Greg’s US Open predictions: It will be Roger Federer or Andy Roddick holding the trophy two weeks from now

As you can tell, I’m awfully excited about the United States Open Tennis Championships beginning today.

This year’s event, which lasts 14 days, should provide plenty of stellar matches on the men’s side because there are a number of guys who are hungry and in good form. Leading the field are Wimbledon finalists Roger Federer, winner of the last five Opens and Andy Roddick who won his single US Open title in 2003, the year before Federer began his streak. (That’s them on Saturday at the annual Arthur Ashe Kids Day event).

I think either Federer or Roddick is going to win the tournament. They will have to get by each other in the semifinals to do it.

Besides those two, you gotta give second-ranked Andy Murray a decent shot. He was runner-up last year. But he’s never won a major so that’s a big leap for any player to make. So few players besides Federer (15) and Rafael Nadal (six) have won a grand slam championships since Federer won his first at Wimbledon in 2003. They are Roddick, Gaston Gaudio (2004 French Open), Marat Safin (2005 Australian Open) and Novak Djokovic (2008 Australian Open).

Nadal has dropped to third and is coming off an injury layoff. He won’t win. Neither will fourth-ranked Djokovic who seems to have lost some of his edge.

The Women’s Game

Defending champion Serena Williams will likely win her fourth Open. She has been virtually unbeatable in the grand slams since winning last year taking Wimbledon and the Australian Open this year. Serena gives it all she has at the slams but does not show the same fire and dedication at other tournaments through the year. It’s actually a disgrace and she’s not the caliber of champion of Steffi Graf, Monica Seles, Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert, Billie Jean King or Justine Henin who won lots of slams but also hated to lose any match whether it was in Toronto or Toledo.

If Serena slips up, it’s wide open and I hope it will result in top-ranked Dinera Safina winning her first slam. Dinera is number one because she has won the most matches this year. It’s not her fault Serena is so flakey that despite winning two grand slams, she can’t accumulate enough points to be number one.

Most deserving though would be fourth-seed Elena Dementieva, reigning Olympic Gold Medalist and 2004 runner-up. She works hard and nearly beat Serena in the semis of Wimbledon this year. She’s due.