US Open 2024: 3 dark horses for the men's singles title ft. Frances Tiafoe

The 2024 US Open, which marks the final Grand Slam of the season is all set to commence. The competition within the men's singles category is intense with big names aiming to add another title to their cabinet. This includes defending champion Novak Djokovic, World No.1 Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, who has already won two out of the three Grand Slams this year.

While these players, along with others like Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev, are the most probable contenders for the title, there are a few other names that might stand in the way.

Therefore, with the upcoming US Open anticipating intense competition and some great quality tennis, let's take a look at three dark horses who are likely to pose a title challenge in New York.

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#3 Jack Draper

Jack Draper at the Cincinnati Open 2024 (Image via Getty)

British tennis player Jack Draper is likely to extend tough competition to the favorites this US Open. Seeded 25th at the tournament, Draper made it to the fourth round last year, which included an astonishing victory over World No.7 Hubert Hurkacz 6-2,6-4,7-5. He eventually lost to Andrey Rublev in a four-set match.

Draper won the title in Stuttgart, defeating Matteo Berrettini in the final. This was followed by the biggest win of his career, over Carlos Alcaraz at the Cinch Championships in London. The Brit won his second-round match against Alcaraz before losing to Tommy Paul in the third.

The World No.25 reached the quarterfinals of the Cincinnati Open and rose four steps to his current career-high ranking. He also reached the finals at the Adelaide International at the beginning of the year.

In this regard, 2024 has been a monumental year for the 22-year-old who enters the final Grand Slam of the season in full form.

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#2 Lorenzo Musetti

Lorenzo Musetti after winning the bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics (Image via Getty)

Lorenzo Musetti recently shared the stage with Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz as an Olympic bronze medalist, a victory that came soon after he reached the semifinals at Wimbledon a few weeks prior.

Additionally, he challenged Djokovic in an intense four-and-a-half-hour five set match at Roland Garros which the Serb eventually won. Musetti also finished as the runner-up in Umag.

In this regard, it would not be wrong to say that the World No.18 is in proper form and is easily a dark horse likely to pose a challenge to the favorites.

Seeded 18th, the 22-year-old is in fine form going into the US Open and the overall professional career that lies ahead of him.

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#1 Frances Tiafoe

Frances Tiafoe (right) and Jannik Sinner at the 2024 Cincinnati Open (Image via Getty)

Frances Tiafoe is having a relatively good hard-court season as the World No. 20 recently finished runner-up in Cincinnati, losing to Jannik Sinner in his maiden ATP 1000 final.

Tiafoe managed to get the better of a range of tough opponents, including Olympic bronze medalist Lorenzo Musetti and former World No.4 Holger Rune to reach the final. This came after he made the final against compatriot Ben Shelton in Houston, earlier this year.

His performance in Cincinnati brought him back in the top-20 and the American is hungry for more. Tiafoe said after his defeat against Sinner (via ATP tour):

"Sucked being outside of Top 20. I've been in Top 20 for a couple years now. So yeah, that's a great sign. And now I can just kind of keep going and keep pushing and try to get back to where I need to be in the top of the game."

He added, "I think I'm one of the better players in the world, but definitely wasn't playing like that for a lot of the year. So happy I am now.”

Prior to this, Tiafoe was best known for reaching the semifinals at the US Open in 2022. He is determined to do better this year. Tiafoe even skipped the 2024 Paris Olympics to focus on the hard-court season.

As exemplified by his performance in Cincinnati, Tiafoe is in good form and expects to perform well at the US Open.

"The ball kind of starts making sense for me in August. I always play really well during this time. I love playing in America. I love the US Open. So I always want to be at my best going into that time. And if this is any indication of playing great tennis it looks like the US Open's going to be a good one."

Therefore, with the stage all set, this year's US Open welcomes the leading tennis players of the international arena in full form with some extremely promising names within the tennis fraternity ready to give them tough competition.