Iga Swiatek has been not been at her world-beating best in the months leading up to the U.S. Open but the Pole has both the talent and mentality to lift her game for the final Grand Slam of the year, tennis great Chris Evert said.
The world number one captured her fourth French Open title in June but has since been upset in the third round of Wimbledon, settled for bronze at the Paris Games and thrashed by rival Aryna Sabalenka in Cincinnati on Sunday.
But the 23-year-old, known for her pinpoint serving, speedy defence and perfectionist approach to the game, will arrive at Flushing Meadows with a well thought-out plan on how to get back to the winners' circle, 18-times Grand Slam champion Evert said.
"Iga's very disciplined, very organised, very serious about her game and very mature," former world number one Evert, now a tennis analyst for ESPN, told reporters.
"I see that she's going to be all business."
The tight team around Swiatek know when to push her and when to let her rest as they prepare for yet another change of surface, this time from the Parisian clay to the hard courts of New York, she added.
"She has a whole week ahead of her now to rest. I think she'll be fine," said Evert.
"When I say I think she'll be fine, I think she'll be fine in the second week, fine into the semi-finals or whatever. I can't say who is going to win with any kind of conviction at this point."
Swiatek took top spot in the world rankings following the surprising retirement of Australia's Ash Barty in early 2022 and quickly proved she belonged there, going on a 37-match winning streak and gunning her way to the U.S. Open title that year.
She lost her top-ranked status with a fourth-round defeat at Flushing Meadows last season but bounced back to win the WTA Finals and reclaim the number one spot.
The five-time Grand Slam champion has now been ranked world number one for 117 weeks overall and can tie Barty for seventh place on the all-time list if she remains there for the next four weeks.
Her main threats in New York appear to be the in-form Sabalenka, big-serving Elena Rybakina and defending champion Coco Gauff but such is the depth in the women's game that lower ranked or even unseeded players could get their big break under the lights in Queens, Evert said.
Zheng and Rybakina among U.S. Open contenders in wide open women's draw
Injuries, slumps and the lack of a tennis force of nature like Serena Williams have left the women's field at the season's final Grand Slam wide open.
The U.S. Open has not witnessed a successful defence of the women's crown since Williams won three straight titles at Flushing Meadows from 2012 to 2014.
Unless defending champ Coco Gauff can turn around a recent bumpy streak, that trend looks likely to continue.
"On the women's side, it is very open," said six-time U.S. Open champion turned ESPN tennis analyst Chris Evert.
"I do think that everyone's getting a little tired and it's been a long year," she said. "I can't say who's going to win with any kind of conviction right now."
Olympic gold medallist and world No. 7 Qinwen Zheng will look to build on her triumph on clay at the Paris Games, where she dispatched top-ranked Iga Swiatek in straight sets en route to an historic singles tennis title for her native China.
A quarter-finals appearance in the 2023 U.S. Open followed by a runner-up finish in this year's Australian Open are testament to the Chinese 21-year-old's hard court acumen.
Victory in New York would stamp her card as the best Chinese singles player since two-times major champion Li Na.
Jasmine Paolini's women's doubles gold medal in Paris with Sara Errani -- Italy's first-ever tennis gold -- soothed some of the sting of her singles defeat by unseeded Romanian Ana Bogdan at the Games.
But the fifth-ranked Paolini is eager to finally break through for a Grand Slam singles title at Flushing Meadows after runner-up finishes at Wimbledon and Roland Garros this year.
