two sets against opponent Djokovic, but then Djokovic made a huge comeback and won the following three sets. Tsitsipas established a presence amongst the top players in tennis with his performance, and it should not be long before he wins his first Grand Slam.

Dominic Thiem

Austrian tennis player Thiem has gone through a turbulent past two years. He turned pro in 2011 but only started competing with the best in 2014. His performances in Grand Slams grew better with each year, and by 2020, he had reached the French Open finals twice, the Australian Open finals once and won the US Open. He shot up to third place in the world rankings and it looked like finally he was going to go all the distance and go for the number one spot. Unfortunately, Thiem suffered a knee injury and then a wrist injury in 2021, forcing him to withdraw from the top tournaments in tennis. In 2022 he fell out of the top 150, and he has yet to turn his luck around, but he is a quality player who will definitely fight to get back to the top.

Top Women Players to Watch

Iga Swiatek

This Polish player was born in 2001 and started her career in 2016 in the ITF. She played there until 2018 and was undefeated in 7 ITF finals. She then progressed to the WTA and played frequently in the Grand Slam events. She won her first tournament Grand Slam in 2020 when she became the champion in the French Open, and though she did not win any Grand Slams in 2021, she won a WTA 1000 tournament. Swiatek started 2022 strongly, winning four WTA 1000 tournaments and became the number one in the WTA rankings.

Naomi Osaka

Osaka is a Japanese tennis player who has won an impressive four Grand Slams and is still only 24 years old. She broke into the top 50 in 2016 after reaching her first WTA finals but lost to Caroline Wozniacki. In 2017 she had a much quieter year, but she returned to full force in 2018, winning her first US Open and WTA 1000 tournament. She then went on to win the Australian Open in 2019 and 2021, and also won the US Open in 2020. She had a hiatus in 2021 right after the US Open and withdrew from many tournaments, dropping from first place to out of the top 50, but she is on her way back up, and currently sits at number 38 in the world rankings.

Simona Halep

Halep started her career in 2010 and took only one year to break into the top 50. She made it to the French Open finals in 2014 but was beaten by Maria Sharapova. Undeterred, the Romanian tennis player kept working on her game and reached the finals of the French Open in 2017 and Australian Open in 2018. She won her first Grand Slam in 2018 when she returned to the French Open and beat Sloane Stephens in the finals. She won Wimbledon the following year.

Anett Kontaveit

Knoteveit is an Estonian tennis player who currently sits in the number 5 position in the world rankings. She was extremely successful in her junior career, and started her first year as a professional in 2014 well, qualifying for Wimbledon, but she had to withdraw from tennis due to glandular fever. In 2015 she came back and qualified for Wimbledon and the US Open, breaking into the top 100. She continuously qualified for Grand Slam events but failed to win any titles until 2017 when she won her first WTA title. She fell ill again in 2019 and had to withdraw from several tournaments, but when she returned she produced her best season in 2021, winning four WTA titles. In 2022 she won her 6th WTA title, entering the top five.

Emma Raducanu

Born in 2002, Raducanu is the youngest player on this list and she is also the defending US Open champion. The British starlet started her professional career in 2018 and played in the ITF circuit where she won three titles before the onset of Covid-19. In 2021, she started her first WTA Tour and though she had success in qualifying for Wimbledon and one WTA 1000 tournament, she had not won any significant titles. She had to play in the qualifiers to get into the US Open, and once she was in, she showed massive levels of confidence. The young player won all seven games in the tournament without losing a single set, and became the first male or female Grand Slam champion who had to play qualifiers to enter the competition. In 2022 she made her debuts at both the Australian Open and the French Open.