Ok with the USO about to start I thought I'd start a thread where we can discuss the favs or perhaps just our favs ;) and their chances and then continue to analyse form etc. as the tournament and draw progresses.

Il provide a BRIEF analysis of who I believe are the true contenders..in no particular order. Feel free to add reasons why you beleive these players will do well..or not; and perhaps add other 'true contenders' who I've not included.

Well Justine winner of New Haven is certainly one of the form players going into the tournament although I don't usually back the form horse but rather those who have good records on a certain surface and always seem to do well regardless, as Justine proved at RG and then Mauresmo at Wimbledon this year. Nevertheless Justine is one of the leading players on the tour has been to all grand slam finals this year has won a warm up event and is a former champion and is going into it fully healthy the first time since she won it in 2003. One of the leading contender with a relatively kind draw and an injured Lindsay the only real obstacle standing between her and a semi final berth.

Sharapova; has a cakewalk to the semis :rolleyes: and is a US Series winner and has been on form recently and will certainly have ample opportunity to play herself into the tournament and has a real shot at the final in her half of the draw.

Amelie is playing well but not really fully 'on form' going into the USO although she shouldn't really have any problems until the fourth round (whoever she faces there). She is world number one and has been to the semis here so is a contender. Has the game to win on this surface BUT it is a fast surface and a hard hitter like Serena or Sharapova could just hit right through her if she's not on form especially considering her H2H with Serena.

Serena has not found her stride yet since coming back and has struggled to find the court in a few of her matches. However she has stated it is her aim to peak physically at the US Open and no-one can deny that form wise she always peaks at Grand Slams. She has been playing reasonably well but is still very beatable to a lot of the players on the tour. But she is a former two time champion, loves the fast surface and has two rounds to attempt to find her form. She could just as easily lose to Ivanovic as win the thing imo. One match at a time for this one I think :D

Hingis also loves the fast surfaces at the Open. Has been to the final 3 times and only the most elite of the hard hitters were able to stop her here before she retired. She has been finding good form played excellently against Kuzzy can beat a lot of good players but can also lose to them these days as well. Her slightly disappointing performance against Clijsters and loss of form against Ivanovic were slightly worrying but she is also a former champion and knows how to win; which is why I believe she is more of a contender than her Montreal conqueror.

Davenport also loves the fast surface and is a former champ so not to be discounted. She is injured as she has been at the USO in recent years; I think if she found her form she could get to the final, but injury will no doubt hold ehr back as usual, and those bastard USO organisers havn't helped :angry: nevertheless look out for her and she will likely be in the second week of proceedings.

Kuzzy a former champion so not to be discounted; she has no cake walk of a draw though , does she ever? She isn't on form but has had some match practice though so could do something here if she finds ANY form. She will surely be a thread though and will most definitely do better than last year :rolleyes:

Dementieva loves the USO and will probably do well, is a contender for every grand slam and always plays OK at the least. She did benefit from playing an injured Lindsay last year for her semi spot, but she is a fighter. I personally don't see her repeating last year's success however but you never know if the draw opens up, she could make the final again.

I'll put Mary here based on last years finalist place and the fact that on her day she could beat anyone in the draw. She still has no where near found her form and she isn't moving well so I don't think she will do as well as last year but she wasn't playing terribly in recent tournies so we'll just have to wait and see.

Myskina can't see her as a thread to anyone; she has lost her form since the grass court season and hasn't impressed could win, but won't given draw and current form. I think that 1st round loss to Serena at a tier 3 really put her on a downer for the american hard court season. Hope she comes back...again...soon as I really don't want her to reitre which she has hinted at :(

Honourable mentions to Petrova who found her form during the claycourt season but injuries have since impeded her; in other circumstances she may have been a true contender. Zvonareva, Jankovic and Ivanovic have all shone during recent months and are possibly at the peak of their powers at the moment. I don't see them as true contenders however as the more experienced past champions of which there are many will likely have too much for these players in a Grand Slam at least. Someone will put them in their place somewhere along the way and their draws aren't particularly easy either.

Vaidisova is a top seed but has been injured has played her best since RG and should be given more time imo before we expect great things of her.

Also Clijsters and Venus will be missed; as they always put on some good shows here and their absence has surely opened the draw up even more.

Ok wasn't so brief roflmao but there you go...

