Fliers
Casper Ruud (80-1): Ruud has been, to be blunt, absolutely terrible recently. The Norwegian has lost four of his last nine matches, albeit while battling some illness. It has, understandably, left a poor taste in the mouths of fans and bettors.
The problem with writing Ruud off is that he has made three Grand Slam finals relatively recently, including at the US Open. This is a player that understands how to win best-of-five matches, and he has had some time to get his cardio up after an early exit in Cincinnati. With that in mind, I wouldn’t be surprised if Ruud plays some much better tennis in New York.
Ruud probably won’t go on to win this tournament—I’m just not sure he has the weapons. But his odds are good enough that you can make some money by hedging if he just makes an extended run. Ruud has proven time and time again that he can do that at majors.
Whether it’s grabbing Ruud at 80-1 or waiting to take him to win his quarter, backing the Norwegian after a short cold stretch could end up being profitable.
Grigor Dimitrov (100-1): Dimitrov suffered a lousy defeat at the hands of Fabian Marozsan in Cincinnati, and that came after a Round of 16 loss to Alexei Popyrin in Montreal (The unseeded Aussie went on to win the title in a breakout run). On top of that, Dimitrov had been injured since Wimbledon before playing those two events. The Bulgarian isn’t in the greatest form right now.
Still, 100-1 odds for a player with Dimitrov's ability is a little nuts. Like Ruud, taking that or jumping on his quarter price could be a sharp move.
Dimitrov has the sixth-highest Elo rating in the world. His ability to rack up holds, utilize the backhand slice and simply construct points at a high level is hard to match. Of course, Dimitrov could struggle the second he sees one of the truly elite players in the world, but he’ll like his chances against anybody else. And all it would take is a little luck elsewhere in the draw for him to get deep in this tournament.