“The biggest thing that I’m always very impressed with is her fire, she’s No. 1 in the world, she’s won all these grand slams, but she always wants more”, Keys told CNN ahead of the NY tournament, where she will be the eighth seed when the two-week event starts Monday. Then she got bounced in the semifinals by Roberta Vinci, a loss that is still inexplicable.
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Nadal, a 14-time Slam champion, withdrew from the French Open during the first week of the tournament.
To do so he may well have to overcome Djokovic, the champion at four of the last five major tournaments, but who endured surprise early exits both at Wimbledon and in Brazil.
Things haven’t been rosy since.
Williams said the last time she felt that her serve was a fully functioning weapon was at Wimbledon, where the women’s final was contested July 9.
“I haven’t played a lot and I haven’t practiced a lot, but I’m just starting to feel a little better”, Williams said on Friday.
“I think usually I prefer to play more coming into the final grand slam of the year, but there is nothing we can do about it”. I hope I’m still playing like this when I’m 38 years old but it’s pretty unlikely so I’m actually using that as a positive that you have to make the most of every opportunity. “That’s all I can do now”. The 2009 U.S. Open champ needed a wild card to get into the tournament. Ekaterina Makarova, a player who owns a victory over her at the 2012 Australian Open, is a unsafe unseeded player who can cause problems.
“She’s a big fighter”.
With the 34-year-old Williams no longer dominating, and struggling with a shoulder injury that derailed her Olympics campaign, 21-year-old Madison Keys sees her as an inspiration. “It took a while to get centered”, he said, “But I started to feel great again”.
“I think she will have the crowd will be much more with her in showing their appreciation, respect, admiration much, much more”.
“I have never had this type of injury before and I haven t got much time so I tried to compensate and improvise as much as I could to get ready for the US Open”.
Fourth-seeded Rafa Nadal, victor of 14 slams, and fifth seed Milos Raonic of Canada could clash in the quarters for a possible semi-finals showdown with Djokovic.
After an early defeat at Wimbledon, Djokovic suffered his wrist injury before the Rio Olympics, where he was ousted in round one.
Marin Cilic, the surprise 2014 champion and 2009 victor Del Potro, the runner-up at the Olympics, should also not be discounted.
Djokovic is in a race against time to be fit for round one in NY, starting on August 29, as he bids to recover from a wrist injury he picked up before his unsuccessful Olympic tournament.
“It wasn’t very easy physically”, she said. “I’ve played so many British people over the last few weeks in the Challengers that as soon as I saw Heather and Naomi had drawn qualifiers, I just had that feeling that I was going to play one of them”. There was even a sense of incredulity that she had won.
“That (Wimbledon) was the period for me”.
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Being viewed as a legitimate threat to Williams, Kerber said, “It is really special because Serena is one of the best players and athletes in the world”.
