Today, ESPN Tennis commentators Chris Evert and John McEnroe previewed the 2024 US Open.

ESPN’s exclusive live coverage in the U.S. begins August 26 at noon ET on ESPN and streams on the ESPN App beginning at 11 a.m. ET until end of play.   

Coverage highlights include:  

• Men’s Championship on ABC for the first time ever 
• Special Prime Time Dual Network Coverage on ESPN and ESPN2 August 26 and 28 
• SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt on Location Monday, August 26 at 11:30 p.m. ET on ESPN 
• Middle Sunday Coverage on ABC Returns September 1 
• All 16 Courts Streaming Live on the ESPN App
• ESPN’s US Open Promotional Spot Kaleidoscope from Alicia Keys

Opening remarks by Chris Evert and John McEnroe:

EVERT: I would like to say on the women’s side it is very open, very open. I do think that everyone is getting a little bit tired, it’s been a long year. You add in the Olympics, and you add in Billie Jean King Cup, the 10 tournaments that you’re supposed to be playing.  

I think the depth is more and more each year. Every first-round match, you must have your A game. I think you couldn’t have said that 20, 30 years ago.  

In saying that, I think we’re seeing some emotions flying around, some tempers flying around, some frustrations flying around. I think both the men and the women, it’s going to be a toss-up. Even the men’s, I think nobody’s dictating like a Serena Williams would have dictated five, six years ago. I just think it’s pretty open in both.  

McENROE: I was just going to say that being a New Yorker, I’m always excited to be part of the US Open in any way. As a player, I was a ball boy, now a commentator. It’s certainly true what Chrissie said, a lot of players are tired, a lot went on recently, obviously. It’s going to be interesting to see who ends up hanging in there, stepping up.  

Q: A couple Novak questions: I think everybody kind of considers him the G.O.A.T. already. If he goes out here and wins a 25th major in the next couple weeks, how much does that solidify or enhance his G.O.A.T. status? He’s going to play pickleball with Sinner and Krejcikova on Thursday. What are your thoughts on Novak stepping into the pickleball world?

McENROE: Yeah, as far as pickleball, I don’t know why that is happening. It’s got to be something related to some sponsor, I’m guessing. I have no idea.  

Q: It’s Penn.

McENROE: I’m going to be down there. I didn’t realize it’s pickleball. Too much of a problem to build a tennis court, presumably. But as far as the first question, about Novak?  

Q: If he wins a 25th major, how much does that really cement the G.O.A.T. status if he passes Margaret Court?

McENROE: To me, that’s sort of like apples and oranges in a way. He’s looking to sort of separate himself from Federer and Nadal to me. That really is what it boils down to. He seems to have already done that in a way. He’s won the Olympics, won everything, won more than those guys. To me, you’d have to ask him, but it’s gravy. He sort of put himself there already.  

EVERT: Yeah, I think it would be like Herculean if he wins this tournament and gets to 25. I mean, I think hands down he would have to be the greatest player ever, male player ever. I think he already is in a lot of people’s minds. I just think for him even to have won the Olympics, after what he went through with the surgery, with seemingly Alcaraz starting to take over, starting to get his number as he did at Wimbledon, for him to come back and find that resilience and find that level of tennis, that actually we haven’t seen the whole year, because he hasn’t won a tournament the whole year, it was like a fairy tale.  

I wouldn’t have expected it. It was a fairy tale. But you know what? I believe in karma. This guy has worked his butt off his whole life, put up with a lot from press and from being kind of the bad guy with Federer and Nadal. He deserves it. He deserves it all.  

Q: I wanted your reactions to the news today about Jannik Sinner and his positive tests, no suspension. What do you think more generally about the International Tennis Integrity Agency and how the sport’s anti-doping and anti-corruption programs are run?

McENROE: I don’t know enough about the anti-doping corruption unit to really know exactly what is happening there, to be perfectly honest.  

From everything that I understand, tennis is tested more than virtually any other sport. It’s like the Olympic testing. So, from that standpoint, I think it’s done as much or more as any other sport.  

