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The US Open action kicks off Monday with a host of big names seeking a strong start at the fourth and final Grand Slam of the year. They include defending champion and top seed Daniil Medvedev, while regular doubles partners Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis meet in a blockbuster opening-round clash.

ATPTour.com looks at five things to watch on opening day at Flushing Meadows.

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1) ‘Special Ks’ Clash: Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis' close on- and off-court relationship has been a defining feature of their success as a doubles team in 2022, but how will the Australian duo react to being on opposite sides of the net?

Wu Yibing and Zhang Zhizhen were sitting in the US Open players’ dining room during a rain delay on Friday, one of the biggest days of both their careers. Wu, the 2017 US Open boys’ singles champion, had just qualified for the main draw for the season’s final major on his first attempt. Zhang was waiting to return to the court to attempt to do the same.

Yet instead of stressing the magnitude of the moment, the close friends had a phone on the table to stream an ATP Challenger Tour match between Shang Juncheng, a 17-year-old Chinese phenom, and Australian veteran Jordan Thompson. Shang would win the match and later advanced to the final of the tournament.

Wu, Zhang and Shang make up the future of men’s tennis in China. That future is looking bright.

When the rain delay ended, Zhang walked out to Court 7, confidently completed his victory to earn his place in the field and held his arms out in celebration. In the stands was Wu, who replicated the celebration.

“I am very happy that we both qualified because it’s quite tough,” Zhang said. “I know he had some injuries.”

Ben Shelton remembers riding around the Georgia Tech University tennis facility on a bike as a kid as his father, former ATP pro Bryan Shelton, coached the women’s team. Sometimes, young Ben would ride a scooter. At the time, tennis was far from his top priority.

The young American loved football first and foremost. A lefty quarterback, nothing was more thrilling than slinging a football around. Some of the school’s football stars would even stop by tennis matches and knowing the coach’s son enjoyed football, they would play catch with him.

“I kind of accepted at an early age that tennis probably wasn’t going to be his thing. I thought of team sports. He’s way more social than I was at that stage. I was more of an introvert and he’s a total extrovert. He’s loud and outgoing and has just so much energy,” Bryan said. “My parents wouldn’t let me play football and I always said if I had a son, and he wants to play, I’ll let him play.

“He just gravitated towards that. The whole time he was back there messing around I thought, ‘This guy’s going to be a pretty good football player one day.’”

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The ATP Tour’s finest head to New York this fortnight for their final opportunity to claim Grand Slam glory in 2022 at the US Open.

Daniil Medvedev defends his 2021 crown at Flushing Meadows, where the World No. 1 is seeking to hold off four rivals who have a chance of replacing the 26-year-old in top spot in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. That group includes second seed Rafael Nadal, who is chasing his third Grand Slam crown of the season following his victories at the Australian Open and Roland Garros.

ATPTour.com looks ahead at 10 things to watch this week.

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What a difference a year makes.

Twelve months ago Botic van de Zandschulp set foot on American soil for the first time when he fronted up to play qualifying at Flushing Meadows. This year the 6' 3" Dutchman returns as the No. 21 seed after a dramatic rise that began with a fairytale run into the US Open main draw and ended with a second-week showdown with eventual champion Daniil Medvedev.

"It was really nice when I landed in New York for the first time last year," he said. "I like the big city. I saw New York sometimes from movies or a series, so to finally be here was great. And this year should be even more interesting from last year when things were quieter due to Covid."

Van de Zandschulp comes into the Open at a career-high No. 22 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings and with a 28-21 record on the season. Last year, as the World No. 117, he rallied from a set down in all three qualifying matches, survived a five-setter in the first round of the main draw and then stunned then-World No. 11 Casper Ruud in the second round.

He also took out Diego Schwartzman in the fourth round before pushing Medvedev to four sets in the quarter-finals during his career-changing run. As he found time to reflect on the charge while vacationing in Dubai, where he went quad-biking, spent time at a water park and attended a friend's wedding, it all began to sink in.

When you play Jenson Brooksby, you know you will be in for a battle.

Since the American broke onto the Tour last July, fans have become accustomed to watching him chase down every shot and fight for every point, with hard work and commitment the foundations of his all-around game.

Next week, the 21-year-old competes on home soil at the US Open, where he is No. 43 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. Just 18 months ago he was outside the Top 300, signifying the nature of his rapid rise.

“I think it has exceeded expectations a little bit in how fast I went up,” Brooksby told ATPTour.com when reflecting on the past year. “Not really in the level that I have got to because it is something I have believed I can get to from a young age, but just how fast I reached that level.

