US Open Under Fire After Jannik Sinner’s Draw Leaves Fans Shell-Shocked

The buzz for the US Open is increasing day by day as the tournament nears. The top players in the world will step on the court for one final time this season at a major tournament. While defending champions Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka will be the hot favorites there, the likes of Carlos Alcaraz and Coco Gauff would ensure that they don’t have it easy. Meanwhile, the draw for the tournament was released a few hours ago, and Sinner’s path to the final became a talking point among the fans on social media.

Sinner has a history of receiving comparatively easy draws at Grand Slam tournaments. During his victorious Wimbledon campaign, the Italian star received a kind draw, which aided his path to the final, and he won the title despite suffering an injury setback. At the US Open as well, Sinner has a favorable draw, as he avoids the top and in-form stars in the early rounds.

The Italian star will open his campaign against Vit Kopriva, who is ranked 87th in the world. And looking at their performance stats, Sinner has an upper hand over Kopriva. While Sinner has won once at the Flushing Meadows (his record is 12-1 on hard courts so far this year), Kopriva has gone 2-4 in four tournaments on hard courts this year.

Moreover, Sinner has a 92.8% winning percentage in service games on hard courts, and a 36.3% winning percentage in return games (142 of 153 service games, and 58 of 160 return games). On the other hand, Kopriva has won 7.8% of his return games and 71.7% of his service games. Certainly, Sinner is favored over Kopriva in this match.

While he has a smooth path in the next rounds, Sinner could face American star Tommy Paul in the fourth round. However, Paul isn’t in his best form, and Sinner should find it easy against him. Subsequently, Jack Draper could line up against Sinner in the last 8, with Alexander Zverev being in the same half as Sinner. Thus, looking at this easy path for Sinner, fans online were left astonished.

Fans Condemn Easy Draw for Jannik Sinner

With luck favoring Janik Sinner time and again, fans were left astonished as the same fate repeated at this year’s US Open. While some doubted the process behind how the draws are made, some fans called out the officials for handing Sinner an easy draw this time as well. An angry fan wrote, “What a joke of a draw. The QFs are just given to him; he won’t even have to play them.” The fan expects Sinner to breeze through these opponents without breaking a sweat.

Meanwhile, another fan pointed out that Sinner’s potential finals encounter against his rival Alcaraz will be the only difficult match for him, as he doesn’t face any big threat until the final. “His only competition is in the final,” admitted one fan, as he was surprised to see no real competition for Sinner at the US Open.

Top Comment by TheSkipper

Absolutely. It’s as bad as the French scheduling the women’s matches at unreasonable times of day and night! These shenanigans...more

Share your take

Debate

Further, one of the fans even mocked the officials who released the draw by giving a hilarious term to the draw. The fan wrote, “Micky mouse draw yet again.” This follows several tournaments where the Italian star has had it easy due to his good luck.

However, in his most recent tournament, the Western & Southern Open, Sinner went down in a final to No. 2-ranked Carlos Alcaraz, 0-5 (retired). Whereas, on August 18, Kopriva lost to No. 86-ranked Sebastian Korda, 3-6, 4-6, in the Round of 32 of his last tournament, the Winston-Salem Open.

On the other hand, some fans had already decided the US Open champion on account of Sinner receiving an easy draw, while the likes of Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic would have to toil hard to dig deep in the tournament. A fan wrote, “Just give him the title already,” as he was sure that Sinner would defend his title at Flushing Meadows.

Lastly, a section of fans pointed out the bias between Carlos Alcaraz and Sinner as the latter often received favorable draws at the tournaments. “Cakewalk compared to Alcaraz draw,” said an angry fan, who wasn’t happy with Sinner getting away with easy opponents, while Alcaraz will have to grind it out against tough opponents.

Despite Sinner getting a favorable draw, Grand Slam tournaments pose a different challenge altogether. The Italian star knows this fact very well, and he cannot afford to take his foot off the gas.