I’ve just got to do the best I can.
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1 seeded woman for the U.S. Open after barely holding on to the top spot in the rankings, and Novak Djokovic is No. 1 among the men. Friday was the first time either had discussed the health problems that stymied them in Rio de Janeiro and forced them to withdraw from the hard-court warmup at Cincinnati.
After an early defeat at Wimbledon, Djokovic suffered his wrist injury before the Rio Olympics, where he was ousted in round one. She lost in the final round of qualifying past year, but on Friday, Bellis won her third-round qualifying match to clinch a spot in the main draw.
“I know she’s a good player”. I really went all the way until the end in every sense of my being. “But it’s not the place and time to talk about it”. “It was some other things that I was going through privately”.
Rafael Nadal says his troublesome left wrist keeps getting better but still isn’t 100 percent. The 14-time major champ returned for the Olympics and reached the semifinals in singles and won the doubles gold medal. When he first came back from the injury, he had to adjust his technique to avoid pain, so now he needs to get comfortable again with his regular stroke.
“Sometimes time is what you need as an athlete and because the U.S. Open is around the corner I don’t have too much time”.
“Grand Slams are valued the most in our sport historically”, Djokovic said.
The Scot picked up the first win at Indian Wells Masters back in 2014 before battling from a set down a year ago in Munich to maintain his 100 per cent record.
The Russian made two straight major semis – at the 2014 U.S. Open, losing to Williams 6-1, 6-3, and the 2015 Australian Open.
Williams is in a strong quarter that also includes fifth seed Simona Halep of Romania and 16th-seeded Australian Sam Stosur, who beat the American in the 2011 U.S. Open final. What he’ll see is a meeting with Jerzy Janowicz, a 2013 Wimbledon semifinalist who’s been ranked as high as 14th. He’s now ranked 228th and used a protected ranking to get into the U.S. Open.
Second seed and Olympic champion Andy Murray, the 2012 victor, starts against Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic.
Williams could face fourth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska in the semis, which is also when she could potentially meet sister Venus.
Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber of Germany drew the second seed and will face Slovakia’s Polona Hercog in her first match.
Earlier in the tournament, Williams could run into opponents who have eliminated her at past majors.
Before then, Murray could meet Spain’s Marcel Granollers, French baseliner Gilles Simon, veteran Feliciano Lopez and maybe 2014 US Open finalist Kei Nishikori in the quarter-finals.
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Olympic silver medallist and 2009 US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro has drawn fellow Argentine Diego Schwartzman.
