When she arrived in NY for the tournament a year ago, Williams looked and sounded nervous, an observation given substance when the Italian doubles genius, Roberta Vinci, caused a shock by putting her out in the semi-finals, crushing the world No1 when she was within reach of completing the first calendar slam since Steffi Graf in 1988.
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Robson’s injury problems have seen her drop to 247th in the world but she showed her class against Maria, who is ranked 126 places above her and was seeded 15th in qualifying.
Top-ranked Novak Djokovic, 29, reportedly suffered from his left wrist injury until now.
Looking at the breakdown above, it’s Kerber who has the edge in the race based on how her and Williams did last season in NY. Her ranking then tumbled to No12 in the world and despond gripped her, shaking her self-belief to the core.
In three main-draw appearances she has won just one match. She went out early at the Rio Olympics and pulled out of the Cincinnati Open at the last minute after making the long journey from Brazil. “I’ve just got to do the best I can”.
The 22-year-old has now won eight matches in a row and her reward is an opening tie with fellow Briton Broady, whom she has never faced competitively before. “I have not played a lot and practiced a lot”. “First of all, to win 23 and also the consecutive weeks”.
“I’ve heard mixed things about her shoulder”. She trains there at a tennis centre named after her which is run by her grandfather, who has been one of the biggest influences on her career.
How much of it is generated from within is impossible to see. I didn’t think she’d win the Australian because of having a four-month lay-off going into that. Margaret Court’s all time best of 24 is also in her sights, even though 11 of them arrived after major championships were opened up to all comers.
If Muguruza turns her post-French Open losing ways around and wins the US Open, then she would gain the World No. 1 ranking. “It took a while to get centered”, he said, “But I started to feel great again”.
“My advantage is I have played a lot of matches and am coming in with confidence knowing physically I am in good shape”.
At Rio, though, the wrist injury flared up out of nowhere just a few days before the start of singles.
“The third-round loss at Wimbledon to Sam allowed me to take some time and really regroup and think about what was achieved with the French Open”, the Serb said.
A cliché, but an apt one.
Notable absentees include 2015 champion Flavia Pennetta, who retired at the end of a year ago, Victoria Azarenka who is pregnant and former champion Maria Sharapova who is serving a doping suspension.
“Sometimes you have to hit the wall to get better”, he said. I’m just enjoying it.
Agnieszka Radwanska could actually be the World No. 1 by the end of the tournament as well.
“If the day will come I will reach number one, it would be awesome but I will not think too much (about it)”.
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Djokovic said the reasons for his All England Club catastrophe were not physical but private.
