U.S Open: The 64 Stats That Matter

Novak Djokovic is gunning for Grand Slam #17 and it's no surprise that he starts as the favourite to win this year's US Open Men's singles title. Although the discussion will remain around which among the 'Big 3' comes out on top, there are a few outsiders who could disrupt their dominance.

Over at the women's side, the field is as open as it's ever been. It's hard to pick a winner but there are multiple players who have a legitimate chance of claiming the season’s final major.

We'll have 64 winners after the first round of matches in New York and we at Stats Insider decided to follow suite and offer you 64 statistics about the players at the U.S. Open.

1 - Australia's Samantha Stosur is one of three women's U.S. Open champions this decade who won her only major title in New York. The other two: Flavia Pennetta (2015), Sloane Stephens (2017).

2 - Angelique Kerber and Naomi Osaka have won more than one major title but their only U.S. Open titles to date came in 2016 and 2018, respectively.

3 - Kim Clijsters and Serena Williams are the only two women to win multiple U.S. Opens in the past 10 years. The last four U.S. Open women's champions were first-time U.S. Open champions.

4 - Karolina Pliskova's first major final at the 2016 U.S. Open remains her only major final.

5 - If Ash Barty wins the 2019 U.S. Open (Stosur won in 2011), Australia will join the United States (Serena, Stephens) with multiple U.S. Open women's singles champions this decade. Clijsters (Belgium), Pennetta (Italy), Kerber (Germany), and Osaka (Japan) have one title each.

6 - Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have never met at the U.S. Open.

7 - Juan Martin del Potro prevented a Fedal meeting in 2009 by beating Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals.

8 - Del Potro prevented a Fedal meeting in 2017 by beating Roger Federer in the quarter-finals.

9 - Del Potro misses his first US Open since 2015 due to injury.

10 - One among the few players who prevented a Fedal U.S. Open meeting by winning in the round before Fedal could have happened: Andy Murray in 2008 (semis).

11 - Novak Djokovic blocked a Fedal meeting both in 2010 and 2011 (semis).

12 - Tommy Robredo beat Roger Federer in the fourth round in 2013 and prevented a Fedal encounter.

13 -- Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have never played in three majors in the same year. It could happen this year if they both make the final.

14 -- Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic have never played at three majors in the same year.

15 -- Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic played at three majors in the same year in 2011: Australian semis, Roland Garros semis, U.S. Open semis.

16 -- The average seed of the higher-seeded WTA player in the last six women's major finals (2018 Roland Garros through 2019 Wimbledon): 8.

The seeds were: 1, 11, 17, 4, 8, 7.

17 -- Assigning the number 33 to an unseeded player, this is the average seed of the lower-seeded WTA player in the last six women's major finals: 18.

The seeds were: 10, 25, 20, 8, 33, 11.

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18 -- In the first three major tournaments of 2019, with 12 semi-final berths allotted, 12 different women have made major semifinals. Not one WTA player has made more than one major semi-final in 2019.

19 -- Seven different men have made major semi-finals in 2019: Djokovic, Nadal, Federer, Lucas Pouille, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Dominic Thiem, Roberto Bautista Agut.

20 -- First-time women's major semi-finalists in 2019: Danielle Collins (Australian Open), Marketa Vondrousova, Ash Barty, Amanda Anisimova (Roland Garros), Barbora Strycova and Elina Svitolina (Wimbledon).

21 -- First-time men's major semifinalists in 2019: Pouille and Tsitsipas (Australia), Bautista Agut (Wimbledon).

22 -- First-time WTA major finalists in 2019: Barty and Vondrousova.

23 -- First-time ATP major finalists in 2019: None.

24 -- The last WTA repeat champion at the U.S. Open: Serena Williams (2012, 2013, 2014).

25 -- The last ATP repeat champion at the U.S. Open: Roger Federer (2004-2008)

26 -- The last ATP player to make the U.S. Open final as defending champion: Novak Djokovic in 2016 (lost to Stan Wawrinka after winning the title in 2015).

27 -- The last U.S. Open men's final which did not include a player who is currently a major champion: Kevin Anderson in 2017 (lost to Nadal).

28 -- Before 2017, the previous U.S. Open men's final with a player who had not won a major title: Kei Nishikori in 2014 (lost to Marin Cilic).

29 -- Before 2014, it was Todd Martin in 1999 who made the final, without having won a major. He lost to Andre Agassi.

