‘I need to perform at my best and hopefully have options moving forward,’ says the 24-year-old golfing talent
sports2 days ago
Get ready for the US Open before play begins Monday with a guide that tells you everything you need to know about the year's last Grand Slam tennis tournament, what the schedule is and who the defending champions are and more.
Defending champion Iga Swiatek will play the first match on Arthur Ashe Stadium on Monday, facing Rebecca Peterson.
Frances Tiafoe, after his surprising run to his first Grand Slam semifinal last year in Flushing Meadows, will be back on the main stadium after that match.
The opening session of night matches will be highlighted by the return of Novak Djokovic, who will play his first US Open match in two years after missing last year's tournament because he wasn't vaccinated against COVID-19 and couldn't travel to the U.S.
Preceding the 23-time Grand Slam champion to open the night session on Ashe will be 19-year-old American Coco Gauff. Defending men's champion Carlos Alcaraz plays his first-round match Tuesday night.
Djokovic moved to a plus-110 money-line pick to win the men's title after Thursday's draw, and he remained there — he had been at plus-130 on Wednesday — according to FanDuel Sportsbook. Reigning champion Alcaraz went from plus-160 to plus-175, which folks might find enticing.
Djokovic has been the U.S. Open favorite since right after he lost to Alcaraz in the Wimbledon final last month.
Daniil Medvedev, who beat Djokovic to win the 2021 title at Flushing Meadows, is next for the US Open at plus-1,000, a big jump from the plus-750 he was listed at before the draw.
For the women, Swiatek is the top choice at plus-230, a little lower than the plus-240 from before the draw; she's No. 1 in the WTA rankings.
She is followed by Aryna Sabalenka, who won the Australian Open title in January, at plus-470. Gauff, the 19-year-old American, moved from plus-1,600 to the third choice at plus-700.
Last year's Wimbledon champion, Elena Rybakina, is next at plus-850, followed by the top American, Jessica Pegula, at plus-1,000.
Djokovic’s return comes against an opponent, Alexandre Muller, who never has played in the tournament.
Thursday's draw also put Swiatek and Gauff into a possible quarterfinal matchup. Another intriguing quarterfinal could be Alcaraz against Jannik Sinner. They met in that round a year ago in New York, and Alcaraz’s thrilling five-set victory ended at 2:50 a.m., the latest finish in U.S. Open history.
John Isner, who announced he will retire after the U.S. Open, will also play in the men's doubles tournament.
He and fellow American Jack Sock were given a wild card into the field by the U.S. Tennis Association.
The duo has won three Masters 1000 titles, twice at Indian Wells and once in Shanghai, and Sock is also a three-time Grand Slam men's doubles champion. Isner is best known for his singles career, which included one Grand Slam semifinal appearance and a victory in the longest match in the sport’s history.
Flushing Meadows
The site in New York is the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows. The surface is hard courts. Women play best-of-three-set matches; men play best-of-five-set matches.
Swiatek defeated Ons Jabeur 6-2, 7-6 (5) to collect her first U.S. Open championship and third Grand Slam title overall — a total she increased to four by winning the French Open in June.
Alcaraz got past Casper Ruud 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (1), 6-3 to become, at 19, the first teenager to win the men's trophy at Flushing Meadows since Pete Sampras in 1990. The victory also allowed Alcaraz to rise to No. 1 in the ATP rankings for the first time.
Total player compensation is rising to a record $65 million, up from about $60 million in 2022.
This is the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Open becoming the sport’s first event to pay women and men the same, and both singles champions will get $3 million in 2023.
That's below the pre-pandemic pay of $3.9 million for each winner in 2019.
Three recent superstars of the sport will not be in New York: Roger Federer and Serena Williams have retired, and Rafael Nadal is recovering from surgery for a hip problem.
Bianca Andreescu, who beat Williams for the 2019 women's title, withdrew Saturday because of a back injury. Other top players absent include two-time U.S. Open champion Naomi Osaka (gave birth in July), two-time major champions Simona Halep (provisional doping ban) and Garbiñe Muguruza (taking a break from the tour), 2016 U.S. Open champion Angelique Kerber (gave birth in February), 2014 U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic (injured), 2022 Wimbledon runner-up Nick Kyrgios (injured), Denis Shapovalov (injured), Reilly Opelka (injured) and Paula Badosa (injured), who was supposed to face Venus Williams in the first round.
Caroline Wozniacki received a wild-card entry from the USTA when she announced in June she would be coming out of retirement at age 33.
She won the 2018 Australian Open and twice was the runner-up at the U.S. Open before stepping away from the sport in 2020 to start a family. She and her husband, former NBA player David Lee, have two children.
Schedule of Play
—Monday-Tuesday: First Round (Women and Men)
—Sept. 5-6: Quarterfinals (Women and Men)
—Sept. 7: Women’s Semifinals
—Sept. 8: Men’s Semifinals
—Sept. 9: Women’s Final
—Sept. 10: Men’s Final
US Open factrs
249 — Novak Djokovic's career victories over opponents ranked in the Top 10.
11-1 — Coco Gauff's record since a first-round loss at Wimbledon.
Top quote
“Tried to hit her with the ball but it did not work.” — Ons Jabeur, on practicing before the tournament with Marketa Vondrousova, who beat her in the Wimbledon final.
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