The U.S. Open defending champion curse is alive and well.
Over the weekend, Novak Djokovic and Coco Gauff were ousted from the 2024 U.S. Open in the third and fourth rounds, respectively, as they failed to successfully defend their titles at Flushing Meadows.
The losses meant a new men’s winner would be crowned for a 16th consecutive year, with no defending champion going back-to-back since Roger Federer in 2008. Similarly, no woman has captured consecutive U.S. Open titles since Serena Williams won three straight between 2012 and 2014. In fact, no woman has won the major twice since Naomi Osaka captured two titles between 2018 and 2020.
So, why do players struggle to go back-to-back at Arthur Ashe? Some have cited fatigue from playing the whole year on the Tour leading to the season’s final major. Others have pointed to the unpredictability of the hard courts, coupled with the night sessions and electric crowds in Queens. There’s also the theory of players being distracted by the world’s media capital, not to mention the presence of luminaries.
Both Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz cited fatigue as the reason for their early ousters.
“I just felt out of gas,” Djokovic said after his third-round loss, via the BBC. “And you could see that with they way I played. I wasn’t playing even close to my best. It was just an awful match for me.”
Regardless, this year’s event once again proves the U.S. Open is, hands down, the most difficult place to win a major. Even the mighty trio of Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal had their lowest major win rate in New York, capturing only 13-of-22 titles between 2003 and 2024. During the same timeframe, they combined for 18-of-22 Australian Open titles, 18-of-22 French Open wins and 17-of-21 Wimbledon titles during their dominant 21-year run.
While parity is good for tennis, many fans prefer watching an underdog trying to take down a juggernaut. As the 2024 U.S. Open enters its second week, there is no clear-cut favorite in either the men’s or women’s draw — even World No. 1 Jannik Sinner and World No. 1 Iga Swiatek are vulnerable.