This news just came out. It’s certainly surprising and shocking at this moment, especially to me, when it happened apparently in March. Meanwhile, six months have gone by. This is the first time anyone, at least as far as I know, has heard about it. I don’t know how they differentiate between one person sort of saying he was unaware of it, the reasons behind it, and then someone else who says the same thing gets suspended. I’m not sure how it worked for someone who said they unintentionally did it. I think Halep said that. She was suspended for 18 months. Then Sinner said he unknowingly had this, and he’s not suspended. I don’t know how they make these types of decisions. Clearly, from the player’s standpoint, you want it to be sort of uniform. Obviously, this is the guy at the moment ranked No. 1 in the world on the computer rankings. This is surprising news for all of us.  

 EVERT: Yeah, tell me again. I’m trying to think if I wrote this down. What was the name of the substance?  

Q: Clostebol. It’s an anabolic steroid.

EVERT: I’m not going to step into anything that I’m surely not qualified to step into. As far as anti-doping is concerned, I think there are always going to be a lot of questions. It started back with Lance Armstrong, those days. They’re just so many questions. I think tennis has done a good job, like John says. I think they’ve done an accurate job. I think that my only question is the Clostebol, which was the steroid, yes, it was over the counter in Italy, you could buy it off the counter. That’s just like buying aspirin over the counter, you kind of just whisk it off. Still these players have teams to really examine what is in these substances. I would have thought, especially since the Maria Sharapova saga, that the teams would be more sort of aware of what to look for in any substance that their players are taking. It’s over the counter, yet it still has a steroid, which is banned. You just can’t be taking that steroid. Then it turns out to be a spray. I would think – John, correct me if I’m wrong – I would think in the last 50 years, some players have snuck through with these things, that they haven’t gotten caught. I think they’re just trying to be extra careful now, more than ever.  

McENROE: I think that’s true in all sports.  

EVERT: Yeah. Look, I do think that they protect top players. By ‘protecting’ they’re going to keep the secret for a couple months. They’re going to keep certain things secret if you’re a top player because they don’t want the press, the player doesn’t want the press. It’s all going to come out in three months anyway. I do think there’s some protection there, than if you were Joe Smith, ranked 400 in the world.  

Q: What do you see going on lately with Coco Gauff? Do either of you recall what your head space was like heading into your first Grand Slam title defense, whether excited because you’re going back to a place where you had that success, feeling pressure? Do you think the results she’s had lately are something that she ought to be worried about, or she’s capable of putting those behind her and starting fresh in New York?

McENROE: What I think is everything you said is part of what’s happening. She’s excited to be defending her title. She’s also sort of bewildered about some of the results.  

I think the pressure of expectation hits all the top players. She won the US Open. It gets more difficult in a lot of ways ’cause you got people coming after you, you’re a bigger win. Everyone in their camp expects more. She expects more.  

To look at all the players that played at the Olympics, they’re struggling to sort of make that transition back onto the hard courts. They’re fatigued. There’s a lot of emotion at the Wimbledon, the French. To go from the clay at French, to go to Wimbledon, to go back to the clay, then to the hard courts, that adds up especially for the players that are feeling pressure. They have high hopes, which is where Coco fits in.  

She’s still the second or third favorite to win this. You might even put her in level tournaments in terms of Swiatek. Rybakina, she hasn’t had the results. Sabalenka has been hurt, then she’s now just won Cincinnati. 
I think what Chrissie said earlier, it is a lot wider open, and something unexpected could happen, particularly with all the emotions and fatigue that are happening. Having said all of that, she’s still the second or third favorite.  

EVERT: It’s interesting, when I watched her at the Olympics, leading the parade, leading the whole Olympics, not only the American team, I saw her trading pins, she was photographed meeting all her idols. I’m like, this girl won’t be able to play. She’ll be so exhausted. She won’t be able to play. I didn’t expect her to win. She didn’t win. I think emotionally that took so much out of her. She’s still a young girl and wants to have fun, as well.  

You’re right, just the round of 16 at Wimbledon, third round at the Olympics, third round at the Canadian, second round, I believe, in Cincinnati. She did go home, is that true, for a few days? She said she was going to go home for a few days because she’s supposed to play tonight in an exhibition. 

I just think it’s a lot. She’s in demand physically. She’s in demand with appearances. Everyone wants a piece of her. 

Plus, the fact that the players now are exposing that forehand. It’s not backhand, backhand, forehand. They’re hitting every ball to the forehand. She had like 50 unforced errors in her last loss to Putintseva.
I just think it’s been a long year. It’s been a long year. Do I think she can turn it around? 100% I think she can. Sabalenka is injured. Sabalenka had one good tournament. Iga has been struggling as well.  

