Former world No.1 Mats Wilander believes Roger Federer is not at the same level as two of his rivals going into the final grand slam of the season.
Wilander, who won the 1988 US Open title, has instead named Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic as the two ‘biggest favourites’ heading into New York. Nadal is the reigning US Open champion and will be the top seed in the draw. Meanwhile, Djokovic is rapidly rising back towards his best form on the tour. Recently winning the Cincinnati Open to become the first player in history to win all nine Masters 1000 tournaments.
“Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal are of course the biggest favourites. I’m not sure you can put Roger Federer together with the two.” Wilander told the Swedish branch of Eurosport.
“When I watch Novak play nowadays, I do not think he plays the same as before, it’s something different. Outside the court, he seems very humble and relaxed, but he gets very driven as soon as he is back on the track.
“Novak is favourite, but he has Rafael.”
Despite being a five-time US Open champion, Federer last won the tournament in 2008. Since then, he has only managed to reach the final in two out of eight attempts in 2009 and 2015. The world No.2 has recently played down his chances of success in the upcoming grand slam. Following his straight sets loss to Djokovic, Federer admitted that he needed to make some adjustments to his game.
“I’m happy that my level is there. I just need to figure out my game, get used to different balls.” He told reporters on Sunday.
“That’s going to be just something I’m going to be working on. I just gotta come up with a lot of energy, and then hopefully I also have a chance after 10 years to do something special again at the Open.”
Outside of the big three, Wilander also spoke out about the chances of the next generation contingent. Alexander Zverev is the highest seed of that group at fourth. The German player is aiming to progress to the semi-finals of a grand slam for the first time in his career. He will be hoping to achieve the milestone with the help of newly appointed coach Ivan Lendl. Although Wilander is doubtful about the chances of the 21-year-old.
“At the moment, it does not seem like Alexander Zverev will be.” He replied when asked which Next Gen star could achieve a breakthrough at the tournament.
“I think it might be Stefanos Tsitsipas or Denis Shapovalov who can break through and get to the quarterfinals or semifinal.”
“I think you need to go to semifinal or final to call it a breakthrough. But I think Tsitsipas and absolute Denis Shapovalov have the game.”
The US Open main draw will get underway on Monday.
