Djokovic and Rybakina prepare for US Open amid injury recovery and wide-open draws

Novak Djokovic said he was as prepared as he could be for the US Open as he attempts to take advantage of the wide-open men’s draw and battle for a potential 25th grand slam title.

Djokovic arrived in New York having competed only once after his semi-final run at Wimbledon, losing in his opening match of the Cincinnati Open to Thiago Agustín Tirante while struggling with the humidity. However, he now sees the silver lining in that defeat, which he believes gave him the time to make sure he was in optimal shape for the US Open. “I don’t like early losses anywhere, to be honest, but it gave me time to be prepared for US Open in a most adequate way,” he said. “I had almost a few weeks, actually two weeks, to really train and get my body and mind into the right state, prepared for what’s coming up.

“So it remains to be seen. If you ask me if I’m prepared, I feel like I am as best as I can be, but it’s different training and then getting out on the Arthur Ashe Stadium and playing best-of-five.”

Over the course of the past two years, nobody other than Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner has been as consistent at the grand slams as Djokovic, who has reached the semi-finals or better in six of his last seven such tournaments. However, Sinner and Alcaraz account for five of those defeats, along with a retirement loss at the Australian Open last year.

With Sinner absent because of injury and Alcaraz competing for the first time since being sidelined for four and a half months by a right wrist problem, the field is wide open. Had this scenario unfolded 12 months ago, Djokovic would have been the clear favourite at the start of the tournament, but a year is a very long time at 39 years old and despite how high his level remains, each tournament brings more physical problems for the Serb to manage.

Meanwhile, Elena Rybakina declared herself healthy for the US Open as she recovers from a foot injury. She is aiming to take advantage of a golden opportunity to claim the No 1 ranking for the first time. “I didn’t play for exactly a week, and we consulted with different doctors. I have been doing the recovery. Slowly started to go on the court. Just a lot of gym,” she said.

“It wasn’t easy, because we didn’t know exactly how the foot was gonna react, since it was very painful for me to go and serve in that match in Cincinnati, because I wanted to try once more. Then for a couple of days, it was painful to even walk. Afterwards we managed to do everything possible for it to get better, and I’m glad how the process is going for now.”

Rybakina, the second seed and Australian Open champion, begins the tournament at No 1 in the live rankings and she can be overtaken only if Aryna Sabalenka, who has been No 1 for 97 consecutive weeks, Coco Gauff or Jessica Pegula win the title and Rybakina fails to reach the semi-finals.

After a difficult period during the summer, Rybakina found her form again during the North American hard-court swing, reaching the final in the Canadian Open before moving into the last eight of the Cincinnati Open. However, she was forced to retire early in her quarter-final against Swiatek last week by a foot injury.

“I don’t check the rankings [for] the point situation, but from the media mostly I know where I should get, how the others should play. It’s all the different scenarios,” she said. “But for me, especially now when I had this injury last week, I feel like the most important thing is to just try to stay healthy, play one match at a time, because this is not the last tournament of the year. Of course it’s a grand slam, and you want to do well. But you have plenty of opportunities after if you’re healthy and you keep on playing. I’m trying not to think about it at all, and just play one match at a time.