30 -- From 2015 through 2017, the U.S. Open women's final included a player who had never won a major title: Roberta Vinci in 2015, Karolina Pliskova in 2016, Madison Keys in 2017.

31 -- Canadian Bianca Andreescu is 19. The last teenage U.S. Open women's champion was 19-year-old Maria Sharapova in 2006. Naomi Osaka was 20 last year.

32 -- Cincinnati runner-up Svetlana Kuznetsova was 19 when she won the 2004 U.S. Open.

33 -- Serena Williams was a teenager, almost 18 years old, when she won the 1999 U.S. Open 20 years ago, her first major singles title.

34 -- Simona Halep has lost in the first round of the last two U.S. Opens.

35 -- Jelena Ostapenko has not made another major final since 2017 Roland Garros.

36 -- Garbine Muguruza has not made another major final since 2017 Wimbledon.

37 -- Jo Konta has never made the semi-finals of any centerpiece summer hard-court tournament: Canada, Cincinnati, or the U.S. Open.

38 -- Kiki Bertens is still looking for her first major semifinal outside Roland Garros.

39 -- Dominic Thiem is still looking for his first major semifinal outside Roland Garros.

40 -- Five members of the ATP top 12 have not made one major semifinal: Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Zverev, Karen Khachanov, Fabio Fognini, and Borna Coric.

41 -- The 11 ATP players ranked 5 through 15 have not made a single major final with one exception: #7 Kei Nishikori.

42 -- ATP players ranked 4 through 22 have not won a major, with the sole exception of #16 Del Potro, who is inactive for this U.S. Open. 

43 -- 2014 U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic is ranked No. 23.

44 -- 2016 U.S. Open champion Stan Wawrinka is ranked No. 24.

45 -- Roberto Bautista Agut will play his first major as a top-10-ranked player.

46 -- Rafael Nadal's average match time in the third round, fourth round, and quarterfinals of last year's U.S. Open: 4 hours, 11 minutes.

47 -- Combined time of those three matches for Rafa: 12 hours, 32 minutes. Rafa retired in the semis versus Delpo.

48 -- The U.S. Open is the only major where Kei Nishikori has reached a semi-final or final.

49 -- If a male player under 30 years old does NOT make this year's U.S. Open final, the 2020 U.S. Open will not have a single active player under 30 who has made a U.S. Open men's final. Nishikori turns 30 this December.

50 -- The U.S. Open was the first major tournament to create a 128-player women's field in 1981. Wimbledon and Roland Garros joined in 1983.

51 -- The U.S. Open men's field had a different size in each of the first four years of the Open Era: 96 in 1968, 128 in 1969, 108 in 1970, and 128 again in 1971.

52 -- The last non-Serena WTA player to make back-to-back U.S. Open women's finals: Victoria Azarenka in 2012 and 2013.

53 -- The last non-Serena back-to-back women's champion: Kim Clijsters, 2009 and 2010. 

54 -- Serena Williams won three straight U.S. Opens from 2012-2014 and made four straight finals from 2011-2014, when Arthur Ashe Stadium was an open-bowl stadium with no overhang (built in 2015) or roof (built in 2016). She hasn't won the U.S. Open since the installation of the overhang in 2015.

55 -- Novak Djokovic won only one U.S. Open through 2014 (open bowl), and has won two U.S. Opens since the installation of the overhang in 2015. He was injured and did not play in the 2017 U.S. Open.

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56 -- Kevin Anderson versus Pablo Carreno Busta is the only time this decade that a men's major semifinal featured two players participating in their first-ever major semifinal.

57 -- Ash Barty is trying to become the first Australian since Margaret Court in 1973 to win multiple major singles titles in the same year.

58 -- Evonne Goolagong joined Court as an Open Era Australian woman who won multiple majors in the same year, in 1971.

59 -- Novak Djokovic is trying to win three majors in a year for the third time (2011, 2015).

60 -- Novak Djokovic is trying to win his fourth U.S. Open, which would give him at least four major titles at three separate major tournaments. 

61 -- Roger Federer has at least five majors at three separate major tournaments. 

62 -- 7 of the top 16-ranked WTA players have not reached a major final.

63 -- Belinda Bencic, ranked No. 12, is the highest-ranked WTA player without a major semifinal.

64 -- Daniil Medvedev, ranked No. 5, is the highest-ranked ATP player without a major semi-final.

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