Spare a thought for the sleep schedules of the tennis-mad as the first round of the US Open begins at 1am Eastern Aussie time tomorrow morning. Australia has 14 singles players across the men’s (sans Nick Kyrgios) and women’s draws, with Alex de Minaur as our top-ranked fella (at 13th seed) and Ajla Tomljanovic, our great women’s hope (she got to the quarter-finals last year…), as she returns from injury. The tournament is a chance for reigning US Open champ Carlos Alcaraz to show his mettle again after beating Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon in July – although Italian youngster Jannik Sinner is also considered a chance on the hard court. It’s more of a toss-up for the women, with US 19yo star Coco Gauff on a hot streak, even if her parents are still encouraging her not to give up the books… The tournament will run for 2 weeks, with the singles finals on 10 and 11 September Aussie time.