Jannik Sinner vs Mackenzie McDonald - US Open Tennis Prediction and Pick 8/27/24

It's a Grand Slam tournament unlike any other for Jannik Sinner, who will play his first match since his doping saga became public. Sinner has been cleared of any wrongdoing for failing two drug tests earlier in March while competing at Indian Wells.

Now, his focus is on winning the US Open, but he hasn't hidden from the fact that the case weighed over his shoulders for five months before the monkey was let off his back. The Italian's best result in New York was in reaching the quarterfinal in 2022 when he held a match point against eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz.

Mackenzie McDonald is currently ranked outside the Top 100 after missing five months of the current season with an injury. He's entered the 2024 US Open with a protected ranking. His last main draw win was in Atlanta in late July, when he upset Brandon Nakashima.

Since then, he lost the opening rounds in Washington and Montreal and failed to qualify in Cincinnati (he lost to Alex Michelsen in qualifying). This will be his seventh US Open main draw. He has won only two matches in the tournament.

Jannik Sinner vs Mackenzie McDonald Head-To-Head

• Sinner leads McDonald 3-0 in their head-to-head matches. Despite the dominant record, the American has won at least a set in two of those matches.

Jannik Sinner vs Mackenzie McDonald Prediction

This is the most anticipated match of Jannik Sinner's career, which comes right after the ITIA cleared him of doping. The question is, how is Sinner's headspace going into the match? From his pre-tournament press conference, he was keen to put this predicament behind him, and he emphasized that he would be undeterred by the negative fan reaction from some quarters as he expected it. With that said, I feel Sinner will be fully focused on the match, and I can see an emphatic result.