Monday 28th August 2017 saw the start of the US Open Tennis tournament, the 137th time that the event has been contested. Many of the world’s top tennis stars are in New York competing to
try and become the next Grand Slam champion after what has been a somewhat unusual and unpredictable year on both the men’s and women’s tour so far.
In this article, we are going to learn a little about the US Open, the two main championships being contested and some of the main contenders in the men’s and women’s events. We’ll also look at some of the key absences this year and how you can enjoy some of the best betting available online at the event with our partner site Bet365 Sport.
So let’s begin by taking a look at some of the history of this famous event, some past champions and then we’ll move on to take a look at the big names hoping to have their name engraved on the famous trophy come the end of the tournament in September.
A Potted History of the US Open
The 2017 US Open will be the 137th time the tournament has been contested, although it was not in its current format until the Open Era started in 1968. Until then, the event was dominated by American winners, with just a handful of players from overseas winning both the men’s and women’s events.
The dawn of the Open Era led to a far more international field and over the years, that has continued to be the case. Indeed, the last American male player to win the event was Andy Roddick back in 2003, while the last US female to win the event was Serena Williams back in 2014.
There have been two six-time winners of the title in the Open Era, both of them women with Chris Evert’s six wins between 1975 and 1982 being matched by Serena Williams who achieved her successes over a sixteen year span.
Three male players hold the record of five wins in the Open Era, Jimmy Connors, Pete Sampras and Roger Federer. Federer’s wins were all the more remarkable as they came in five successive US Open tournaments from 2004 through to 2008, although the Swiss legend has failed to win the event since then, losing twice in the final following his success in 2008.
The defending champions are Stan Wawrinka in the men’s event (though he is unable to defend his title due to injury) and Germany’s Angelique Kerber in the women’s.
The 2017 US Open
This year, the total prize money up for grabs in the tournament is $50,400,000 and that prize money is the most ever for any Grand Slam event (a 10% increase from last year). It also means 
that the US Open is the most lucrative Grand Slam to win, offering almost $10m more in prize money to players than Wimbledon and over $11m more than both the Australian and French Open titles.
Each male and female singles winner will pocket $3.7m, that is $800,000 more than the winner of Wimbledon receives and around $1m more than the Australian Open winner receives and $1.5m more than the French Open winner pocketed.
However, while this may the richest tennis tournament in history, it will also be one which sees many of the top players unable to play, chiefly due to injury. In the men’s event, both last years finalists, Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka withdrew with injury some time ago and on the eve of the tournament, second seed Andy Murray was also forced to withdraw.
Two other top ten seeds, Kei Nishikori and Milos Raonic were also forced to pull out with injury, while in the women’s draw, likely top seed Serena Williams has not featured in any Grand Slam event since the Australian Open back in January due to her being pregnant.
Other notable absentees in the women’s draw include Victoria Azarenka, Timea Bacsinszky, Sara Errani, Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sam Stosur.
What this means is that the top ten seeds in both the men’s and women’s draw have a somewhat unfamiliar look to them as you can see for yourself below:
Women’s Top Ten Seeds
- Karolina Pliskova (Cze)
- Simona Halep (Rom)
- Garbine Muguruza (Spa)
- Elina Svitolina (Ukr)
- Caroline Wozniacki (Den)
- Angelique Kerber (Ger) (Current Champion)
- Johanna Konta (GB)
- Svetlana Kuznetsova (Rus)
- Venus Williams (USA)
- Agnieszka Radwanska (Pol)
The women’s draw is particularly open this year with a number of top players ranked just outside the top ten such as Petra Kvitova, Domenique Cibulkova, Jelena Ostapenko, Kristina Mladenovic and Madison Keys, all likely to feel that they have a genuine chance of winning the title.
Furthermore, the US Open organisation team have awarded former champion Maria Sharapova a wildcard into the event, which offers the Russian star her first chance to compete in a Grand Slam event since her drugs ban ended a few months ago.
Men’s Top Ten Seeds
- Rafael Nadal (Spa)
- Roger Federer (Swi)
- Alexander Zverev (Ger)
- Marin Cilic (Cro)
- Dominic Thiem (Aut)
- Grigor Dimitrov (Bul)
- Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (Fra)
- David Goffin (Bel)
- John Isner (USA)
- Roberto Bautista Agut (Spa)
These are revised seedings in the men’s draw after original second seed Andy Murray withdrew on the eve of the Championships.
After qualifying in the week preceding, the First Round proper of the US Open gets under way on Monday 28th August 2017 and that is a perfect time to enjoy some of the best quality betting you can find on the event with Bet365 Sport.
Top Betting Available On The US Open At Bet365 Sport
If you are looking for some great pre-match betting, or you enjoy the thrill of In Play betting, then check out Bet365’s extensive betting markets available on the US Open for both the men’s and women’s singles events. Not only can you enjoy both forms of betting, but you can also keep tabs on the action thanks to Bet365’s Live Streaming of all the action from the Billie Jean King Tennis Center in New York.
However, that is not the only bonus available as if you place a two or more selection accumulator bet with Bet365 on any of the To Win Match, First Set Winner or Set Betting markets on any singles or doubles match at the US Open, then you can receive a fantastic bonus on top of your winnings thanks to Bet365’s Tennis Accumulator Bonus.
To calculate the size of your bonus, Bet365 will pay you a percentage of your winnings on top of your standard return based on how many selections you had in your successful accumulator bet. The more you win and the more selections you have on your bet, then the higher the bonus you will earn. The full bonus payment list is outlined below:
- Double – 5% bonus
- Treble – 7.5% bonus
- 4-fold – 10% bonus
- 5-fold – 15% bonus
- 6-fold – 20% bonus
- 7-fold – 25% bonus
- 8-fold – 30% bonus
- 9-fold – 35% bonus
- 10-fold – 40% bonus
- 11-fold – 45% bonus
- 12-fold+ – 50% bonus
So if you land a £10 win 100/1 fourfold accumulator and you win £1,000, you would receive a 10% bonus on top of that winnings, so you would actually win £1,100, plus your £10 stake back.
The great news is that this great tennis offer is not just available for the US Open, but also throughout the tennis season on a massive range of ATP, WTA, Grand Slam, Challenger Tour events as well as team events such as the Hopman Cup and Davis Cup.
Who are our picks for the US Open Men’s And Women’s Victors In 2017?
Given the number of injuries in the men’s draw, especially to players who would stand a realistic chance of success in this tournament, I think we can narrow the likely winner down to three players. While Marin Cilic has won this event in the past, I think is breakdown at Wimbledon will lay heavily on him which means I can’t see past a Federer v Nadal final.
In that case, I think the form the Swiss legend has shown at Australia (which is also a hard court) and also at Wimbledon makes Federer the big favourite here and at 7/4 with Bet365 at the moment, I think even that short price is a very solid value bet.
The women’s tournament is considerably more open and almost anyone in the top 20 or even 30 could win it. Romanian Simona Halep has a tough opening match against Maria Sharapova in the first round and if she can win that, she could go close, but I have a feeling that Karolina Pliskova could be the one to beat here and at odds of 6/1, she is a decent bet in what is a wide open women’s event.
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