Novak Djokovic goes for 25th Slam at the Open; No. 1 Jannik Sinner is major hurdle

Get rid of the chalk.

Give it away. Dump it in a container. Throw it out.

Because in the view of Frances Tiafoe, the field for the U.S. Open is up for grabs.

“It’s open for a lot of guys this year, for sure, to have a chance at it,” Tiafoe said during Friday’s Media Day availability.

Which could make for a wild two weeks in Queens starting Monday.

Entering the final Major of the calendar year, the favorites to find themselves raising the champion’s trophy skyward in celebration are Jannik Sinner, the ATP’s No. 1 ranked player; the legendary Novak Djokovic; third-ranked Carlos Alcaraz; Germany’s Alexander Zverev; and fifth-ranked Daniil Medvedev.

Of the quintet, Sinner is likely the odds favorite to win the Open. He has won five tournaments this year, including the Australian Open and last week’s Cincinnati Open.

However, he may not be the most popular player on the men’s side of the bracket after it was revealed shortly after the Cincinnati Open that Sinner failed two tests — one in competition and the other an out-of-competition — in March for the anabolic steroid clostebol.

Sinner was not suspended by the International Tennis Integrity Agency, which investigated the 23-year-old, because trace amounts of the drug were found in an over-the-counter spray that was subsequently used for massage treatments.

The decision has not gone over especially well with his fellow players.

During his press availability Friday, Sinner professed his innocence and attempted to explain why he was allowed to continue to play in tournaments while waiting for the results of the investigation while other players who tested positive would have to sit out.

“Every player who gets tested positive has to go through the same process. There is no shortcut, there is no different treatment, they are all the same process,” Sinner said. “I know the frustration of other players, obviously. But maybe [the reason] they got suspended is they didn’t know exactly where it comes from, also what substance, but the main reason is where it comes from and how it entered in his own system. We knew it straightaway. We were aware of what happened. We went straightaway [to ITIA] for two, three days. I couldn’t practice and everything. But they accepted it very, very fast, and that’s why [I was allowed to play].”

Whether or not Sinner’s assertion calms the maelstrom surrounding him remains to be seen. But whereas he finds himself near the eye of this storm, Djokovic comes into Flushing Meadows as a beloved elder statesman who still resides among the world’s best players after just having won a Gold Medal in the just-completed Paris Olympics.

The 37-year-old’s contemporaries do not believe it is the capstone on his career. Rather, they are not discounting Djokovic’s chance to claim the 25th Grand Slam title.

“It’s crazy to win that many and be that consistently just good,” Taylor Fritz said. “Your just baseline average level just has to be so much better than everyone else’s. You know, it speaks to how much better someone is than everyone else. Because there are so many people just trying to get that one, trying to get one or two, a couple.

“It’s amazing, and obviously the discipline throughout the (years) to never be satisfied and always (wanting) more is also just extremely impressive in itself.”

‘Wanting more’ is a distinctly American characteristic. And for a nation that has prided itself on its success in tennis, the inconvenient fact that an American man has not won an Open championship since Andy Roddick in 2003 has been something of a sore spot.

So when Tiafoe was asked when the drought will end, he suggested any one of the highly-ranked Americans in the tournament — himself, No. 12 Fritz, No. 13 Ben Shelton, No. 14 Tommy Paul and No. 16 Sebastian Korda–could celebrate at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Sept. 8.

“American guys have been playing well for a really long time,” said Tiafoe, the 20th-ranked player in the world. “If you think I’m going to say anybody else but me, you’re crazy. I don’t even know, man. It’s hard to say anyone but myself. But, I mean, ability-wise all those guys have [the] capability of doing it. Let’s go with [Korda] probably. I like his game. He’s super, super complete.”