“Upsets are contagious. If you’re seeded, be wary before you leave that locker room,” Brad Gilbert said this after witnessing a series of upsets at the 2025 Wimbledon Championships. At the grass court major, we saw a record total of eight of the Top-10 seeded players, including Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula, and many others, making their way out of the tournament after the first round. In terms of numbers, it was the most of any major tournament since the start of the Open Era in 1968. Gauff broke down in tears after the match, while Pegula said, “I haven’t lost the first round of a slam in a very long time, so that sucks.” What are we going to expect from the 2025 US Open, though?

At Wimbledon, we saw only one of the top-five seeded women’s players, i.e., Aryna Sabalenka (1), progressing to the third round. This happened for the second time in the Open Era. So, Wimbledon was quite exceptional this year! But coming to the last major tournament of the 2025 season, i.e., the US Open, well, the defending champion, Aryna Sabalenka, is set to be the top seed in this tournament. She currently has a lead of 3,446 over the number 2, Coco Gauff, in the Live Rankings, so she is assured of headlining the draw as the top seed. However, Iga Swiatek can overtake the American if she wins the 2025 Cincinnati Open.

Former champions like Emma Raducanu and Naomi Osaka have improved a lot this season. So, these two, along with 18-year-old Canadian Open champion Victoria Mboko, will probably be the dark horses on the women’s side this year. Talking about the expectations from the 2025 US Open, Serena Williams’ childhood coach, Rick Macci, shared a very interesting thought recently. He tweeted, “This year at the U.S. OPEN, it is the U.S REALLY WIDE OPEN with the women. More fluid than any year because many believe and has no fear. Look for stunning upsets right out of the gate, and there is zero debate the pressure of a Slam might effect your mental state. @WTA.“

Seeing this, fans will now keep their fingers crossed as their favorite stars will be seen in action from August 24. Last year, Aryna Sabalenka defeated Jessica Pegula by 7-5,7-5 in the final. But since then, the Belarusian has failed to clinch another major title. She’ll be desperate to get back to title-winning tracks at the majors. Surprisingly, this season we saw three different winners at the three Grand Slam tournaments. Madison Keys took the AO, Coco Gauff won the French Open, while Iga Swiatek’s 6-0,6-0 triumph over Amanda Anisimova secured her first Wimbledon title in her career. Who will have the last laugh at the 2025 US Open?

From early favorites to dark horses, experts break down the 2025 US Open race

Coming to the dark horses first, the British star, Emma Raducanu, currently ranked 39th in the world, has really impressed the tennis world with her stellar performances in the last few months. She has a win-loss record of 24-17 this year, but other than reaching the QFs at the Miami Open and the HSBC Championships, she has also recently made it to the SF of the Citi Open.

On August 12, after seeing her going down to Aryna Sabalenka after a three-set thriller in the R32 of the Cincinnati Open, Rick Macci came up with a tweet saying, “Great competitive effort from Emma against Sab. The secret sauce with a win or loss. She never lost the skill, just the will. Now all about the battle and harder to rattle. Can deliver shock waves in New York by going into each fight with a knife, not a fork . @EmmaRaducanu.“

Now talking about the favorites, another tennis bigwig, Lindsay Davenport, said she’s hopeful that an American can win the US Open on both sides of the draw. But who’ll be the one to win the title this year? Although she talked a bit about Coco Gauff’s incredible title triumph in 2023, Davenport refused to pick any favorites. Instead, she said, she doesn’t care which American wins the US Open, she just hopes one of them does.

On 11 August, while sharing her thoughts about Coco Gauff’s chances at the 2025 US Open during her podcast, Rennae Stubbs shared a very interesting thought. She said, “I just think it’s hard for Coco to go into the US Open unless she does really well here in Cincinnati. It’s just so, I mean, God knows, I want her to do well at the US Open. She is not arguably, she is our biggest draw at ESPN on the coverage at the US Open. She has the most fans that follow her. She’s a great kid. We want her to do well.” She gave Madison Keys an upper hand at the 2025 US Open, instead!

Interestingly, Keys has been knocked out of the Cincinnati Open by Elena Rybakina, but Coco Gauff is still alive in this tournament. Can Gauff secure a victory against Lucia Bronzetti and make way into the QF?