“It is really important to stay present and treat the whole process of how I got here the same and continue to build. I don’t want to get complacent with what I have done, with everyone being happy. You have to have your own standards with your team and yourself to push on again.”

Who has the upper hand on hard courts in 2022?

An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of hard court tournaments leading into the US Open identifies Carlos Alcaraz as the peak performer, winning a tour-leading 54.12 per cent of points played on the surface. The data set includes players who have competed in a minimum of five hard-court matches so far this year.

The leading five players in the category are:

2022 Hard Courts Percentage Points Won
1. Carlos Alcaraz = 54.12% (1583/2925)
2. Daniil Medvedev = 54.04% (2685/4969)
3. Rafael Nadal = 53.85% (2042/3792)
4. Novak Djokovic = 53.40% (204/382)
5. Alexander Zverev = 53.36% (1301/2438)

Alcaraz is 14-4 on hard courts in 2022, including winning his first ATP Masters 1000 title in Miami. Alcaraz impressively defeated three Top 10 players (No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas, No. 8 Casper Ruud, No. 10 Hubert Hurkacz) to take the title while only dropping one set for the entire tournament (to Miomir Kecmanovic)

Andy Murray, Cameron Norrie and Daniel Evans have been standouts for Great Britain for years. They each have thrilled fans with different game styles and personalities.

One thing they all share is a belief that the future of #NextGenATP Briton Jack Draper is bright.

Draper, who is fifth in the Pepperstone ATP Race To Turin, has proven a favourite to earn a spot at this year’s Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals. Murray, Norrie and Evans are not surprised.

“He’s always had lots of potential,” Murray told ATPTour.com. “A lot of ability.”

This time last year, Draper’s Pepperstone ATP Ranking was not high enough to enter US Open qualifying. Now the 20-year-old lefty is on the verge of the Top 50 and a dark horse at Flushing Meadows.

Dominic Thiem calls the US Open one of his favourite tournaments and New York one of his favourite cities. This year, the Austrian is as excited as ever to arrive at Flushing Meadows.

After missing the 2021 edition due to a wrist injury, Thiem will return to the venue as US Open champion for the first time.

“It doesn’t get old and I think it will never get old [saying that]. It will always be special and it will always be there, which makes me very happy,” Thiem told ATPTour.com. “But at the same time, sports is a very fast business and everybody is hungry every day. I have zero advantage because of being a champion.”

Two years ago, Thiem was soaring higher than ever. In his fourth major final, the Austrian battled past Alexander Zverev 2-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(6) to lift the trophy in New York. He had also defeated Daniil Medvedev in straight sets in the semi-finals and was the No. 3 player in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. Later that season, Thiem defeated Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal en route to the championship match of the Nitto ATP Finals.

Photo Credit: Matthew Stockman/Getty Images
But the past 14 months have been difficult for the 17-time tour-level titlist. Last June, Thiem suffered a wrist injury while competing in Mallorca that kept him away from competition for nine months.

Adrian Mannarino's started his week by saving four match points in the first round of the Winston-Salem Open. After surviving three tie-breaks in his opening match, the Frenchman did not drop another set on his way to his second tour-level title.

With a 7-6(1), 6-4 victory against Laslo Djere in Saturday's final, the 34-year-old became the oldest champion in the tournament's history, as well as its first French champion.

"I'm just happy I won the tournament, no matter who won before or who's going to win after," Mannarino said post-match. "It's just something that I've [accomplished] for now and I'm really happy with that."

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Mannarino saved two break points to avoid going down a double break in the opening set before converting on his first break chance to level at 4-4. He then sprinted into the lead by winning the final six points of the tie-break.

"I had some trouble today to see the ball," the Frenchman said of his slow start. "The conditions last night, playing at night with the cold weather was so different than playing today with hot weather and clear blue skies.

New partner, similar success for Matthew Ebden and Jamie Murray. Teaming for the first time this week in Winston-Salem, the pair claimed the title with a 6-4, 6-2 win against Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski on Saturday.

The third seeds saved all five break points against them in the final as they finished the week with just one set lost. The title is Ebden's seventh and Murray's 27th at tour-level.

"When we spoke last week about playing here, I thought immediately it works perfectly," Ebden said post-match. "Jamie plays on the deuce court, I've been playing on the ad [side]. We've known each other a long time. First time [playing] together but we've known each other, we've seen each other around many times.

"You never really know how its going to go, but I like to think we both know what we're doing out there and we're lucky we executed a lot of good points and played a lot of big points well. That was the key to the week."

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Alex Molcan enters the 2022 US Open as a Top 40 player, a vast improvement from this time last year, when he advanced through the qualifying as the World No. 138 before reaching the third round at Flushing Meadows (l. Schwartzman). He has not forgotten his roots.

