The 2023 US Open tennis tournament begins today in New York, the last Grand Slam of the year. Defending champion Spanish Carlos Alcaraz is the big favorite while Serbian Novak Nole Djokovic looks to win his fourth title at the event. Nine Argentines will look to take the Albiceleste as far as possible.
The tournament, played at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in the New York neighborhood of Queen’s, awards US$65 million across all draws.
World number one and Wimbledon 2023-winner Alcaraz looks to defend his 2022 crown. His biggest threat will undoubtedly be Djokovic, who beat him in the final of the Cincinnati Masters 1000 and returns to the US Open after two years. Nole is not defending any points at the US Open, so if he beats Frenchman Alexandre Muller (ranked 85th) in his first round matchup on Monday, he will regain the number one spot in the ATP Singles Rankings.
In the women’s draw, current world number one Polish Iga Swiatek will begin her defense of the title against the Swedish Rebecca Peterson (92), while world number two in the WTA world ranking, the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, will play in the initial round against the Belgian Maryna Zanevska (113).
The Argentines are headed by 25-year-old Francisco Cerúndolo, with the 20th seed. Having won the 2023 Rothesay International at Eastbourne, which made him only the third Argentine to win a title on grass, he will face American Zachary Svajda (235) in the first round.
The other big hope for Argentina is Sebastián Báez. The 22-year-old is having the best season of his career, having won three ATP titles. On Sunday 27 he added the Winston-Salem title to his wins at the Cordoba Open and Kitzbühel, shooting 10 places up the ATP rankings. However, he will have a tough debut, going up against Croatian Borna Coric, ranked 27th in the world, who will be looking for revenge after Báez beat him last Friday in the Winston-Salem semifinals.
The other Argentines will be Tomás Martín Etcheverry, Pedro Cachín, Facundo Díaz Acosta, Juan Manuel Cerúndolo, Diego Schwartzman, Guido Pella in the men’s draw and Nadia Podoroska in the women’s.
In doubles draw there will be a strong Argentine presence with Horacio Zeballos playing with Catalan Marcel Granollers, and the Argentine duo Máximo González and Andrés Molteni. Zeballos (16th in the world in doubles) and Granollers (18) were finalists this year at Wimbledon, while González (12) and Molteni (7) won five titles, the most important being the Cincinnati Masters 1000.
The Argentines who make their debut today are the following. All start times are Argentine time:
Juan Manuel Cerúndolo v. Ilya Ivashka (Belarus) – Court 4 – 12:00 p.m.
Pedro Cachín v. Ben Shelton (US) – Court 10 – 12:00 p.m.
Francisco Cerúndolo v. Zachary Svajda (US) – Court 7 – 2:00 p.m.
Also playing today:
Novak Djokovic (SER) v. Alexandre Muller (FRA) – Arthur Ashe Stadium – 9:30 p.m.
Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) v. Milos Raonic (CAN) – Louis Armstrong Stadium – 8:00 p.m.
Casper Ruud (NOR) v. Emilio Nava (US) – Court 17 – 1:15 p.m.
All games can be watched live on ESPN and subscription service Star+.