Exclusive: Borg, Laver & Federer preview the US Open

There are plenty of pundits offering up their opinions on what is going to happen at next week’s US Open, but we didn’t want to speak to pundits. Rather, we thought we’d speak to three guys who know what it is to walk the walk and talk the talk. At yesterday’s launch of the Laver Cup, no less than Bjorn Borg, Rod Laver and Roger Federer all gave their views on who to watch out for at the US Open.

Bjorn Borg

If I had to pick, I’d pick two players. I would pick Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray. Even if Djokovic didn’t do too well in the Rio Olympics, he won Toronto. Mentally, coming to the US Open he will be ready to play. Murray is playing really good tennis now. He had a week off and that is good – he has played a lot of matches.

Of the other guys, it’ll be interesting to see how Rafa is playing. He is motivated and wants to do well. Another completely outside guy who is playing well in Marin Cilic. He’s been playing really well and he loves to play here. I would say these four guys.

For the women, I have to say Serena – she likes to play here. There are so many women – it’s great competition which is good for tennis – but I think she will win it.

Rod Laver

For me, I look at Del Potro. With what I saw at the Olympics, he looks like he’s keen to play. I would pick him as being a potential winner. As an outsider, I would say that Kevin Anderson is starting to play well again.

Roger Federer

I think Novak is the favourite because of his sheer domination over the last few years. Andy has had a wonderful summer, winning the Olympics and Wimbledon – it’s been an amazing run and I hope he can keep challenging Novak for the No.1 ranking.

I always hope that Stan, when he catches fire again, that he can do some damage. He’s had a bit of a struggle of late, but that tells me that he’s going to be very refreshed and extremely hungry when the US Open rolls around.