Tennis News

Past US Open champs Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff and Venus Williams highlight the field

A look at some of the women to watch at the U.S. Open, which starts Sunday, with money-line odds via BetMGM Sportsbook:

Aryna Sabalenka

Ranked: 1

Career-Best Ranking: 1

Country: Belarus

Age: 27

2025 Record: 50-10

2025 Titles: 3

Career Titles: 20

Grand Slam Titles: 3 — U.S. Open (1: 2024), Australian Open (2: 2023, 2024)

Last 5 U.S. Opens: 2024-Won Championship, 2023-Runner-Up, 2022-Lost in Semifinals, 2021-SF, 2020-2nd Round

Aces: Was last year's champion in New York. ... Began her U.S. Open career by going 5-3 in her first three trips and is 23-3 since then, getting to the past two finals and the semifinals the two years before that. ... Was the runner-up at each of this season’s first two Grand Slam tournaments, the Australian Open and French Open, then bowed out at Wimbledon in the semifinals. ... Replaced Iga Swiatek at No. 1 late last season.

She Said It: “I mean, I know that I have to go for it. That’s the only way it works for me, because every time I’m trying to play safer ... I stop my arms, and the ball flies in the stands."

Read All About It: Aryna Sabalenka beat Jessica Pegula in the 2024 U.S. Open final

Odds Are: +300

Iga Swiatek

Ranked: 2

Career-Best Ranking: 1

Country: Poland

Age: 24

2025 Record: 49-12

2025 Titles: 2

Career Titles: 24

Grand Slam Titles: 6 — U.S. Open (1: 2022), French Open (4: 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024), Wimbledon (1: 2025)

Last 5 U.S. Opens: 2024-QF, 2023-4th, 2022-W, 2021-4th, 2020-3rd

Aces: Has won two of her past three tournaments after failing to reach a final anywhere for more than a year and returned to No. 2 in the rankings this week after sliding as low as No. 8. ... Those two recent titles came on fast surfaces: on grass at Wimbledon — where she improved to 6-0 in Grand Slam finals by winning there for the first time — and on hard courts at the Cincinnati Open on Monday. ... Her 11 WTA 1000 titles rank second to Serena Williams' 13 since 2009.

She Said It: “I came back to being my old kind of self."

Read All About It: Iga Swiatek won Wimbledon after a difficult year

Odds Are: +275

Coco Gauff

Ranked: 3

Career-Best Ranking: 2

Country: United States

Age: 21

2025 Record: 35-12

2025 Titles: 1

Career Titles: 10

Grand Slam Titles: 2 — U.S. Open (2023), French Open (2025)

Last 5 U.S. Opens: 2024-4th, 2023-W, 2022-QF, 2021-2nd, 2020-1st

Aces: Earned her second Grand Slam title at the French Open on red clay. The first came at the U.S. Open in 2023 while she was still a teenager. ... Last year's title defense at Flushing Meadows ended with a fourth-round loss to American Emma Navarro; Gauff double-faulted 19 times in that defeat. ... Gauff is coming off a first-round exit at Wimbledon in the last major.

She Said It: “I definitely learned a lot of what I would and would not do again."

Read All About It: Coco Gauff went from French Open champion to a quick Wimbledon exit

Odds Are: +600

Jessica Pegula

Ranked: 4

Career-Best Ranking: 3

Country: United States

Age: 31

2025 Record: 37-16

2025 Titles: 3

Career Titles: 9

Grand Slam Titles: Zero — Best: Runner-Up, U.S. Open (2024)

Last 5 US Opens: 2024-Runner-Up, 2023-4th, 2022-QF, 2021-3rd, 2020-3rd

Aces: Had been 0-6 for her career in Grand Slam quarterfinals until a year ago at the U.S. Open, where she upset Swiatek at that stage en route to reaching her first major final. ... Won a title on every surface in 2025: hard, clay and grass courts. ... Has lost four of her past six matches.

