US Open: Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Andy Murray 8/30/21 Tennis Prediction

Third seeded Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas will face Andy Murray of Great Britain in the First Round of the 2021 US Open. The match is scheduled to be played on Monday August 30th, 2021 at approximately 1:15pm EST.

A thrilling match is expected as Stefanos Tsitsipas and Andy Murray face off for a spot in the Second Round here at the US Open. It is not often that one of the best players in the world and main title contender (Tsitsipas) has to face a former world number one and Grand Slam champion (Murray) in the First Round of a Major. The Greek superstar has established himself as one of the best players in the world in recent years, while Murray has seen his career and ranking dramatically decline due to injuries. Can the unseeded Scotsman pull off the shocking upset for one last hurrah here at the Open? Or will Tsitsipas advance as expected as he seeks to win his first Grand Slam title?

Stefanos Tsitsipas is the third seed here at the 2021 US Open and is also the third ranked player in the world. He is having a true breakout season this year and is finally beginning to challenge at the major events. After winning his first ATP-1000 title in Madrid he reached his first Grand Slam Final at the French Open, and now seemingly has the belief that he can win a major. He is in fantastic form heading into this event having reached the Semi-Finals at the two main warm-up events for the US Open, the Rogers Cup and Cincinnati Open. His huge baseline game and booming serve are perfectly suited to this surface, and along with Novak Djokovic, Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev is a main contender for the title here in New York. He is the big favorite to win here over Andy Murray but will be well aware of his opponent’s experience and quality and should definitely not take him lightly.

Andy Murray is a former world number one that has suffered greatly with injuries over the past few years and has seen his ranking drop outside the top 100. Now ranked #114 in the world, he will be disappointed with that but delighted to be able to still play tennis, as a year ago it was feared that his career was over. He has been in mixed form this season but has shown flashes of his quality, even though his body will likely not let him sustain a high enough level for long enough to truly compete at a major. He is not as quick or explosive as he used to be which is a major negative but he remains one of the most experienced players on Tour, a trait that is extremely useful at big tournaments such as this. He is the big underdog here against Stefanos Tsitsipas and will have to play his best match of the past few seasons to make this competitive here.

Somewhat surprisingly, this is the first meeting between the two players on the ATP Tour, and while it will definitely be a match that tennis fans don’t want to miss, it will likely not take very long. Stefanos Tsitsipas is one of the best players in the world and is almost a lock for a deep run here on his preferred surface. Andy Murray is still capable of fantastic tennis, but his body unfortunately will not hold up nor allow him to compete at a high enough level to truly challenge the best players. I expect a thrilling match between two absolute superstars, but Tsitsipas should win this relatively comfortably and move on to the Second Round here at the 2021 US Open.