“I apologise but it’s tough to go back now and talk about that”, Djokovic said. “Becoming father for the first time is best thing that’s ever happened to me”. “But I’m doing everything in my power with the medical team, so I’m as close to 100 percent as possible, at least for the beginning of it”.
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When he first came back, he recalled, “you try to find movements to avoid the pain”.
Williams declared herself ” a fan” of Keys after beating her in last year’s Melbourne semis, saying: “It was an honor for me to play someone who will be ranked No. 1 in the future”.
But Williams may not play her way into the history books as easily as she would like, after she started feeling pain in her shoulder just 24 hours after her Wimbledon victory. “(It’s) Serena and the rest of the field”, she said, laughing.
Vinci was trying to deflect all pressure on her in her pre-tournament press at Cincinnati, and she could well fall to Dominika Cibulkova in the fourth round.
The right-handed Djokovic needs that wrist for his backhand.
Last year’s US Open champion Flavia Pennetta of Italy will not defend her title after retiring at the end of last year. “I think Serena will respond really well to the support”.
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.
Djokovic missed the Cincinnati Masters with a wrist injury he picked up before the Olympics in Rio, where the world No. 1 was stunned by Juan Martin del Potro in the first round, and he admitted he is still struggling with the issue.
On Tuesday his wife, Jelena, put up an Instagram screenshot of Djokovic with his left wrist wrapped in an electrified bandage, apparently a “transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation therapy” device. Djokovic still has just one Olympic medal, a 2008 singles bronze he earned in Beijing.
Williams proved even more lethal in picking off her opponents in 2013, this time giving away just 16 matches on her way to a rematch with 2012 runner-up Azarenka. Australian Open champ Angelique Kerber and French Open victor Garbine Muguruza are in the other half of the draw, which was set Friday.
Andy Murray will face Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic in the first round of the forthcoming US Open in NY.
Roger Federer isn’t at the Open this year, resting an ailing knee. He’s now ranked 228th and used a protected ranking to get into the U.S. Open.
Djokovic revealed he has also been having personal problems.
Juan Martin del Potro, the 2009 champion and Olympic silver medallist, looms large as a potentially unsafe last-eight opponent for Wawrinka. Ranked No. 142 because of three left wrist surgeries, the 2009 U.S. Open champ got in with a wild card.
The Games were his first outing since an injury-enforced early withdrawal from the French Open and the punishing schedule of 13 matches in 12 days in Brazil and then Cincinnati caught up with him when he lost in the third round in the American city. But the 19th-seeded Johnson could face the Olympic silver medalist in the second round.
“I’m 29 and believe that I’m at a peak of my abilities as a tennis player”, said the Serb.
Played on hard courts, the 14-day tournament begins on Monday.
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Stephens hadn’t played since losing in the first round at the Olympics.
