Williams has handled all of this competition and then some in the past, but her recent play has been spotty as she has struggled to consistently win her finals and hold off her top-seeded opponents. 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.
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Things haven’t been rosy since. She has played in only one event, the Rio Olympics, where she was bounced in the third round by Elina Svitolina, and hasn’t played since, pulling out of the Cincinnati tournament two weeks ago with an ongoing right shoulder problem.
“I don’t think very many people have that characteristic, and seeing that so much is probably one of the biggest reasons why she’s done what she’s done”, said Keys, who just like Williams has a hugely powerful serve and aggressive game style.
Williams said she wanted to prepare more for the Open, “but there is nothing you can do about it and I am going to try to make the best of every single opportunity that I have to play”. “That’s all I can do now”.
Pam Shriver expects Serena Williams to heal the wounds of last year’s heartbreak by winning a record 23rd Grand Slam title at the U.S. Open. It’s not necessarily a big deal to her that she has spent the past 31/2 years entrenched at No. 1 and at 34 is the oldest woman to top the WTA rankings.
She could also break Graf’s record of 186 consecutive weeks atop the world rankings, and surpass Chris Evert for most US Open singles titles won in the Open Era.
For Djokovic, it’s a sore left wrist that he revealed he hurt in Rio a few days before his first-round Olympic loss to Juan Martin del Potro, a player who knows plenty about how that injury hinders a righty’s two-handed backhand. This time when she gets to the semifinals there’s a chance she’ll see a familiar face there – that of her sister Venus.
But he’ll have to wait until Tuesday to do so, with defending champion Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal in action on Monday.
Andy Murray gave a stark pause at his news conference when he was asked, bluntly, if he feels he is in the latter stages of his career. It’s likely that Williams will pass that mark, and in the near future, but she seems more vulnerable now than ever.
Following his Wimbledon win and Olympic gold Andy Murray will be itching to return to court in his bid to reclaim the US Open title he won in 2012.
Nadal had an even better showing in the men’s doubles, and won gold with Marc Lopez.
Her win over Williams in the Australian Open final was an enormous boost to her confidence and after an early French Open exit, she bounced back superbly to reach the final at Wimbledon.
Once again, Williams will be chasing history in Flushing Meadows.
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The only worry for Murray is his relatively mediocre recent record in NY – runs to the quarter-finals in 2013 and 2014 were followed by a fourth-round exit to Kevin Anderson 12 months ago.
