Who are the favorites in the men’s bracket at the 2024 US Open? Djokovic, Alcaraz, Sinner

The 2024 US Open gets underway at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York City next week, the 144th edition of the annual tournament. Once again, the US Open will be the fourth and final Grand Slam of the year, the last chance for players to pick up major silverware.

On the men’s side there are three stand-out candidates to win the hard court tournament, each with very different stories. Reigning champion Novak Djokovic, Wimbledon winner Carlos Alcaraz and World No. 1 Jannik Sinner are the favorites to clinch the title.

The two-week competition begins on Monday, August 26. We take a look at the favourites for the men’s bracket at the 2024 US Open...

Can Novak Djokovic win record 25th Grand Slam title?

He may have turned 37 earlier this year but there’s still plenty of ambition in the heart of Novak Djokovic. Earlier this month he finally won the prize that had always eluded him, a gold medal in the men’s tennis singles competition at the Olympic Games.

Now, he can further stake his claim as the greatest tennis player of all time as he goes in hunt of a record 25th Grand Slam title in NYC. Across both male and female competitions, only he and Australian Margaret Court have reached 24. The Serbian can go out on his own with another US Open triumph.

“I don’t have any limitations in my mind,” Djokovic said after losing to Alcaraz in this year’s Wimbledon final. “I still want to keep going and play as long as I feel like I can play on this high level.”

How many Grand Slam tournaments has Carlos Alcaraz won?

The young Spaniard is only 21 but he is now in the seventh year of his professional career. Two years ago he won his first major singles title at the US Open in 2022, becoming the youngest man to be ranked World No. 1 in the Open Era.

He added a Wimbledon triumph in 2023 and has already won two Grand Slam tournaments this year - Wimbledon and the French Open - taking his tally to four. If he wins the US Open again, the 21-year-old will have racked up an incredible five Grand Slam triumphs.

Last month Alcaraz told reporters that he hadn’t set a target for Grand Slam wins: “I don’t know what is my limit. I don’t want to think about it. I just want to keep enjoying my moment, just to keep dreaming. So let’s see if at the end of my career it’s going to be 25, 30, 15, four. I don’t know.”

Who is Jannik Sinner, World No. 1?

Going into the US Open, Italian Jannik Sinner is at the top of the ATP world rankings. In June he claimed top spot after making the semi-finals of the French Open. Earlier this year he picked up his first Grand Slam title, beating Daniil Medvedev in the final of the Australian Open.

Standing 6ft 4in, Sinner is a powerful and aggressive bassline player with an impressive first serve. At times he has been compared to Roger Federer and the legendary Swiss player said of Sinner: “What I like about him is that he almost has the same speed of shooting from the forehand and backhand.”

The biggest barrier for Sinner in NYC could be his own fitness after being forced to withdraw from recent tournaments with a hip injury. He withdrew from this year’s Madrid Open and missed the Italian Open entirely, raising doubts about his participation in the US Open. Nevertheless, if he is fit to take part he’ll be among the favourites the win the title.