Former champions Naomi Osaka, Bianca Andreescu, and Stan Wawrinka have earned singles main draw wildcards to the US Open, the US Tennis Association said on Thursday. Japan’s Osaka, who has four Grand Slam championships, won the US Open twice in 2018 and 2020. The former world no.1 player returned to competition in January after giving birth to her daughter and has advanced to the third round or better in four WTA 1000 events this season.
Osaka claimed she still doesn’t feel like herself on the court eight months into her comeback season after maternity leave, with the four-time Grand Slam champion perplexed by her lack of power and precision. Osaka returned to action after taking a 15-month break to give birth to her daughter. The Japanese player’s finest achievements have been quarter-final appearances in Doha and S-Hertogenbosch, and she is now ranked 90th in the world.
I’ve played a handful of matches this year that I felt like I was myself and I know this moment is probably just a small phase from all the new transitions (clay, grass, clay, hard), however the only feeling I could liken how I feel right now to is being post-partum, Osaka said. Osaka’s next event will be in Flushing Meadows, which she won in 2018 and 2020, but she doesn’t understand why everything about her game feels “almost brand new” again.
Andreescu, the 2019 US Open champion, returned to action this year after missing nine months due to a back injury. The Canadian reached the third round of the French Open in her first tournament back. The wildcard permits Swiss Wawrinka, who won the most recent of his three Grand Slam titles at the 2016 US Open, to make his 72nd main draw appearance in one of the game’s four blue-ribbon events, putting him fifth on the all-time list.
Austrian Dominic Thiem, the 2020 US Open champion who revealed this year that he will retire after the 2024 season due to a wrist injury, has also been handed a wildcard. The U.S. Open will be played in New York from August 26 to September 8.
Meanwhile, legendary tennis coach Rick Macci has revealed Carlos Alcaraz is his favorite to win the 2024 US Open and described him as “the Spanish magician.” The gold medal loss will add another layer of fiber and grit with even more baked in determination and never say quit, the American said.
