Serenity now! say the best sportsbooks. Serena Williams is the favorite to win the 2018 US Open women’s singles. Williams is the female answer to Roger Federer. She is 36-years-old, has won six titles, and three in a row. However she has not won since 2014. And she would break a tie with Chris Evert for most US Open titles were she to win one more. Maybe the 2018 edition?
Serena Williams (5.00)
Another similarity with Federer is, to paraphrase the Swiss, that a 36-year-old should probably not be the favorite to win the US Open. Especially one who has been dealing with a lot on and off the court. That’s when you know you have successfully built a brand. And the Serena Williams brand bring with such name recognition that it may be guilty of getting special treatment. But that does that make any difference if she delivers? And I don’t mean deliver a baby for which she has been suffering from postpartum depression. Williams entered the 2018 Wimbledon Championships ranked 181 in the world. Notwithstanding which she was seeded No. 25. The decision proved unbiased in retrospect, as she made to the final, though she lost it to Angelique Kerber. Can you blame the best sportsbooks for favoring her?
On the other hand, she’s coming off her worst defeat ever, 1-6, 0-6 to Johanna Konta in the Silicon Valley Classic. Additionally, Williams lost to Petra Kvitova in three sets in the second round of the Cincinnati Masters.
Angelique Kerber (8.00)
The German is the most recent non-American to win the US Open. Which she did in 2016. Kerber credits a lot of her recent success to coach Kim Fissette. He is kind of like the Billy Beane of female tennis. Fissette has used Tennis Analytics for Coaches (TAC) to elevate the games of Kim Clijsters, Victoria Azarenka, Simona Halep and Johanna Konta. And now, Kerber. TAC is a tool that Germany-based enterprise software company uses to produce live stats available during matches. “Instead of waiting two hours on the court, to watch one match for two hours, to have this little amount of data, now I can go home, sit at my computer or wherever I want, drink coffee at Starbucks and can start my analysis, and I am a much better coach than I was before,” Fissette said. And as a result, Kerber is a much better player.
Simona Halep (9.00)
Halep is as good at choosing role models as Kerber is at picking coaches. “Rafa [Nadal] has inspired her with what he’s been able to do, with the way he trains, with his work ethic, the way he fights for every single match no matter what the score is. He can be down 6-Love, 5-Love, 40-Love,” her coach, Darren Cahill, said. “You wouldn’t even be able to tell with him. That, to me, is what she’s modeled the last year and a half on.” Do you think she keeps track of her career compared to Nadal’s, like Homer did with Edison? If that’s the case, she’s still short a US Open title or two.
Sloane Stephens (11.00)
Stephens is the current reigning and defending US Open champion. No female player has won back-to-back US Opens since the aforementioned threepeat by Williams. Which begs Vogue’s question, can Stephens repeat her US Open triumph? And the answer is, she doesn’t appear to give a damn. “I win the U.S. Open, and it’s like, Oh, my God, you’re supposed to win more,” she said. “You’re supposed to do all these things. Well, I’m not doing what you want me to do. I’m doing what I want to do. I want to just play. Whatever happens, happens.”
Our FREE Pick: There’s too much pressure on the other candidates. Stephens’s nonchalant attitude may just be the key to victory here.
