With the fourth and final grand slam of the year beginning Monday in New York, Ahmed Rizvi looks at five players outside the Big Four who have the potential win it.
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Marin Cilic
The only man to beat Andy Murray post-French Open, Cilic, 27, is definitely a dark horse. Struggling with arm and shoulder injuries in the months following his 2014 US Open triumph, the towering Croat has been playing well for much of this season and comes to New York having beaten Murray for his first Masters 1000 title in the Cincinnati final this month.
Milos Raonic
The big-serving Canadian has been knocking on the doors of grand slam success, and came close at Wimbledon before losing to Murray in the final. Murray defeated Raonic, 25, again in the semi-finals of the Cincinnati Masters, so he must have been glad not to be drawn in the same half as the Scot. Has the weapons to go all the way.
Juan Martin del Potro
How often would you pick a world No 142 as your dark horse, especially one who was on the verge of quitting the game because of persistent wrist injuries? But Del Potro, 27, is an exceptional talent, and looks to at last have put those injuries behind him, defeating Stan Wawrinka at Wimbledon and Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal at the Rio Olympics.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
One of the sport’s biggest entertainers, the Frenchman is also one of its streakiest talents. Tsonga, 31, has the game to beat the best, but that happens rarely. He has a tough draw in New York, with a possible fourth round against Cilic and then Djokovic in the quarter-finals, but write him off at your peril.
Kei Nishikori
The Japanese has never dropped out of the top 10 since reaching the final of the 2014 US Open, where he defeated Djokovic in the semis, and yet, Nishikori, 26, is still something of an underachiever. Injuries have hampered him and he has always been found wanting against the best; he is 0-9 against Djokovic since the 2014 US Open.
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