RICKY’S PICKS AND PREVIEW OF THE BOTTOM HALF OF THE U.S.OPEN TENNIS 2018 • ALL ABOUT • FEDERER • DJOKOVIC

Written by: Staff on 24th August 2018

RICKY'S PICKS AND PREVIEW OF THE BOTTOM HALF OF THE U.S.OPEN TENNIS 2018 • ALL ABOUT • FEDERER • DJOKOVIC

epa06969566 Swiss tennis player Roger Federer (C) is seen practicing on Arthur Ashe stadium prior to the start of the 2018 US Open Tennis Championships at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA, 24 August 2018. EPA-EFE/JASON SZENES |

Swiss tennis player Roger Federer (C) is seen practicing on Arthur Ashe stadium prior to the start of the 2018 US Open Tennis Championships at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA, 24 August 2018. EPA-EFE/JASON SZENES

By Ricky Dimon

Roger Federer vs. Novak Djokovic is all the rage in the bottom half of the U.S. Open men’s singles bracket. And deservedly so. It is one of the best rivalries in tennis history and the two all-time greats could face each other in the quarterfinals during the final Slam of 2018.

After that, however, this is a pretty underwhelming half of the draw.

Ricky takes a look at the bottom half:

Zverev’s quarter

Alexander Zverev got a favorable draw at last year’s U.S. Open (there was no other top-eight seed in his entire quarter due to Andy Murray’s late withdrawal) and muffed it up with a second-round loss to Borna Coric. The 21-year-old German has an even easier path this time, at least through what should be a cakewalk of a first week. Things could get tricky starting in the last 16 with potential adversary Kei Nishikori, but Nishikori’s health is always an issue.

Overall, this is a soft quarter in which it is difficult to see anyone having a real chance to prevent anything other than a QF contest between Marin Cilic and either Zverev or Nishikori. David Goffin and Diego Schwartzman may have something to say about that, but Goffin retired from a Cincinnati Masters semi against Federer with a back injury and Schwartzman is not playing as well as he was when he reached the U.S. Open quarters last summer after upsetting Cilic.

Best first-round matchup — (22) Marco Cecchinato vs. Julien Benneteau

This is not going to produce the best tennis in the first round–not by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, it may produce some of the worst. But what the heck? There isn’t much else to offer in this part of the draw and Cecchinato vs. Benneteau is at least interesting in a way. After all, it is stunning that one of these two guys will be in the second round. Cecchinato, a Roland Garros semifinalist, has never won a single ATP-level match on hard courts in his entire career. Benneteau has played only one match since Wimbledon (lost it in straight sets to Matteo Berrettini at the Winston-Salem Open). If nothing else, at least this one should be competitive!

Federer’s quarter

The tennis world is already putting Federer vs. Djokovic on the calendar for Wednesday night, Sept. 5. And why not? There is only one player (Nick Kyrgios) who has a realistic chance at derailing the highly-anticipated Fedole showdown and that player can barely get through even one best-of-three match without breaking down physically (and mentally). Otherwise, Federer’s path to the quarterfinals includes nothing more than Yoshihito Nishioka, Benoit Paire, and either Hyeon Chung or Fabio Fognini. Djokovic’s path begins with Marton Fucsovics and may also include Richard Gasquet and either Pablo Carreno Busta or Lucas Pouille. An upset simply isn’t going to happen.

This has to be considered the toughest quarter simply because of Federer and Djokovic, but other than those two and Kyrgios it is incredibly weak. Chung and Gasquet appear to be less than 100 percent, this is not the same Pouille that shocked Nadal at the 2016 U.S. Open, and the unseeded group is nothing to write home about (Leonardo Mayer, Marcos Baghdatis, John Millman, etc. etc. etc.).

Best first-round matchup — Marcos Baghdatis vs. Mikhail Youzhny

Not unlike Cecchinato vs. Benneteau, the tape of this one is not quite going to be sent to the International Tennis Hall of Fame. In fact, both veterans may offer exorbitant sums to have it burned. But it should be a fun one—with occasionally awesome shot-making—and it is also Youzhny’s final match at a major (unless he actually wins). The 36-year-old, who has slumped outside the top 100, has announced that he will retire this fall at a home event in Russia. But the 92nd-ranked Baghdatis isn’t good enough right now to completely blow Youzhny off the court.