Rybakina has been struggling as well. It’s going to be who is the freshest, who is the freshest for seven matches, and who can hold on and get that energy that they need. She can still win it.  

Q: To continue on Iga, Chrissie, what do you expect from her? It was pretty grueling in Paris, quick turnaround here. What do you expect for her on the hard courts?

EVERT: Iga’s very disciplined. She’s very organized. She’s very serious about her game. She’s very mature. I see that she’s going to be all business. The other thing when I look at Coco, I forgot to mention, she plays doubles every single tournament. This girl plays more than anybody, Coco Gauff. 

But Iga is very intense. She needs all of that intensity. She’s ironically been the one complaining about a tougher schedule, longer schedule. I actually see that the 10 mandatories didn’t used to be 10 mandatories. They are definitely playing more than they ever have. 

What I see with Iga is she’s got a great team around her who know her moods, who know when she needs to lay off, who know when she needs to train hard. She has a whole week ahead of her now to rest. I think she’ll be fine. When I say I think she’ll be fine, I think she’ll be fine in the second week, fine into the semifinals or whatever. I can’t say who is going to win with any kind of conviction at this point.  

Q: As champions, you were both excellent in finals in decisive sets, closing matches. Why is Carlos Alcaraz so great in five-set matches, closing a match? What was your mentality in a decisive set? And could you pick the American who will go deepest in this US Open draw?

McENROE: It’s tough to say why Alcaraz. He’s obviously incredibly talented, and he’s figured out how to sort of pace himself better because he had had some issues with cramping. He understands the emotions of what you go through better, so that helps. His record in five sets is incredible. I don’t think my record was anywhere near as good as him. It was decent, but nowhere near as good as him in the fifth set. 

Conditioning obviously would help players, if you can get yourself super fit. Chrissie can speak to maybe winning in the third set.  

Q: Who will go deepest at the US Open?

McENROE: It depends where people are to some extent. But you got four guys in a row, four Americans in a row. You got Taylor, Tommy, Ben and Frances is now I think 19 or 20. Then you have Sebastian Korda at 15, I think.  It’s tough to say which one of those guys. Some of it will depend on the draws. They may have to square up against each other. Korda is playing the best I’ve seen all year. Shelton, he’s got some pressure on him getting to the semis. Frances found his game last week. Taylor has been more consistently solid, as Tommy has. I don’t know how quick the court is as compared to Cincinnati. I think that could potentially help Shelton, who likes the quicker courts. But it’s tough to say. They’re all pretty close right now.  

EVERT: I’m going to pick Shelton, only because that lefty serve, I’ve seen it 80 times in my career, and Ben’s is 20 times better. I just think he gets so many free points off that serve. I’m just going to pick him to do the best of the American players. Was the other question how does Alcaraz do so well in fifth sets or third sets? 

Q: In decisive sets. And what was your approach?

EVERT: His conditioning and his desire, I think, is a lot. I think you got to want it. He gets more excited as the match goes on. He’s like a little kid. He gets more excited and more creative and more hyper. He gets into it. He has such great conditioning. I think that’s what really helps him. 
With me, it was certainly not my conditioning or shot-making (smiling). I think with me, it was more the mental part. I could sustain a pretty constant mental — I could be mentally tough throughout the third set and not give away a lot of points, give away a lot of easy points. So mine was the focus and the mental side of it.   

McENROE: I’m like the Joe Biden. He always talks about his dad. My dad always said, his advice to me in the third set or fifth set was: “Go out and win the last point” (laughter). That was it. I go: “Thanks a lot, Dad.” 

EVERT: My Dad used to say whenever I walked out onto the court in a big match, he would say this more for himself than me, he would go: “Stay loose.” Thanks, Dad.   

McENROE: Easier said than done. 

EVERT: Don’t get your blood pressure up (smiling).  

Q: Back to Coco, the emotion on the court, she’s broke down in tears a couple of times, yelling at Brad Gilbert. I was wondering what you two made of that. It’s been a year with Brad. Where do you think that relationship is at?