Ok Im going to respond to my own thread to get some discussion going :rolleyes:

Im hoping for a Serena Henin Final. Also hoping Mary can find some form beat Maria in the quarters and go onto face Serena in the semis. I'd love for Mary and Serena to play again, both at their best.

Also hoping for a Hingis/Serena match in the quarters as I think Serena is the only top player Hingis has yet to face on her comeback.

I think the tour is so injured and inconsistent their will be loads of upsets; but I think the semi finalists and the eventual winnerr will be one of the usual suspects; im not sure we'll have a Vaidisova or Chinese Revolution experience during this slam.

Sorry nobody responded... its a good thread with some good insight into the players. I think you've pretty much got it exactly right however, Serena will win it... :D

I really hope that Justine forgets to put on her winning boots and doesn't make it through as I really don't like her and she's a real threat... as for the rest, Serena can beat them! :D

Elena for the USO!!!

I wouldn't be devastated if Justine was out before the final :)

It seems unlikely Lindsay will be able to beat her if they meet now :(

Yes Serena can beat anyone if she finds her form. I just hope she plays better than she did in L.A. I think the winner will come from the top half of the draw. It's the tougher half because there are more tough potential match ups around the 4r/QF/SF stage so I think whoever gets to the final will be very battle hardened and also if its Serena/Sharapova/Pierce? then they will have that extra hunger. You never know though...

BOOOOOOO!!!! NO WAY!!!!!!!!!!

You know with all this hype surrounding Serena's return to the US Open, she will probably let us all down and go out in the first 2 rounds.... :rolleyes:

Serena Sucks!! Elena all the way

Send the Russian witch back to the depths of hell!!! BOOOOO ELENA!!!!!!!!!

SERENA! :yahoo: SERENA! :yahoo: SERENA! :yahoo: SERENA!

:yahoo: Elena :yahoo: Elena :yahoo: Elena :yahoo: Elena :yahoo:

Serena --------> :whip: <-------- Elena

:devil: <-------- Actica! :D

you wish

I don't wish.... I KNOW! :devil:

roflmao

Serena beating Elena ATM is the funniest thing i've heard in a long tim. You should do comedy

Are you serious??? Surely you are joking!?! Serena always beats Elena no matter what!!! I can't believe you think that that weak serving Russian witch would stand a chance against hard hitting uber-strong Serena! :doh:

The 2005/06 Serena got stuffed by Dementieva at and Asian exhibition match. I think it was 6-3 6-1

Ah yes... when she was injured just before her 6 month lay off.... really fair, I THINK NOT! :rolleyes:

a loss is a loss

You would say that considering your player is so used to them!

a least my player has played more than a 15 matches this year

She needs to to stay up in the rankings! Otherwise she would be out of the top 200!!! Unlike Serena who can play 15 matches and still be in the top 100! :rolleyes:

MoMo's draw

This is a funny USO I feel. No idea how your girl Serena will do - hard to tell isn't it? as you say she can just as easily bow out early as win it. I think MoMo has a very tough draw, as it has a meetign with Serena or Ivanovic in there, and then Safina or Hingis. My prediction, stickign ym neck out a bit is MoMo v Safina quarters. I think we should be talking about Safina, as she has had some good form and great wins this year. Myabe too early to be talking her up as a winner of course, but she has a great chance if she holds herself together of makign the quarters even the semis. Ivanovic has a good chance of doing weel, I hear she is fit and on form, but I just feel that she's nto ready to go too far just yet. Now watch her go to the semis! roflmao Hingi sin that part of the draw - hmmmm, unless all the big hitting seeds go out I dont; see her doign as well as she is talked up to be. I think she'll go quarters at best, but as I say i am favouring Safina in that part of the draw. My concern re: MoMo is whether or not she is prepaared for this USO after her time off. And will she be driven nwo she has finally won without he ropponent retiring and all that crap that happened? I think sh ewill eb relaxed and confident though, so watch out.

Sharapova's cakewalk - sorry draw! roflmao

Well techinically she shoudl sail through it, but I'm not so sure you know. She will need to watch out for Li Na who surpassed all expectations of her at Wimbledon, so why not go a stage further here? Tis possible, and the Chinese girls really, really do work hard on and off the court. The other side of Maria's draw is tough to pick I think. If I am right that it has Myskina and Petrova in it, then given the former's incositency and the latter's fitness I see that as anybody's quarter spot really. Don't know too much about her, but someone like Chakvetadze could sneak through maybe ..... People are talking up Golovin but I dont; think she is good enough.

