Williams is the top women’s seed and will try to atone for last year’s lost in the semifinals.
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There, the Spaniard, victor of 13 Grand Slam titles, returned to form.
It does, however, offer a hint of vulnerability about a player who, until Sam Querrey’s heroics at Wimbledon, appeared infallible and primed for a period of dominance similar to Federer nearly 10 years ago.
Top seeds Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams face challenging early tests at the U.S. Open following Friday’s draws for the year’s last grand slam starting on Monday.
Williams has been No. 1 for 184 consecutive weeks and is vying to catch Graf’s record of 186.
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.
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”. I didn’t think she’d win the Australian because of having a four-month lay-off going into that.
She told Omnisport: “I think she’ll win it this year”.
“She’s had enough time off so whereas a lot of the other players seem to be a little exhausted after the Olympics, because it’s been a really intense, demanding summer for players who have done well at the French and Wimbledon and the Olympics”.
“I am not 100 percent but I am getting there”.
Williams lost in the semifinals a year ago to unseeded Italian Roberta Vinci.
There are certainly pitfalls waiting this time around too. That is shifting over to my match play, where I feel I used to have two or three games of bad decisions, or loss of focus.
Notable absentees include 2015 champion Flavia Pennetta, who retired at the end of past year, Victoria Azarenka who is pregnant and former champion Maria Sharapova who is serving a doping suspension.
He will play Spain’s Fernando Verdasco in the first round, and despite the fact that Verdasco is both unseeded and the lower-ranked player here, it is Wawrinka on th who is firmly on the back foot. French Open champ Garbine Muguruza of Spain is seeded third, Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska is the fourth seed and Romania’s Simona Halep is fifth.
Venus Williams landed the sixth seed.
Keys is in the other half of the draw to the Williams duo, and faces fellow American Alison Riske in the first round.
Olympic singles champion Monica Puig of Puerto Rico is seeded 32nd.
Since then she has withdrawn from her WTA title defence in Cincinnati, saying the inflammation in her shoulder “continues to be a challenge”. “It’s a new day, new tournament, new matches – so let’s see”.
Djokovic has been drawn against Jerzy Janowicz, while Nadal is up against Denis Istomin.
Djokovic said the reasons for his All England Club catastrophe were not physical but private.
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Only Dominic Thiem and Kei Nishikori have played more matches than Murray this year and only Novak Djokovic has won more than him (51 to 50).