EVERT: The thing about the tears, I think, as John said, you just don’t know, you don’t consciously know the expectations that creep into your cells in your body. Everybody, from day one, has thought about Coco she’s the next Serena Williams, she’s going to be the next one that dominates. That stays with you for a long time. I also think when she got really upset and emotional, I think it was during Wimbledon, or was it during the French she was looking up at the box?  

McENROE: Wimbledon.  

EVERT: Wimbledon, yeah. I think she’s got to start to figure out her own game plan. I think she’s got to start to trust her instincts when she’s playing a match and not always rely on patterns and coaches and people telling her what to do. I just think she’s at an age now where she’s got to play with a little more feel and a little more instinct and a little more belief in herself, get away from the patterns. She was frustrated at them, like she was blaming them, but really tennis is inside you. I think John and I didn’t have the coaching that they have now. I think we figured it out ourselves and played instinctive tennis. I think she’s got to do more of that.  

McENROE: I’m not a believer in the coaching thing. That’s just my personal opinion. I always liked the idea of trying to figure it out on your own. I think they’re sort of like punching bags, a lot of the coaches. You’re venting, that’s all you’re doing. Djokovic looks up and said: “Where should I return?” He’s the greatest returner that ever lived. Does he need someone to tell him where to return? No.  

Coco is a great player. She can figure it out even if she didn’t pay attention. As far as Brad knows, it’s hard to say what will happen. But honestly, Brad is one of the best coaches that’s been around. He’s coached some great players. Maybe he’s an acquired taste, to a degree. The people that have acquired his taste have done very well. I think he should be in the Hall of Fame for his coaching, personally. I don’t think that’s the problem. If she decides in a year to try someone else, that’s her right, she’s the player.   

Last year when he joined forces, there was a great run. I mean, she won the Open. I think she’s done an excellent job. She’s young. We’ll see what happens. The family, parents I’m sure, are still very involved. I don’t know the absolute machinations of what’s going on there. She has plenty of time to figure this out.  

EVERT: I hope there aren’t too many voices in her ear. That’s what I hope.  

Q: You were both involved in some pretty great rivalries when you played. Right now it seems tennis is in a transitional phase where there isn’t on either side a really great rivalry. I guess Novak and Alcaraz. They’re different generations. Who do you see that could be a budding rivalry? How important do you think they are?

McENROE: If you ask me personally, I think rivalries are extremely important for our sport, the one-on-one game. I think it’s absolutely huge. That’s where they’re talking about Sinner-Alcaraz. They’re hoping that Ben Shelton steps up, gets an American in the mix. People were hoping that Coco and Swiatek would be great rivals. Sabalenka stepped in and won a couple majors. Rybakina looked like she was going to be in the mix. If you said six months ago or a year ago, Wow, there’s great rivalries in the women’s game. But a fair amount has happened the last year. Clearly that’s taken itself out still because Novak still has been able to do what he’s done for so long that he has outlasted pretty much everyone. So now you’re waiting, who can step up. Those mid to late 20 guys like Zverev and Medvedev and Tsitsipas, what happened to these guys? A lot of people are trying to figure it out as we speak. But the short answer that I could have given is rivalries, I think, are critical for our sport.  

EVERT: I think the best rivalries also are rivalries where the style of play is different, the personalities are different, so you’re bringing two new sets of fans to the table. I look at John and Bjorn, I look at Martina and I as unbelievable rivalries. We were all so different in our style of play, serve and volley, baseliner. John was emotional. Martina was emotional. Bjorn and I were a little more quiet. We were from different parts of the world. They were the most exciting matches. When you have two players that are playing the same type of game, I don’t think Venus and Serena really made that mark because they both played exactly the same. Right now, when you look at Iga and Sabalenka, and Coco is still there in the mix, I think two of those three we can get a good rivalry out of. I feel like the tennis has been at its peak form when there’s been a great rivalry or when there’s been a great dominance of a player, like when Serena Williams dominated. Those two, I think, are going to get more eyeballs than the situation now where there’s so many good players, but there’s not that many rivalries and nobody’s really dominating. Hopefully, like John said, we’re in a situation where we’re gearing towards that, we’re working towards that right now.  

Q: A question about Novak. I just wondered how hard is the challenge in lifting himself back up for the tournament over the next two weeks after the emotional high of everything he put into winning the Olympics? At what point in your own careers did you realize the motivation in the latter stages of your careers was not burning as brightly as it once did?