JHHs draw - Well if she has had enough preparation and her health is good, cant; see JHH not reaching the quarters. Davenport's half of the draw though - well easy peasy for an on form Linds but we all knwo she has struggle dall year, and gettign injured a few days before which resulted in her succumbing to a bagel and retiring against JHH just isn't screamign winner right now. My feeling is that when the goign gets tough, she is going to struggle and may end up havign to pull out. So I am not picking her to get to the quarters, although I hope she does. I'm goign with Schnyder or soem outsider who pullls off a shock.

Dem's draw - well I cant; bloody recall who is in this one! But I am going with Vaidisova to get to the quarters if she is fit and injury free. Dem is certainly in with a good chance of gettign to the quarters. She has never filled me with confidence, but she is in great shape and plays well here. And I'm watching to see what Zvonereva can pull out of a a bit or a resurgance.


Well that is my two penneth, feel free to laugh when I get it wrong! roflmao

Btw great thread SerenaW19, sorry I did tno join in before, I havent; been around :ok:

Nah the third round roflmao

Women's tennis is so unrpedictable these days SB that if we laughed whenever someone got something wrong we'd be forever roflmao

I mean who would've predicted at the start of the year that Amelie would be comfortably number one with 2 slams and that she wouldlead Justine 2-0 in slams finals roflmao

You just can't see these crazy results coming; the unpredictability is good it makes up for the lack of a real great champion which we have in the men's with Fed.

I think with Venus out and Lindsay seemingly impeded by injury, that Serena is the real 'Wild Card' in every sense of the word as we don't have a clue if she'll hit form or not; even if she plays crap in her first two rounds; she can just hit form out of no-where. Amelie's draw is hard and anyone could come out of that quarter really. Although you've gotta go for the pedigree during slams I feel.

I hope Vera Z does well too, I can't stand it when people play so well adn hi form in the lead up tournies and then don't fulfill their potential at slams.

The shred of hope I cling to is that Serena also had a semi final loss in 2002 in L.A and then went on to win the USO without dropping a set...so you never know ;)

juding from Justine's form in her opening match she's on her way to her 4th Slams Final of the year.

Sure is unpredictable! roflmao It's bene a great year for me though, as my fave finally won not one slam but two! :o Troubel is I wont; get such great odds on her anymore, typical eh? well I predicted the final of the AO and won a few quid, and then ignored the FO as though JHH was too hot a fave to bet against. I made money on Amelie winning Wimby too, so the girl has done good for me. She coudl have won it when her odds woudl have paid otu more though! roflmao

I feel JHH wil get to the finals, as you say the other side is trickier as it is tougher.

Seren has pretty good odds atm; although im not throwing away my money on her roflmao

Ye I wouldn't be surprised if Justine gets to the final without dropping a set like at Wimbledon. But the case was there that the more battle hardened Amelie from the slightly tougher top section was able to grind out a win better. I think that the winner will come from the top half just like Wimbledon and the winner came from the bottom half in the FO and AO :)

:ok:

I know I am biased, but I think she has a great chance to win. She is an underdog, and not one of the favourites, so she will be pressure-free for once at Flushing Meadows. Venus and Clijsters are out, so no one will really over-power her here, and Serena and Davenport are lacking match fitness, so I would back her to beat them if both, if she had to play them. I think she can beat Mauresmo, but I don't see Mauresmo in the Qtrs, so I don't think they will play. If she was to play Sharapova, I think she would beat her. Sharapova is always the big favourite, but never prevails to warrant her backing in the Grand Slams, and she will probably be the semi queen again in New York. If she played Henin in the final, I think she would win. Henin is becoming a bit of a choker in the finals, and I don't see why Hingis can't beat her.

Fair enough Obliv :ok:

Well Justine and Lindsay were on good form yesterday and are still on track to meet in their quarter. Elena was also in good form recovering a break in the second set. Kuzzy wasn't so impressive but managed to close out the match in the end. But lets face it Dem and Kuzzy just like to lose to Justine if they were to meet in the semis :rolleyes:

Well today we get to see how the girls from the top half are doing form-wise.

Amelie, Serena, Hingis up in the day and Sharapova in the night session. Will be interesting to see how they do; and im keeping a close eye on Ivanovic ;)