Third seed Stan Wawrinka, who is in Murray’s half of the draw, begins against Spanish veteran Fernando Verdasco, and may have to deal with a young Australian, Bernard Tomic or Nick Kyrgios, in the fourth round. The main question hovering over the US Open’s top singles seeds might not be which of them will win the event and bag yet another historic title but which of them will last longer. Ryan, 24, and ranked 118th, is in his seventh.
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Second seed and Olympic champion Andy Murray, the 2012 victor, starts against Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic.
“No one likes you on the tour”, Murray told him.
Murray has won both of his previous meetings against world number 82 Rosol but it was their most recent clash in Germany that was particularly memorable.
Asked Friday about the incident, the second-seeded Murray said he and Rosol spoke after the match and cleared the air. “Hopefully just every day I will keep going higher”, said the American.
Now ranked 82nd, Rosol upset Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon in 2012. He’s 0-2 in his career against Murray. “I am starting to feel better so that’s a positive”.
“I am not 100 percent but I am getting there”.
Nadal had to withdraw during the French Open because of the injury and missed 2½ months.
Olympic champion Monica Puig could be her third-round opponent.
For Williams, it’s a sore right shoulder that she revealed started bothering her nearly immediately after her Wimbledon victory. She said she practiced for just two days before the Olympics and has spent little time on court since as she undergoes physical therapy.
Play begins Monday at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in Flushing Meadows, N.Y. The women’s final is slated for Saturday, Sept. 10, and the men’s title match is set for Sept. 11. He wouldn’t elaborate other than to say that now “everything is fine”. Djokovic then pulled out of the hard-court warmup at Cincinnati, the first time he’d cited an issue with the wrist.
“Sometimes time is what you need as an athlete and because the US Open is around the corner I don’t have too much time”.
However, things could get tricky with a potential third-round match against Ana Ivanovic, quarter-final versus Simona Halep and a possible semi with sister Venus or Agnieszka Radwanska. Australian Open champ Angelique Kerber and French Open victor Garbine Muguruza are in the other half of the draw, which was set Friday. Janowicz has one home in the first round in his last three grand slam appearances.
Makarova, the world number 36, reached the semi-finals in 2014, losing to the American in straight sets. Ranked No. 142 because of three left wrist surgeries, the 2009 U.S. Open champ got in with a wild card.
American Sloane Stephens has withdrawn from the U.S. Open because of a right foot injury. But the 19th-seeded Johnson could face the Olympic silver medalist in the second round.
But after seeing a frustrating year go by between her 21st Grand Slam win and No 22, Williams said she’d learned to let history take care of itself.
Angelique Kerber will be looking to displace Williams at the top of the rankings at the U.S. Open, and Polona Hercog will be her first opponent.
Novak Djokovic is struggling with a wrist injury ahead of the US Open and has revealed “private issues” contributed to his shock Wimbledon exit.
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The draw on Friday at Flushing Meadows has now pitted the pair together again but Murray was adamant they have patched up their differences.
