Tuesday 30 August 2016 11:33, UK
Andy Murray starts his US Open campaign this week and Sky Sports expert Mark Petchey has answered five key questions about the New York tournament.
The British No 1 has already won the Wimbledon title and Olympic gold this year, and will be hoping to add another Grand Slam trophy at Flushing Meadows.
Standing in the way of the Scot will be a tough field of opponents, including world No 1 Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.
Sky Sports expert Petchey offers his opinion on whether Murray can repeat his 2012 triumph and also assesses his title rivals...
He's got to be close to the best tennis of his career in terms of the ease of victory over quality opponents. I think that's always a really good time when you are winning as comfortably as he was in Cincinnati. That was, of course, before he ran out of a bit of gas and ran into a player that was playing great tennis in Marin Cilic.
There's no doubt that he's in the sort of form that he believes can keep winning in majors, again and again. Not just a one-off. But it's a long journey to get through these draws and there are lots of potential difficult hurdles that can come your way. In terms of where he is now mentally, more than anything, he's in one of the strongest periods of his career.
We saw the effect that a couple of long matches had on Andy at the French Open. By the time he got to play Novak, there did not seem to a lot left in the tank after the opening set and understandably so. You suddenly get yourself deep in a duel, in a day in New York, it's going to be fairly energy sapping.
Obviously the focus for him is to get through, that's the No 1 thing, but to try and do it with the minimum fuss will give him a great shot, given the cumulative effect of all the matches he's had to play in recent months.
Yes, I think it's safe to say that Novak obviously hasn't been at his absolute dominant best in the last few months. But he's still the favourite in my eyes, coming into the tournament. You look at his record with the guys in that section. He's 14-0 against Cilic in their head-to-heads and has won the last seven straight against Rafa.
In general, the hard courts have always been a happy hunting ground for him in terms of his wins. Andy is kind of in the form of his career right now and you feel as though he could win, but Novak has still won 13 out of their last 15 encounters, so he starts the tournament as favourite.
Marin Cilic is definitely potentially dangerous, but his head-to-head with Djokovic would suggest that's too big a stumbling block, assuming they both get to that stage.
Rafa Nadal is playing well, but I'm not sure he is playing well enough to win this particular US Open, although I still feel he's got a major left in him at some stage of his career.
Stan Wawrinka, when he plays his best tennis, is the most frightening for the other guys, but he's got to get past Fernando Verdasco first and if he does that, his draw doesn't look too bad.
Nick Kyrgios has got the talent, he's got the ability and I think at some point it's all going to click. He's got some great people around him and in particular, Lleyton Hewitt, the Australian Davis Cup coach.
I'm going with Andy on the men's side. I just think he's really settled. The decision making, which is a key component of Andy's game, is just so instinctive at the moment. I don't think he has any doubt in what he's doing on court. That ultimately for Andy, is everything. If you feel so comfortable in those break point moments, then the wins take care of themselves.
On the women's side, Serena Williams has got a tough opener against Ekaterina Makarova, considering she has hardly played. I know the Russian is not where she was a few years ago, but she holds a win over Serena and that's a potentially awkward match.
I'm going to go with Angelique Kerber. She's got the world No 1 at stake, if she wins the tournament, and I think she can get it done.
