Britain's Emma Raducanu, World Number 11, is a better player than when she won last year's U.S. Open as a qualifier, according to former world number one Kim Clijsters.
"She's already done a lot more in the lead-up to the U.S, Open than she did last year, she beaten a lot of good players," Clijsters told Reuters.
"She is maturing as a tennis player. I think her tennis is better now than it was when she won the U.S. Open."
Rather than feel under pressure, Clijsters believes Raducanu will feel "super-excited" to be back in New York.
"I mean, is she going to win the U.S. Open?" the Belgian said. "It would be incredible if she did but there's a lot of other players out there who have just as much chance as her.
"So it will just be a matter of seeing whether she deals with that emotion of being at the Slam and the expectations of it? She might be super excited to be there and then play really free and without any pressure."
Comments