McENROE: Those are tough questions to answer. You’re forcing me to go back in the memory bank and relive some unpleasant memories. When you start to go downhill, which apparently Novak hasn’t done yet, which is amazing at his age he’s been able to keep this level up as long as he has, a crazy level, insane. I have no idea if anyone could do what he could do, would be my sentiments on the Open. He obviously pulled out of Montreal and Cincinnati ’cause I’m presuming he was exhausted. I saw there was a huge parade in Belgrade, hundreds of thousands of people appeared to be there. That had to be an amazing thing for him. You just don’t know with him. I’m amazed he’s kept this motivated for this long. I wish I knew. I would have been able to keep myself going. When I started to lose something physically, was juggling family and other stuff, I had a hard time figuring out how to get the right mix, and I never did. That was starting from my late 20s. I have the utmost respect for his ability to be able to play at this level, higher level than we perhaps definitely consistently have ever seen in the men’s game. It’s absolutely amazing.  

As far as the future? I don’t know the answer to that. You would think at some point soon he’s going to lose the motivation and something will catch up to him. He’s proved us wrong a lot more times than what I just said would happen.  

EVERT: I think if he wins the 25th major, I would think he would leave the game. I mean, I don’t know, he would break that tie with Margaret Court. He’s won the Olympics. That was such a big goal for him, winning the Olympics. As far as winning the US Open, does the 25th mean as much? Can he get that energy going as much as he got in the Olympics? He’s going to come up against, again, some really tough competition. Can he do it two times in a row, the Olympics and the US Open? I would allow him to retire after that, I would say. Okay, you have everybody in the world’s permission to retire (laughter). That would be epic if he could do that. But he’s a driven person. He’s a very driven person beyond anybody that I’ve ever seen. He’s had a lot of ups and downs in his life, in his marriage, in his personal relationships, I think, because of being so driven.  

He also has worked everything out. He’s a communicator and he works things out. He seems to be in the best place he’s been in a long time right now.  

Q: Regarding Naomi Osaka, the first eight months of her comeback has been kind of mixed. She’s always dominated the hard courts in the past. Here is an opportunity for her. What have you seen from Naomi in the first eight months? Do you think it’s just a matter of time before she gets back to elite status?

EVERT: The fact that she got to match point against Swiatek at the French Open was pretty awesome. That was the best I’ve ever seen her play on clay courts. Now she can be a clay court player, she knows she can play on clay. After that, she dropped off again. That last quote she has concerns me a little bit. She said, my biggest issue currently is I don’t feel like I’m in my body. She said, it scares me. My racquet should feel like an extension of my hand, but it’s not. I’m missing balls I shouldn’t be missing. She’s going through some doubtful times. We’ll see if she can get that magic, because it is the US Open. She has won this title a few times, so let’s see if she can get that magic going. I think her story, her journey, remains to be seen. I know she has the game, but it takes more than the game. It takes a lot of confidence and it takes a lot of focus. We’ll see. She’s in a different part of her life right now where it seems she’s so calm and she’s so relaxed and happy and peaceful. The mental problems haven’t really affected her. She has a child, which she’s madly in love with. Sometimes when you’re too happy, that can’t always be good either, I don’t know, for us to be intense and fierce. We’ll see. I hope she does well, though.  

McENROE: Everything she stepped aside with the mental health issues, people look at her even more carefully, which is maybe the opposite of what she wanted.  

EVERT: I agree with you.  

McENROE: The bottom line is I thought Simone Biles went through a similar thing. The two of them are somewhat similar in what they went through. Simone came out the other end. She seems to have more of a support system within her own team than Naomi does in tennis, because she’s on her own. So that makes it harder, I think, in my personal opinion for Naomi, to sort of feel the love in a way, and feel good about what she’s doing. She probably looked at Simone Biles and said: “Hey, she went from I couldn’t perform in Japan to I won the Olympics.”

She’s got the talent. It’s all about what Chrissie said, where her head is at, how deep she’s willing to dig, enjoy the competition. That part is the key. The game is there, but she has to find that in order to win another major. Could she? I think she could. Like Chrissie said, I don’t know if she will. It depends on whether or not she’s able to harness that.  

THE MODERATOR: Thanks, everyone, for taking this time. Thank you very much, Chrissie and John, for making the time. I’ll see all of you at the Open.  

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