In 2021, the Slovakian spent much of his time on the ATP Challenger Tour and attempting to qualify for Tour-level events. This season, Molcan has made it onto the ATP Tour and has found success that he eagerly awaited.

“I’m not surprised that I’m there (Top 40). I always knew if I can play well and stay healthy, I can be Top 50.” Molcan said. “I wasn’t surprised but I don’t think it came crazy fast. I was trying for many, many years to be Top 100 but I didn’t do it. Last year, it was surprising when I went from 300 to 90 at the end of season.”

The 24-year-old holds two Challenger Tour titles, Liberec and Helsinki, which he won in 2021. After spending several years on the Challenger Tour, Molcan has many fond memories of the annual progress he achieved.

“When I won my first Challenger, that was great. Before that, I was happy when I played some semi-finals, I was like ‘Woah, 30 points!’ and I was so happy. Three years ago, it was a great memory when I played quarter-finals. There are a lot of good memories, every year is some other memory.”

Sebastian Baez met his longtime coach, Sebastian Gutierrez, for the first time when he was 15. He was in Brazil for an ITF event, where Gutierrez was coaching the Argentine players.

It did not take long for them to make a connection, but not on the court. Gutierrez wasted no time commenting on something that some coaches would not do for weeks, if not months.

“I drank Coca-Cola every day, every time. I ate all foods,” Baez recalled. “He looked at me and said, ‘Why do you drink Coca-Cola every time?’”

Baez was already one of the best juniors in Argentina. But being a good junior and a top professional are worlds apart. That first meeting with Gutierrez set Baez on a path to where he is now, the No. 37 player in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.

“I said, ‘I really like Coca-Cola! It’s the best thing!’ He said, ‘No, you have to drink water.’ I said, ‘Okay’. It was a difficult change in that moment, but I think that was the first thing he told me,” Baez said. “The other coaches from my country just told me how I have to hit the ball and everything. He was focussed outside the court and that is what makes all the difference.”

After two rain delays, Brandon Holt finally won his final-round qualifying match on Friday at the US Open against Dimitar Kuzmanov 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 to reach the main draw at a Grand Slam for the first time. The American finished it off by rushing into the net to put away a ball that seemingly floated forever.

In the crowd, Holt’s mother put her hands on her head in disbelief, quickly stood up in celebration, sat down again and looked in complete shock. Moments later she shared a special embrace with Brandon. It was one of the most emotional moments of qualifying week at Flushing Meadows.

It just so happens that Holt’s mother knows a thing or two about winning at the US Open. His mom is Tracy Austin, the two-time tournament winner who remains the youngest champion in US Open history, having lifted the trophy aged 16 in 1979.

“It’s over!” Austin told ATPTour.com of her immediate reaction. “It’s over!”

Photo Credit: Pete Staples/USTA
The former World No. 1 was not the only one who felt that way. Holt led 4-2 in the third set with an opportunity to go up 5-2 when the players were forced inside due to the first rain delay. When play resumed, he earned three match points — two on Kuzmanov’s serve at 5-2 and another at 5-3, 40/15. The Bulgarian played them perfectly to avoid elimination.

The ability to watch world-class tennis in a smaller, more intimate setting is one of the core pillars of tennis on the ATP Challenger Tour. That is, witnessing a player's journey as he fights to establish a career away from the big cities and the bright lights.

It is precisely what makes the Challenger circuit so special to these communities and regions in all corners of the globe. And when that tournament is the lone professional tennis event in the entire country, it provides an additional unique layer to its charm that is unmatched. This is where the city of Banja Luka, Bosnia & Herzegovina, has carved its own identity on the ATP Challenger Tour for the last two decades.

This week, the Srpska Open was honoured for 20 years on the ATP Challenger Tour. Not only is it the longest-running men's professional tennis tournament in all of Bosnia & Herzegovina, but also the entire Balkan region in southeast Europe. With a population centre of just 138,000, Banja Luka is also one of the smallest cities to host a Challenger tournament for 20 or more years.

It was in 2002 that Milan Radakovic had a vision for the future of tennis in his native Banja Luka. Never before did his city or his country host a tournament of this caliber on the ATP Challenger Tour. But this was Milan's dream. To bring elite tennis to Bosnia & Herzegovina. Not only did he achieve that very goal, but here we are more than two decades later, and his dream is still being realized.

In 2017, Radakovic passed away at the age of 61, and while he is no longer with us, the light behind his vision burns brighter than ever. He would be proud to witness this moment, as the very tournament he founded celebrates its 20th anniversary on the ATP Challenger Tour. The Srpska Open was honoured on Thursday, with a special ceremony in front of the Bosnian faithful on Center Court at the National Tennis Center.

