Gigi Salmon previews the US Open; Watch the US Open live from August 26 to September 8 on Sky Sports Tennis and Sky Sports+, which is integrated into Sky TV, the NOW streaming service and the Sky Sports app, giving customers access to more live sport at no extra cost.

In her latest Sky Sports In her column, Gigi Salmon looks back on her time at the Cincinnati Open before flying back to the States in time for this year’s US Open, while Novak Djokovic works towards a historic 25th Grand Slam. Coco Gauff defends her women’s title while wondering if the tournament might be a step too far for Jannik Sinner.

In the meantime, Emma Raducanu, Katie Boulter, Jack Draper, Dan Evans and Jan Choinski Function as part of the British attack…

This time of year is a busy and exciting time in tennis as we approach the final Grand Slam of the year. Add to that the Olympics and there’s hardly any time to breathe. As I write this, it’s already midnight and I’m waiting for the last of the laundry to dry after returning from Cincinnati on Wednesday to board the plane to New York for the US Open on Friday morning.

Since the summer, the players have all had different schedules: some are heading to the clay court for the Olympic Games, others are heading straight to the hard court, and some are recovering from injuries.

At the last 1000 event before the US Open in Cincinnati, it was interesting to see where certain players stood.

Cincy was a warm-up tournament for world number one Iga Swiatek. In her first appearance on hard courts since March, she made it to the semifinals, where she lost to eventual winner Aryna Sabalenka, who was playing her third tournament after returning from a shoulder injury.

Although Sabalenka was frustrated by her summer of rehab, she was grateful that the time off from tennis helped her recover. This week she also rose back to No. 2 in the world rankings after Coco Gauff’s early exit while defending her title.

Reigning US Open champion Gauff is an interesting case for a few tense weeks in which she will have to defend many points and titles.

After her Olympic elimination, where she missed the chance to defend her title and her 500 points in Washington, she managed to win only one match in consecutive WTA 1000 events – including in Cincinnati, where she was the defending champion.

She did not hold a press conference after her elimination against Yulia Putintseva, but statements were released in which she said she would take a few days off at home to “reorient herself” before the US Open.

One-sided draw for the women?

In the women’s competition, the field is quite unbalanced and very top-heavy with 15 Grand Slam finalists and eight Grand Slam winners, including Swiatek, Elena Rybakina, who has split from her long-time coach Stefano Vukov, two of the three Britons in the main draw, Emma Raducanu and Katie Boulter, and an exciting first round between Naomi Osaka and Jelena Ostapenko.

That’s not to say the bottom half isn’t without its challenges, and that’s where we find Gauff, who will face Elina Svitolina in the third round. Sabalenka is the second seed at the bottom of the draw, and Harriet Dart will face France’s Chloe Paquet, 20 places above her.

It is somewhat similar for the men, although the top half is stronger, namely Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev.

Will Sinner be ready?

Sinner, ranked No. 1 in the world, arrived in New York as champion from Cincinnati and was featured on the back and some front pages of newspapers after it was revealed that he had tested positive for a banned substance earlier this year but the court acquitted him of any blame or negligence.

A provisional suspension was automatically imposed, but since this was successfully appealed, he was allowed to continue playing.

For those who haven’t read about it yet The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) found that Sinner was accidentally contaminated with the banned substance by Giacomo Naldi, his physiotherapist.

Opinions on this case vary, but one conclusion seems to be that the system needs to improve. It has shown that it can act quickly, as happened in the Sinner case, but it needs to be implemented on a broad front, as some cases take years to resolve.

Despite having these issues, Sinner has still managed to play very well and win titles. I just wonder if winning the US Open this year might be a step too far, considering his right hip was put to the test in the best of five sets and now it’s all public.

Can Djokovic make more history?

Novak Djokovic has his sights set on his 25th Grand Slam singles title – a number only he could achieve, and with the Olympic gold medal in his luggage, he might actually do it.

The pressure that had been building up in the lead up to the Olympics has eased and the trophy cabinet is now complete. Djokovic withdrew from Cincinnati where he was the defending champion as it is no longer about points or rankings but about Grand Slam titles and being in the bottom half of the draw. With a draw he will be happy with, it will be hard to bet against him unless his post-Olympics partying has taken its toll!

From a British perspective, we have British No.1 Jack Draper, set to face Carlos Alcaraz in the third round, Dan Evans, who needs a good run to improve his ranking, and Jan Choinski, who is the first Brit to get through qualifying at Flushing Meadows since Cameron Norrie (who is absent through injury) in 2017. His reward is a meeting with Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena, ranked 175 places above him.

It was great to see Diego Schwartzman qualify for his eleventh consecutive main draw appearance at the US Open – he plans to retire after the Argentina Open next year.

Another player to end his career is former champion Dominic Thiem, who never fully recovered from a wrist injury. Combined with what he calls an “inner feeling”, he announced that he hopes to end his career at his home tournament in Austria later this year.

The USTA gave him a wildcard and it would be nice to see him win a few rounds and get the send-off he deserves, so maybe he’s more of a fighter to watch than a surprise!

Forecast time

After you have already made them for one piece, you can Sky Sports website this Sunday so I better stay with them.

Since they are notoriously bad at predicting, I played it safe and picked Novak Djokovic to defend his title and reach number 25, as well as Aryna Sabalenka.

Sabalenka showed in Cincinnati that she is back and in a form that makes it difficult for others to keep up with her. She is happy on and off the court and I believe Sabalenka will win her first Grand Slam title outside of Australia!

It was this time a year ago when we were preparing Sky Sports’ return to tennis and it’s great to see how the team and coverage has grown over the last 12 months. However, one thing has remained the same as last year: you’ll have live and exclusive access to all 16 courts every day in the UK, with Sky Sports Tennis combining action and reaction.

I am delighted to announce that I will be joined by Martina Navratilova, Tim Henman, Marion Bartolli, Feliciano Lopez and Laura Robson, to name a few. I hope you can join me on Monday from 3pm. Sky Sports Tennis.

Sky Sports+ has officially launched and will be integrated into Sky TV, the streaming service NOW and the Sky Sports app. This will give Sky Sports customers access to over 50 percent more live sport this year at no extra cost. Find out more here.