John Isner (USA)

An injury cloud will be hanging over the number one seed, who was forced to pull out of the Australian Open in the third round. It is hard to read too much into his form, with his 6-4 4-1 retired loss to Stan Wawrinka the only match against a notable opponent. He did knock off Kyle Edmund and Tennys Sandgren in Auckland who both play here, and made a semi-final in New York 12 months ago. His form is up and down, and depending on how he has recovered from injury, time will tell how far the number one seed and top 20 player can go in this tournament. Cannot get a more suited event though.

CONTENDERS:

Milos Raonic (Canada)

Will enter New York as the number three seed and coming in off some eye-opening performances at Melbourne Park. Unfortunately ran into Novak Djokovic in the quarter finals, but rolled past world number six, Tsitsipas, as well as top 40 players, Cristian Garin and Marin Cilic. Given his prior match was a loss to world number 81, Corentin Moutet at Doha, it is fair to say Raonic would rather follow on his Australian Open form than his Qatar Open form. He has form in New York, winning a three-peat between 2011-13, though he did not even play here 12 months ago, but has some minor points to defend from his Rotterdam tournament in 2019.

Reilly Opelka (USA)

Last year’s surprise winner earned his title off the back of a win over number one seed Isner in 2019, before defeating even bigger giant-killer, Brayden Schnur in the final. The Canadian qualifier pushed Opelka to three sets, but the big serving American was up to the task. But given his form of late – first round losses to Pablo Cuevas and Fabio Fognini at Adelaide and Melbourne (After being two sets up against Fognini) – it is hard to read into exactly where he sits in the scheme of things. He needs to find the good Opelka rather than the bad, because he will be hard to break on these courts.

Tennys Sandgren (USA)

Was the Australian Open quarter finals run a sign of things to come, or another false hope? A couple of years ago, Sandgren went deep at Melbourne Park only to not really achieve much else. The American reached a career high of 41st 12 months ago, but had slid out to 100th in the world entering the Australian Open. He has bolted all the way up to 56th entering this tournament, but will miss out on a seeding in 2020. Last year seeded eighth, Sandgren lost in the first round to Italian Paolo Lorenzi, and will want to go better here. Prior to his giant-killing run at Melbourne Park where he claimed the scalps of top 15 players Fognini and Matteo Berrettini – as well as American Sam Querrey who plays here – he lost to both Isner and Moutet either side of a straight forward win over unranked Kiwi, Michael Venus in Auckland. No slouch can earn seven match points off Roger Federer, but he was unable to put him away.

ROUGHIE:

Ugo Humbert (France)

The 21-year-old Frenchman is a real wildcard entry when it comes to any tournament, able to match it with the world’s best, but not consistently enough. He is at a career-high of 43rd in the world right now following his title in Auckland last month. He was bundled out in the first round of the Australian Open by John Millman, but against some of the bigger hitters on tour, Humbert can take them down. He has already beaten the top seed in Isner back in Auckland which will give him confidence, as well as other top players, Canada’s Denis Shapovalov and compatriot, Benoit Paire on the way to the ASB Classic title. He really has to piece it all together across multiple matches as he did in New Zealand, but he is one to watch for the future.

DARK HORSE:

Brayden Schnur (Canada)

If lightning does strike twice, then it will be interesting to see just how far the 118th ranked Canadian can go in New York 12 months on from his surprise finals appearance. He is yet to win a title on the ATP Tour, and the 24-year-old is a late bloomer to the circuit, turning professional in 2016. In 2019, he made it through qualifying to knock off the likes of Steven Johnson, Lorenzi and Querrey, and was remarkably a set up against Opelka in the final before losing 1-6 7-6 7-6. It would be unrealistic to expect him to go that deep again, but he has points to defend and it is not surprising to see organisers hand him a wildcard after that fairytale run.