As usual, history beckons Williams who is bidding for a seventh U.S. Open victory that would surpass the Open Era record she shares with Chris Evert.
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Serbia’s Djokovic, the defending U.S. Open champion, has won 24 of 34 career matchups between the two, including three of four this year.
It would also see her set a new open era record of 23 Grand Slam singles titles, as she is now tied with German Steffi Graf on 22, after beating Germany’s Angelique Kerber in the Wimbledon final in July.
Things haven’t been rosy since. She pulled out of the Cincinnati tournament two weeks ago with an ongoing right shoulder problem.
“I have not played a lot, I haven’t practiced a lot, but I’m just now starting to feel a little better”, Williams said. “I prefer to play more coming into the final Grand Slam of the year”.
“The women are only getting better and only gaining more confidence when they play against her”. “That’s all I can do now”.
Shriver believes the support of a home crowd can drive Williams, who plays Ekaterina Makarova in the first round on Monday, on as she attempts to regain her crown. Markarova beat her in a big spot – the fourth round of the 2012 Australian Open – and Serena was engaged from the beginning.
“I think she will feel so much less pressure than previous year, also because she won Wimbledon and has at least tied Graf”, said Shriver. “You think she’s not super quick, but she is”.
Despite being the oldest player in the draw, world No. 6 Venus has no intention of calling it quits any time soon after reaching her latest landmark.
Murray begins his US Open campaign on Tuesday against world number 82 Lukas Rosol and he arguably starts as tournament favourite after winning both Wimbledon and an Olympic gold medal this summer.
Marin Cilic, the surprise 2014 champion and 2009 victor Del Potro, the runner-up at the Olympics, should also not be discounted.
Drawn to face volatile Pole Jerzy Janowicz in the US Open first round, Djokovic’s glittering season came to a sudden standstill with the Querrey loss and then first-round failure at the Rio Olympics.
Far from feeling stressed by the chance to topple Williams, Kerber said she is thriving on the race for number one.
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Williams was clearly hindered by the shoulder injury that had forced her out of the Montreal WTA tournament as she served up eight double faults and 37 unforced errors in the straight-sets defeat. “You just have to make the best of every single opportunity”. I think Novak is still obviously the most obvious obstacle. News stories displayed here appear in our category for Sports and are licensed via a specific agreement between LongIsland.com and The Associated Press, the world’s oldest and largest news organization.