Adrian Mannarino has done it the hard way this week. After saving four match points in his opening-round victory at the Winston-Salem Open, he has defeated four seeded players to advance to his first tour-level final since 2020.

The 34-year-old Frenchman raced past second seed Botic van de Zandschulp on Friday night, earning a 6-0, 6-4 win in one hour, 15 minutes. With victory in Saturday's final against Laslo Djere, Mannarino would become the oldest champion in the ATP 250 event's history.

"I'm old!" he joked in his on-court interview. "My body is not responding as well as when I was 20, but obviously I'm still up and running well."

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Taking full advantage of 29 unforced errors from van de Zandschulp, including four as he broke in the ninth game of set two, Mannarino was in control from the start but had to fight off a strong charge from the Dutchman in set two.

Five players — Rafael Nadal, Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Carlos Alcaraz and Casper Ruud — have an opportunity to finish the US Open as the No. 1 player in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.

With the release of the draw Thursday, the scenarios have become clearer. There are four situations in which both US Open finalists would be competing for both the season’s final major trophy and World No. 1.

If Nadal plays Medvedev in the championship match or Medvedev, Tsitsipas or Ruud face Alcaraz for the title, the winner will leave New York as World No. 1. Medvedev currently holds top spot, while Nadal is trying to regain it for the first time since February 2020 and Alcaraz is attempting to reach the pinnacle for the first time. With Medvedev defending 2000 points, Nadal will hold a healthy lead over the 26-year-old in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings Monday.

Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings Points (as of 29 August)

There are also several potential matches that could happen earlier in the tournament that would have major implications on the battle for No. 1.

Entering this US Open, no Chinese man had competed in the main draw in the Open Era. This year, there will be two.

Wu Yibing and Zhang Zhizhen battled through qualifying, both earning their way into the main draw on Friday with victories on a rainy day at Flushing Meadows.

Wu, the 2017 US Open boys’ singles champion, was the first to advance when he defeated Frenchman Corentin Moutet 7-6(5), 6-2. This was the 22-year-old’s first attempt to qualify for a major.

“Of course I’m happy. I’m happy to be back here playing here in a major event since 2017, when I won here. It’s pretty special for me, but I’m just trying to play my tennis, show the people or myself that I still can play,” Wu said. “It’s been a tough few years for me. I really suffered from injuries and Covid in China. It seems like I can still play a little bit of tennis.

“I’m happy about what I did here. I love the people here, the crowd. Many Chinese people came to support, I love it.”

Daniil Medvedev has had a love-hate relationship with the US Open crowds — but not in that order. The World No. 1 drew the ire of the New York fans at the start of his 2019 title run, but won them over with his tennis and his wit by the time he pushed Rafael Nadal to five sets in an epic final.

As he returns to the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center as the defending champion, Medvedev was asked to describe what endears him to fans. The honesty of his reply provided an answer in itself.

"It's going to be a little bit harsh on myself, but I'm going to say [it]," he began, speaking at Friday's US Open Media Day. "I do think if you look at Daniil Medvedev only on the tennis court, only as a tennis player, maybe it's not that easy to like him or me as much because, I mean, my technique is a little bit odd.

"My game style is probably not the most flashiest, but that's because I want to win. When I was young, when I was 18, I was hitting the ball as hard as I can. Maybe people would love it more, but I probably would not win a Grand Slam."

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Mackenzie McDonald is not afraid of taking big decisions. On or off the court.

The 27-year-old American has established himself as a consistent performer on the ATP Tour since turning pro in 2016. A skilful and resourceful all-around talent, the World No. 77 has become adept at countering physically bigger, more powerful opponents with his adaptable counter-punching game.

Now a TopCourt ambassador, McDonald takes tennis fans back to where it all began, honing his rock-solid net game with his first coach, and explains how hard work on the practice court helped breed confidence in his ability when moving forward. The 2016 NCAA singles and doubles champion also reveals how his difficult decision to delay going pro and instead play college tennis at UCLA ultimately paid off, giving him perfect preparation for the rigours of life on the ATP Tour.

Technique: McDonald’s aggressive forehand is particularly effective at capitalising on attacking positions during a rally. The American demonstrates how he adapts his regular forehand technique for this unique shot, which is the perfect weapon to punish short balls from opponents and seal points from dominant situations.

Drills: Shot selection is a key skill for players of all levels, and McDonald’s “Full Court Movement” drill focusses on how to recognise your opponent’s ball as early as possible. A top-class mover around the court himself, McDonald then showcases how to move efficiently towards the ball once you have identified the most appropriate shot to play.