2022 US Open tennis odds: Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic favored in New York but currently cannot play in final Grand Slam competition

Top-seeded Novak Djokovic beat unseeded Nick Kyrgios 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (3) on Sunday for a fourth consecutive Wimbledon championship and seventh overall. It was Djokovic's 21st Grand Slam tournament win, breaking a tie for second with Roger Federer and putting him one behind Rafael Nadal – who had to withdraw from his semifinal match at Wimbledon due to injury. The final major of the year is the U.S. Open starting Aug. 29 in New York and Djokovic is the +125 favorite at Caesars Sportsbook despite being currently ineligible to play.

Djokovic is not vaccinated for COVID, which was why Australia deported him before he was allowed to compete in the first major of the year, the Australian Open. France and England had no such laws in place keeping unvaccinated foreigners out of the country. The United States still has such laws. Djokovic has reportedly caught COVID twice yet has no plans to get vaccinated.

"I'm not vaccinated and I'm not planning to get vaccinated so the only good news I can have is them removing the mandated green vaccine card or whatever you call it to enter United States or exemption," Djokovic said Sunday. "I don't know. I don't think exemption is realistically possible. If that is possibility, I don't know what exemption would be about. I don't know. I don't have much answers there."

Currently Djokovic, 35, will not be able to play the Australian Open in 2023, either, as he's not eligible for a visa. He slid to No. 7 in the world rankings Monday as the ATP and WTA decided not to allow ranking points at Wimbledon.

The Serb has won the U.S. Open three times, last in 2018. He was beaten in the 2021 final (Djokovic was going for the calendar year Slam) by Russian Daniil Medvedev, who is No. 1 in the world rankings and a +200 second favorite at Caesars to repeat. He wasn't allowed to play Wimbledon because the tournament banned all players from Russia and Belarus due to the war in Ukraine. The U.S. Open has no such plans to follow suit.

Women's Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina was born in Russia and played in the Russian system until 2018, when financial issues led her to switch her nationality to Kazakhstan.

Nadal (+650) expects to be ready for the U.S. Open after recovering from an abdominal tear that cost him a potential shot at the calendar year Grand Slam: "My hope is in three to four weeks will allow me to do my normal calendar. In one week, I will be able to play from baseline without serving. That's a positive thing," he said after withdrawing from Wimbledon. The Spaniard has won the U.S. Open four times, most recently in 2019.

Alexander Zverev (+900) missed Wimbledon after tearing several ligaments in his ankle during his French Open semifinal vs. Nadal and hopes to be ready for New York, but admits it's no sure thing. Zverev reached his lone Grand Slam final at Flushing Meadows in 2020 and lost in five sets to Dominic Thiem (+1000).

On the women's side, No. 1 Iga Swiatek is the +200 favorite followed by two-time champion Naomi Osaka (+500), and Wimbledon runner-up Ons Jabeur (+1000) and champion Rybakina (+1000). Osaka missed Wimbledon with an injury. Defending U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu is +1200.

American Serena Williams, who returned from a year-long absence at Wimbledon only to lose in Round 1, is +1800 to win the U.S. Open for a seventh time, which would be a record in the Open era. Serena last did so in 2014 but reached the final as recently as 2019. 

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