With the tennis world gathering at Arthur Ashe Stadium for the next few days, tennis legend Martina Navratilova picked her winner, and it wasn’t WTA 1 Aryna Sabalenka or No. 4 Coco Gauff.

“I think Iga Swiatek is in great form right now,” the 69-year-old icon stated, per Sky Sports The Panel. In fact, Navratilova picked Naomi Osaka as the dark horse.

No. 8 Swiatek won the 2022 French Open and 2024 Italian Open by defeating Gauff and Sabalenka, respectively. August 13 marked her 26^th career WTA Tour title, defeating No. 2 Elena Rybakina 6–2, 6–3 to win the 2026 Canadian Open.

Navratilova looking away from the 2x Grand Slam champion Gauff, with the 2026 Cincinnati Open title under her belt, or the 2x US Open, 2x Australian Open and 4x Grand Slam winner Sabalenka comes off as a surprise.

However, Sabalenka’s latest stretch might’ve played a part in this. The 28-year-old Belarusian opened her year as the 2026 Brisbane International champion, winning the sunshine double in Miami and Indian Wells. But from the Madrid Open to Cincinnati, she has fallen short.

Moreover, Navratilova wasn’t the only one to make a case for Swiatek, who hasn't been lucky at the US Open since 2022.

Naomi Broady also picked Iga Swiatek

Swiatek may not have picked up a lot of titles and accolades this year, but it seems like she has gotten the much-deserved recognition from the pros. Similar to Navratilova, former British tennis icon Naomi Broady also picked the 25-year-old Pole.

“She's Iga,” Broady said, per the same post by Sky Sports. “She's playing really well. And I think her ball does a lot of damage on these lively hard courts with the spin. And I just feel over the last few weeks she's got her star power back a bit.

With August 30 marking the singles main draw, the tournament will run its course through September 12. We’ll see how Navratilova and Broady’s pick ages along the way.

With that being said, do you agree with their pick? Let us know in the comments.

Follow Her Sports Nation for more.

Written by

Deblina Roy