Morning Coffee: Djokovic, Swiatek US Open favourites

They finally did it!

The longest home losing streak in the history of North American professional sports is officially over.

The Edmonton Elks beat the visiting Ottawa Redblacks 30-20 on Sunday night to snap a 22-game home losing streak at Commonwealth Stadium.

Tre Ford threw for a career-high 317 yards and a touchdown, while rushing for 74 yards and another score.

After starting the season 0-9, Edmonton has secured back-to-back wins to improve to 2-9.

Is it time to place a bet on the Elks to win the Grey Cup at 420-to-1 odds at FanDuel?

Not quite, but if they can beat the Calgary Stampeders in Week 13, then the outlook in Edmonton will feel much different than it was at the start of the month of August.

In a lot of ways, it already does.

Meanwhile, Caleb Williams had a strong debut on Saturday night as the college football season got underway.

It’s also our final week without the NFL for the next five months.

With the start of the US Open, MLB playoff races heating up, and another WNBA showdown tonight, there’s plenty to talk about as the summer continues to wind down.

This is the Morning Coffee for Monday Aug. 28, 2023.

Djokovic, Swiatek US Open favourites

The stage is set for the 143rd edition of the US Open.

After he missed last year’s tournament, Novak Djokovic returns to Flushing Meadows as the betting favourite to win his 24th major singles title and tie Margaret Court for the most by any player all-time.

Defending US Open champion Carlos Alcaraz is expected to be his biggest challenger once again.

Djokovic is +110 to win the men’s singles title at FanDuel. Alcaraz is the second choice to win the title at +185.

No other challenger has shorter than 10-1 odds to win the US Open men’s singles title at FanDuel.

On the women’s side, the defending champion and world No. 1 Iga Swiatek is the favourite to win the title at +210.

Swiatek is looking to join Venus Williams as the only active women to win five or more major singles titles.

Aryna Sabalenka (+460), Coco Gauff (+650), Elena Rybakina (+1000) and Jessica Pegula (+1000) round out the top-five choices to win the women’s singles title.

Meanwhile, the Canadian contingent will be a little smaller this year with neither Bianca Andreescu nor Denis Shapovalov set to compete at this year’s US Open.

Felix Auger-Aliassime and Milos Raonic are both in action later today.

Auger-Aliassime is a small favourite for his match versus Mackenzie McDonald.

Raonic will be a substantial underdog as he clashes with Stefanos Tsitsipas, who is a top-five choice to win the men’s singles title outright at FanDuel.

You can catch all of the US Open action on TSN and TSN+.

Williams Shines In USC Season Debut

USC Trojans quarterback Caleb Williams is looking to join Archie Griffin as the only players ever to win the Heisman Trophy twice.

After throwing four touchdown passes in a 56-28 win over San Jose State on Saturday night, Williams is +500 to repeat as the Heisman Trophy winner at FanDuel.

No other player has shorter than 10-1 odds.

Next up, USC will host Nevada on Saturday night.

The Trojans are currently a 38.5-point favourite for that clash with the Wolf Pack at FanDuel.

Liberty, Aces Set To Clash Again

For the fifth time this season, the top two choices to win the WNBA championship are set to clash.

The Las Vegas Aces and New York Liberty have split their first four meetings this season.

While they’ve each won twice, none of the games have been close with an average winning margin of 21.8 points.

The Aces remain the favourite to win the WNBA championship at -210 at FanDuel.

The Liberty are the second choice to win the title at +190.

No other team has shorter than 27-1 odds to win it all.

Las Vegas is currently a 1.5-point favourite for tonight’s contest.

Meanwhile, the top two choices to win WNBA regular season MVP will also go head-to-head in tonight’s game.

Aces’ forward A’ja Wilson is the current favourite to win WNBA regular season MVP at -130. Liberty forward Breanna Stewart is the second choice to win that award at +190 at FanDuel.

A FanDuel Best Bet for Monday’s MLB slate

After a much-needed week off, it’s time to get back to work with a FanDuel Best Bet for Monday’s MLB slate.

I’m looking to pick up where I left off before the vacation after an 11-3 run with the FanDuel Best Bets across all sports.

I’ll lock in the NRFI in tonight’s contest between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Los Angeles Dodgers at -115.

Bobby Miller pitched six shutout innings in a 2-0 win over the Diamondbacks in his last start against them on Aug. 9.

Coming off his first loss of the month, Miller should be locked in at home against the Diamondbacks.

Meanwhile, Arizona will counter with Zac Gallen, who has won three starts in a row, giving up a total of two earned runs over 18.1 innings of work.

I’ll trust Gallen and Miller to get us the six outs we need to start the week with another winner.

Give me the NRFI in tonight’s contest between the Diamondbacks and Dodgers as my FanDuel Best Bet.