Patrick McEnroe picks US Open winner – and it’s not Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz or Novak Djokovic
Renowned tennis commentator and former player Patrick McEnroe has delivered a surprise prediction on who will win the 2025 US Open men’s singles title.
Jannik Sinner, the world No 1 and reigning US Open champion, is the favourite to triumph at Flushing Meadows again this year.
The 24-year-old Italian has dominated on hard courts since the start of 2024 and he enters the event on a 21-match winning streak at the hard-court majors, having also won the last two editions of the Australian Open. Sinner is a four-time Grand Slam winner, having secured his maiden Wimbledon crown last month.
Carlos Alcaraz, the world No 2, won the first of his five majors at the US Open in 2022 and he arrives in New York after claiming the Cincinnati Masters title.
Novak Djokovic will be seeded seventh at the US Open, but he is viewed by many as the third favourite. The 38-year-old Serbian has won 14 of his record 24 Grand Slams on hard-court, including four US Open crowns.
Three-time major finalist and world No 3 Alexander Zverev is another contender, while Taylor Fritz and Ben Shelton spearhead hopes of a first American male Grand Slam singles champion since Andy Roddick in 2003.
McEnroe predicted that an American will lift the trophy in New York, but he did not reveal which of his countrymen he is backing.
“I’m going to say there’s going to be an American man winning this year’s US Open, and you can all try to figure out which one that is, because I’m not going to tell you,” McEnroe was quoted by Forbes as saying on an ESPN conference call.
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In an interview with Tennis365 in March, McEnroe spoke about the prospect of an American man making a Grand Slam breakthrough.
“It is a very good time for American tennis and the hope is it can become a great time,” said McEnroe, speaking exclusively to Tennis365 in his role as joint-President of the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
“Can any of these guys we have in the top 30 of the rankings win a major? I think the answer to that question is yes, it is possible. But it is going to be difficult.
“Shelton has a lot of upsides and has a big game. Fritz is solid as a rock and he is going to be there after getting to the [2024] US Open final.
“Tommy Paul is probably under-rated as an athlete and is probably the most pure tennis player of the current group, so all of them are in there as contenders, but none of them I would predict are favourites to win a major.
“To do that, they would have to go through one or both of those top two guys and I would throw Joao Fonseca into the mix as someone who may also be contending for majors in the next few years.
“So it’s not going to be easy, but it is nice to see the Americans doing so well in the rankings. When I was running player development [at the United States Tennis Association], we always used to say we wanted to flood the gates and get as many players as possible at the top of the game.
“We never said we could create a new Pete Sampras or Andre Agassi, but what we thought we could do is help to create a lot of winners and we are doing that now, with [Sebastian] Korda also in the mix and [Alex] Michelsen doing well at this year’s Australian Open.”
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