Even the players aren’t sure who will be at their best on New York’s hard courts

By HOWARD FENDRICH and BRIAN MAHONEY NEW YORK — Tennis fans unable to decide who has the best shot at doing well at the U.S. Open have company as the year’s last Grand Slam tournament is set to begin Aug.

26. Even the players themselves aren’t sure what to expect. “We’ve seen people, all the time, surprise us every single week, every single tournament, every Slam.

Sometimes there’s no rhyme or reason why someone maybe does well,” said Jessica Pegula, a six-time major quarterfinalist. “Sometimes it doesn’t make any sense.” There is the usual uncertainty that comes in New York, thanks to the vagaries of injuries and the grind of a long season.

One additional factor this time could be all of the surface-switching: Tennis at the Summer Olympics was played on courts at Roland Garros, also the French Open site. So players went from clay in Paris to grass at Wimbledon, then back to clay, before shifting to hard courts before the U.S.

Open. “It’s a strange year,” British player Dan Evans said. “That’s for sure.

” Pegula, for one, handled that last transition just fine, going from the Olympics to a title at Toronto and a runner-up showing at Cincinnati. Her doubles partner in Paris, 2023 U.S.

Open champion Coco Gauff, played in three Olympics events, exiting early in each, then lost her second match in Toronto and her first in Cincinnati. “Changing surfaces, it’s tough, not just on your body, but mentally. .

.. But it’s part of the job, and we’ll .