She Said It: “I feel very up and down, kind of sloppy, which I don’t like."

Read All About It: Jessica Pegula beat Iga Swiatek at the 2024 U.S. Open

Odds Are: +1800

Madison Keys

Ranked: 6

Career-Best Ranking: 5

Country: United States

Age: 30

2025 Record: 37-12

2025 Titles: 2

Career Titles: 10

Grand Slam Titles: 1 — Australian Open (2025)

Last 5 US Opens: 2024-3rd, 2023-SF, 2022-3rd, 2021-1st, 2020-3rd

Aces: Captured her first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January, upsetting Swiatek in the semifinals and Sabalenka in the final. ... Best career moments have come on hard courts, including a runner-up showing at the U.S. Open in 2017 and reaching the semifinals at Flushing Meadows two other times, in 2018 and 2023.

She Said It: “I went after it, every single point. And if I missed it and I just didn’t execute, I could live with that."

Read All About It: Madison Keys told herself to be brave on the way to winning the Australian Open

Odds Are: +1200

Venus Williams

Ranked: 610

Career-Best Ranking: 1

Country: United States

Age: 45

2025 Record: 1-2

2025 Titles: Zero

Career Titles: 49

Grand Slam Titles: 7 — U.S. Open (2: 2000, 2001), Wimbledon (5: 2000, 2001, 2005, 2007, 2008)

Last 5 U.S. Opens: 2024-Did Not Play, 2023-1st, 2022-1st, 2021-DNP, 2020-1st

Aces: Hasn't played at a Grand Slam tournament since the U.S. Open two years ago. ... After 16 months away from the tour, Williams returned to action in July at Washington, winning one match in singles and one in doubles. ... She will be the oldest player to compete in singles at Flushing Meadows since 1981.

She Said It: "Just to be here at all is really a blessing, and then to play well is just another blessing."

Read All About It: A look at Venus Williams' career and comeback

Odds Are: Not listed

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Howard Fendrich has been the AP’s tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich. More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

Iga Swiatek enters the US Open back at No. 2 in the rankings and back on top of her game

On the day last month that Iga Swiatek resoundingly announced to the world that she was, most definitively, back at her best — ready once again to dominate her opponents and, indeed, all of women's tennis — she already was looking ahead. “After a few days of celebrating,” Swiatek said, just hours into her status as a Wimbledon champion by virtue of a 6-0, 6-0 victory in the final there, “I'm going to need to get back on hard courts and grind and grind and grind.” As she now goes to the U.S. Open, which starts in New York on Sunday, it's only fair to look at Swiatek the way the world did not all that long ago: as a player with the talent and mindset to succeed on all surfaces, in all conditions, against all players.

Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, aka Sincaraz, rule men's tennis as the 2025 US Open arrives

OK, sure, maybe it wouldn't be rational to say there's no point in actually holding the full U.S. Open and instead just fast-forwarding to the inevitable matchup for the men's championship between Jannik Sinner — assuming he's healthy — and Carlos Alcaraz on Sept. 7. “We know,” Novak Djokovic acknowledged, “they’re the dominant force right now.” When it comes to the men, there really is just one name that matters in this post-Big Three era, and that name is “Sincaraz,” the silly, made-up, “Fedal”-style mashup of the guys who are ranked No. 1 (Sinner) and No. 2 (Alcaraz) and have claimed seven Grand Slam trophies in a row and nine of the last 12.

Nick Kyrgios withdraws from the US Open and will miss another major tournament

Nick Kyrgios withdrew from the U.S. Open on Thursday, the third straight year the Australian has missed the last Grand Slam tournament of the season. After undergoing wrist and knee surgeries, he came back to play in the Australian Open, but lost in the first round. Kyrgios had his best performance in a Grand Slam event just before that, losing to Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon final.

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  3. Divisive US Open mixed doubles was a surprise success but must change to survive
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