Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff, Iga Swiatek and Jessica Pegula have all been picked to win the 2026 US Open by tennis experts, and one star received the most votes.
World No 1 Sabalenka is the reigning US Open champion, but she has not reached a final since winning the Miami Open in March.
Elena Rybakina enters the tournament under a fitness cloud, with the world No 2’s ability to practise this week having been limited by an injury she suffered in Cincinnati.
Third-ranked Jessica Pegula, who was a US Open runner-up in 2024, is chasing her maiden Grand Slam title.
Fourth seed Coco Gauff won the first of her two major titles at the 2023 US Open, and the American arrives in form following her Cincinnati Open victory.
Iga Swiatek, the world No 8, is a six-time Grand Slam winner and US Open champion in 2022. The Pole won the Canadian Open earlier this month.
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Eight Sky Sports tennis pundits have predicted the women’s champion at Flushing Meadows, with Marion Bartoli, Ryan Harrison and Jonathan Overend all backing Gauff.
“I expect her to continue on her trend of hot form,” said Harrison.
Overend, Sky Sports’ lead tennis commentator, said: “She (Gauff) won in Cincinnati and then won the US Open in 2023 so why can’t she do it again this year.
“I’ve been of the opinion that it will all come together for her in the sense that these technical deficiencies that we so often discuss and see on the court in front of our eyes will not so much disappear but will become less obvious.
“I find it hard to believe Gauff will go her entire career with continued deficiencies.”
Martina Navratilova and Naomi Broady both picked Swiatek.
Former British WTA player Broady said: “She’s Iga. She’s playing really well, and I think her ball does a lot of damage on these lively hard courts with the spin and I just feel over the last few weeks she’s got her star power back a bit.”
Laura Robson and Naomi Cavaday both predicted that Pegula will make her major breakthrough.
Cavaday stated: “She’s playing great and she’s going to put herself in a great position as she always does.
“Super consistent and if other players just have a wobble at the wrong moment they get themselves taken out or don’t perform against Pegula then she’s going to be ready to pounce. She’s been a finalist before and she’s super consistent.”
Former world No 4 Tim Henman was the only analyst to back Sabalenka to defend her crown.
“She hasn’t been playing particularly well but I think a player of her stature when she gets to the Grand Slams and the biggest and best events you find that there’s an extra gear to her game and there’s also an extra intensity to her focus and concentration,” Henman assessed.
“You go back to that old saying: Form is temporary, class is permanent.”
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