In her latest Sky Sports column, Gigi Salmon looks back at her time at the Cincinnati Open before flying back to the States in time for this year’s US Open as Novak Djokovic goes for an historic 25th Grand Slam Coco Gauff defends her women’s title, while also asking whether the tournament could be a step too far for Jannik Sinner.

Meanwhile, Emma Raducanu, Katie Boulter, Jack Draper, Dan Evans and Jan Choinski feature as part of the British charge…

This time of year is a busy and exciting one in tennis building up to the final Grand Slam of the year. Add in the Olympics and there’s barely time to take a breath. As I write this it has gone midnight and I’m waiting for the final bits of my washing to dry having landed back from Cincinnati on Wednesday, to be back on a plane Friday morning to New York and the US Open.

The players have all been on different schedules since the summer, with those off to the clay for the Olympics, others straight to the hard courts and some nursing injuries.

Over in Cincinnati for the final 1000 event ahead of the US Open, it was interesting to see where certain players were at.

For world No 1 Iga Swiatek, Cincy was a warm-up event. Her first time back on hard courts since March saw her run through to the semi-finals, losing out to eventual champion Aryna Sabalenka, who was in her third tournament back from a shoulder injury.

Sabalenka, while frustrated with her summer of rehab, appreciated that the time off and away from tennis, had helped her reset, the week also saw her rise back up to world No 2 after Coco Gauff suffered an early exit in the defence of her title.

Defending US Open champion Gauff is an interesting case coming into a pressure-filled few weeks with a lot of points and titles to defend.

Following on from her exit at the Olympics, which meant she missed out on the chance to defend her title and 500 points in Washington, she would only win one match from the back-to-back WTA 1000 events – including in Cincinnati where she was defending champion.

She didn’t hold a press conference following her exit to Yulia Putintseva but quotes were released in which she said she was going to take a few days off back at home to ‘reset’ ahead of the US Open.

Lopsided women’s draw?

Looking at the women’s draw it’s pretty lopsided and very top heavy with 15 Grand Slam finalists and eight Grand Slam champions, including Swiatek, Elena Rybakina who has parted ways with her long-time coach Stefano Vukov, two of the three Brits in the main draw, Emma Raducanu and Katie Boulter and a blockbuster first round between Naomi Osaka and Jelena Ostapenko.

Not to say that the bottom half isn’t without its challenges and it’s where we find Gauff, who is on course to face Elina Svitolina in the third round. Sabalenka props up the bottom of the draw as the second seed and Harriet Dart takes on the French player Chloe Paquet, who she sits 20 places above in the draw.

In the men’s draw it’s a little similar with a heavier top half that sees Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev together.

Will Sinner be ready?

Sinner, the world No 1, arrived in New York as the Cincinnati champion and on the back and some front pages of the papers after news that he had tested positive for a banned substance earlier in the year but the tribunal had absolved him of any fault or negligence.

A provisional suspension was applied automatically but as it was challenged successfully he was able to keep playing.

For those who haven’t read about it the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) found Sinner was inadvertently contaminated with the banned substance by Giacomo Naldi, his physiotherapist.

Views vary on the case but one conclusion seems to be that the system needs to do better. It has shown that it can act swiftly, as has happened in Sinner’s case, but it’s something that must be rolled out across the board, with some cases taking years to resolve.

Despite Sinner having this hanging over him, he still managed to play very well and win titles. I just wonder if together with the question mark over his right hip being put to the test over the best of five sets and everything now out in the public, if the US Open title might be a step too far this year.

Can Djokovic make more history?

Novak Djokovic is eyeing up Grand Slam singles title No 25 – a number where he would stand alone in reaching and with the Olympic gold hanging round his neck he might just achieve it.

The pressure that was building leading up to the Olympics has been released and the trophy cabinet is now complete. Djokovic pulled out of Cincinnati where he was defending champion as it’s not about the points or ranking anymore, it’s about Grand Slam titles and being in the bottom half of the draw and with a draw he will be happy with it will be tough to bet against him, unless his post Olympic partying has taken it’s toll!

From a British point of view we have British No 1 Jack Draper, slated to face Carlos Alcaraz in the third round, Dan Evans, who needs a good deep run to boost his ranking, and Jan Choinski who became the first British man to come through qualifying at Flushing Meadows since Cameron Norrie (who’s missing through injury) in 2017, his reward a meeting with the Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena, who is ranked 175 places above him.

It was great to see Diego Schwartzman come through qualifying for his 11th consecutive main draw appearance at the US Open – he plans to retire next year after the Argentina Open.

Someone else retiring is former champion here, Dominic Thiem, who never fully recovered from a wrist injury and combined with what he calls an ‘inner feeling’, led to him announcing that he hopes to retire at his home tournament in Austria later this year.

The USTA have given him a wild card and it would be lovely to see him win a few rounds and get the send-off that he deserves, so maybe more one to watch than a surprise!

Prediction time

Having already made them for a piece you will be able to read on the Sky Sports website this Sunday so I had better stick to them.

Notoriously bad with predictions, I have played it safe going for Novak Djokovic to defend his title and get No 25, and Aryna Sabalenka.

Sabalenka showed in Cincinnati that she’s back and in the type of form which makes it difficult for others to keep up with her. Happy on and off the court, I think Sabalenka will win her first Grand Slam title outside Australia!

It was this time a year ago when we were building up to Sky Sports’ return to tennis and it’s great to see how the team and coverage has grown over the last 12 months, but one thing that is the same as last year, is that live and exclusive in the UK you will have access to all 16 match courts each and every day, with Sky Sports Tennis combining action and reaction.

I’m happy to say I will be joined by Martina Navratilova, Tim Henman, Marion Bartolli, Feliciano Lopez and Laura Robson to name but a few, so I hope you can join us Monday from 3pm on Sky Sports Tennis.

Sky Sports+ has officially launched and will be integrated into Sky TV, streaming service NOW and the Sky Sports app, giving Sky Sports customers access to over 50 per cent more live sport this year at no extra cost. Find out more here.