The Daily Star, Beirut / MCT/Beirut, Lebanon

As the final grand slam of the year looms large, the big guns head to New York armed with the knowledge that they won’t have to face the defending champion Rafael Nadal. The indefatigable Spaniard has featured in three of the last four US Open finals, winning two of them. However, he has been suffering from right wrist issues for weeks now and a week ago he finally announced that he wouldn’t be heading to Flushing Meadows to defend his crown.
While we will all be feeling Nadal’s absence in New York, one man who will not be too upset to see him miss out is Roger Federer. The Spanish lefty is the Swissman’s kryptonite, and make no mistake about it; Federer is currently looking like Superman.
Spurred on by his new coach Stefan Edberg and the emergence of Stan Wawrinka, 2014 has been a year of rejuvenation for Federer. However, he hasn’t been able to capture the grand slam title that he so greatly desires. But all will be forgotten if he walks away from New York with the trophy.
The only man that walks into a hard court match at a slam against Federer as clear favourite is Nadal, and with him out of the draw I think Roger will be fancying his chances. Who knows, this might even kick off his rise back to No. 1 -- now wouldn’t that be a story?
We mustn’t, however, forget a certain Serb, who will have something to say about Federer’s status as tournament favourite.
Novak Djokovic has had a disappointing few weeks since the highs of summer, but what a summer it was for him. He spent the better part of June and July conquering Wimbledon before marrying his longtime partner Jelena Ristic. Since his wedding the world No. 1 has struggled to recreate his summer form and is short on competitive hard court matches as we approach the US Open.
Only time will tell whether his confidence has taken a knock, but I am willing to wager that Novak will be going to New York feeling like the deserved world No. 1 and will be ready to do battle with anyone.
One Serbian speaking gentleman will be heading to New York with plenty of confidence, on the back of his first grand slam semifinal appearance and a career-high ranking. Milos Raonic, the Canadian of Montenegrin descent, is currently ranked sixth in the world after a summer which saw him make the Wimbledon semifinal.
He will be looking to go one better in New York, particularly with the absence of Nadal and the up and down form that Djokovic has been showing. He will be aiming to impose his big game on the rest of the draw, and if he brings his A game there, he is definitely a force to be reckoned with.
The main concern for Milos is whether his movement and defense (which are improving all the time) are good enough right now to hang with those top guys over five sets.
Speaking of movement and defense, fellow Wimbledon semifinalist Grigor Dimitrov excels in those departments. His athleticism was on full display at Wimbledon, particularly in his victory over Dolgopolov where he was forced to cover every inch of the court. He is adding the much-needed grit to his classy game and is becoming an incredible competitor.
That is probably the missing link for Dimitrov, who at 23 pretty much has it all. Regarding a slam victory is seems to be more a question of when, rather than if, and I imagine that at some point in the next two years we will see Dimitrov lift a slam trophy.
However, I think that winning a slam is a step too far for the Bulgarian this year and we should be content with watching his ridiculous shot-making for the time being.
One man we will definitely enjoy watching is Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. The mercurial Frenchman stunned us all two weeks ago in Toronto by bulldozing Djokovic.
He then took out Andy Murray before dismissing Federer en route to his second Masters 1,000 title (first since 2008). There can’t be a tennis fan on earth that doesn’t like the ever-smiling Frenchman. He goes about his business with class, sportsmanship and emotion in a way that endears him to everyone, and I personally hope he is able to bring his Toronto form to New York so that we see as much as possible of his blistering forehands.
Tsonga must serve well, allowing him to start points with his forehand, thereby preventing his opponents from attacking his weaker backhand side. If he can do this consistently we should see him in the second week.
The forgotten man of men’s tennis this year is Andy Murray. Since his historic Wimbledon triumph in 2013, Andy has had a tough 12 months. Murray underwent back surgery toward the end of last year and hasn’t quite been able to reach those same lofty pre-surgery heights since.
Throughout this year he has shown on and off glimpses of the old Murray but the tour has missed him because tennis needs a fully fit and firing Andy.
The British No. 1 will be looking to find the consistency of past years and what better place to find it than the site of his first grand slam triumph?
Luckily for Andy, Nadal is missing out, thus elevating Murray’s seed from nine to eight, which could potentially allow him safe passage into the quarterfinals. Murray will no doubt find his form sooner or later, but for the sake of men’s tennis let’s hope it’s the former.
Much has been said about the state of men’s tennis in America. Since Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras hung up their rackets, Andy Roddick single handedly carried the hopes of a nation on his shoulders for years.
Now, he has passed the torch to big John Isner and lucky for John, he has big enough shoulders.
Also lucky for John is that he happens to play his best tennis in America. Over the past two seasons, the big serving American is 21-21 outside of America and 47-18 on home soil.
The US Open has been his most consistent slam over the years and with a home crowd spurring him on, John could go deep into the draw.
If he does, you can be sure that he will have won a tiebreak or 10 over the course of the two weeks.
The U.S. Open has given me some incredible tennis memories. Whatever “the Open” has in store for us, let’s hope it can live up to the great memories we all have for this year’s final grand slam.
l (Bassam Beidas is Lebanon’s top-ranked tennis player. He wrote this article for The Daily Star.)