She has played only three matches after her Wimbledon triumph in July and has a sore right shoulder to worry about.
Advertisement
Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic arrived at the U.S. Open as the top seeds and favorites to win, but both are nursing injuries. The No. 6 seed Venus Williams is a tougher opponent than the now-retired Vinci for nearly anyone in tennis, except perhaps for Serena, who has made relatively easy work of her older sister in latter years.
“Usually I prefer to play more coming into the final Grand Slam of the year, but there is nothing we can do about it”, Williams said Friday.
“But I thought she’d win Wimbledon and she did”.
“After undergoing certain treatments I’ve gotten better”, Djokovic said.
“I think Rafa pretty much proved his fitness in Rio, playing a lot of tennis, winning the doubles and also playing as many matches as anyone there”.
All eyes will surely focus on Andy Murray for the US Open, the last Grand Slam tournament of the season. Depending on results in New York, Williams could be surpassed in the rankings after the tournament.
Since then she has withdrawn from her WTA title defence in Cincinnati, saying the inflammation in her shoulder “continues to be a challenge”.
It was here at the US Open in 2011 that Kerber made one of her most significant breakthroughs, at a time when her career appeared to be going nowhere.
Rio was his first outing since an injury-enforced early withdrawal from Roland Garros, and the punishing schedule of 13 matches in 12 days at the Olympics and caught up with him when he lost in the third round at Cincinnati.
Novak Djokovic’s coach Boris Becker admits the Serb’s supremacy is under threat from Andy Murray. You just have to make the best of every single opportunity. “She never really stops”, Williams said.
There’s so much action with the whole top half on the men’s side and the whole bottom half on the women’s side in play on Monday.
Chrissie Evert, another ESPN pundit who also won six US Open titles, said: “For Serena, being No 2 in the world doesn’t sit well with her”.
Murray can not meet either Djokovic or Nadal until the final in NY but should he get there, the Scot will become only the fourth man in the Open era to make all four grand slam finals in a calendar year, joining Federer, Djokovic and Rod Laver.
“But I learned a lot of things the previous year, especially with the Singapore thing, with my match there”.
Former U.S. Open champion Juan Martin del Potro, back for the first time in three years after three operations on his left wrist, plays fellow Argentine Diego Schwartzman in round one. That battle, won by Schiavone 16-14 in the third, remains the longest women’s singles match in Grand Slam history.
Murray said: “That would be big, for sure”.
But Scot Murray will emulate their feats if he can go all the way to the final at Flushing Meadows, having done so at the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon already this year.
Williams said her shoulder was starting to feel better, but she was trying to balance the need for rest with the need to practice.
Advertisement
“It was a shock when Novak lost early at Wimbledon because the level he’d set the bar at was higher than anything I’ve ever seen as far as consistency”.
