Canadians at the US Open: Players, Odds and History

Only once has Canada crowned a US Open singles champion and that was in 2019, when Bianca Andreescu surprised the legendary Serena Williams in the women’s final in New York City.

Andreescu tries again at Flushing Meadows this year along with Leylah Fernandez, who was runner-up to British qualifier Emma Raducanu in the 2021 US Open in one of the most unexpected final line-ups in tennis history.

Fernandez was emulating her fellow Montreal native Mary Pierce, who found only Kim Clijsters too good in the 2005 US Open, although Pierce represented France in her playing career.

But in the history of the Canucks at the final Grand Slam of the tennis year, the women have overshadowed their male counterparts in singles competition.

This year hopes in the men’s singles are led by Felix Auger-Aliassime, who has thus far failed to live up to his vast potential on the big stage.

FAA will be accompanied in the Big Apple by his friend Denis Shapovalov - the pair are widely regarded as serial underachievers - while Gabriel Diallo will be the third Canadian in the men’s singles after surviving three qualifying outings.

All three Canucks in the men’s singles are in the top half of draw.

Below we assess the chances of the five Canadian players who will contest this year’s US Open main draw and analyse their past performances at Flushing Meadows.

Felix Auger-Aliassime (+10000)

Auger-Aliassime is a blinding talent, but the 24-year-old still has yet to find a way to step up to the top level. He was recently pipped for a bronze medal in the Paris Olympics on clay, so that may help to fire him up more for his return to Grand Slam competition.

FAA is seeded 19th in this year’s US Open after a campaign that has also seen him reach the final of the Madrid Masters on clay.

His best singles effort at Flushing Meadows came in 2021, when he made the semi-finals, only to fall in straight sets to Daniil Medvedev, who went on to thrash Novak Djokovic in three sets in the final.

Auger-Aliassime also made the fourth round of the US Open in 2020, but four of his six main-draw attempts have resulted in three opening-round losses and one last-64 exit, so it’s difficult to have that much confidence in Canada’s current top male player going into the season’s final major.

Denis Shapovalov (+30000)

Shapovalov’s US Open history makes for interesting reading, because while his best performance in New York City came in 2020 when he made the quarter-finals, he has never failed to reach the third round at least in his six competitive visits there.

The 25-year-old missed the tournament last year due to a knee injury, but he looks capable of adding to his useful record there in the coming fortnight after producing some promising performances in recent months.

For the record, Shapovalov’s best effort in a major singles came at Wimbledon in 2021, when he reached the semi-finals, only to fall to top seed Novak Djokovic, who went on to lift the trophy that year.

Gabriel Diallo (+50000)

Diallo, a 6ft 8in giant coached by Canadian tennis stalwart Martin Laurendeau, will be contesting only his second major main draw after his first-round loss at the French Open earlier in 2024 and he is one of many rank outsiders in the outright market.

The 22-year-old has a big serve and packs plenty of power into his groundstrokes, however, so punters would do well to keep Diallo on their side after qualifying victories over Sho Shimabukuro, Titouan Droguet and Valentin Royer.

Leylah Fernandez (+8000)

Fernandez is seeded 23rd in the US Open this year following her runs to the Eastbourne final, the Doha quarter-finals in February and the Cincinnati quarter-finals earlier in August.

The 21-year-old is a quality performer, but at just 5ft 6ins in height and of slim build, Fernandez lacks the power of many of her adversaries on the WTA Tour and that tends to mean that she struggles to go deep in the biggest tournaments.

Of course, that didn’t stop her reaching the Flushing Meadows title match three years ago, but that was an unusual tournament results-wise with many of the top players either not at the peak of their game or exiting the draw early.

Greater success seems sure to come Fernandez’s way in future, but when it does it is likely to be more sporadic than on a regular basis.

Bianca Andreescu (+10000)

We know that Andreescu, who was born to Romanian parents, is capable of going all the way at Flushing Meadows - she achieved that in fine style five years ago. But there’s a feeling that with the element of surprise having been used up in 2019, it is likely to be difficult for the former world No. 4 to repeat her Big Apple heroics.

The powerful 24-year-old, who opens against French Open and Wimbledon runner-up Jasmine Paolini, is certainly capable, though, and has been playing pretty promisingly in recent months.

However, there are so many good players on the women’s main tour that big-tournament draws are ultra-competitive these days, especially with so many talented youngsters coming through.

Odds mentioned in this article were correct at the time of writing and are subject to change.