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.
Advertisement
Murray will launch his US Open campaign tomorrow against Lukas Rosol.
But that hasn’t dented his confidence that he can claim a second US Open, four years after his breakthrough in NY saw him become the first British man in 76 years to win a Grand Slam title.
Ahead of Monday’s start to the season’s final Grand Slam, the 29-year-old is the sport’s man of the moment.
Williams has two records in her sights at Flushing Meadows, where she can overtake Steffi Graf’s Open era record 22 grand slam titles and also surpass the German’s unbeaten 186 consecutive weeks at world number one.
Kerber has the best shot of unseating Williams. She trains there at a tennis centre named after her which is run by her grandfather, who has been one of the biggest influences on her career. She reached her first Wimbledon final last month before losing to the American.
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.
“But then I have to, like, remind myself that: ‘You are Serena Williams!’ ” Williams continued, laughing.
In a way, Williams is chasing Kerber rather than vice versa.
She bowed out in the second round in Montreal at the Rogers Cup, but joined Asia Muhammad to defeat the top-ranked doubles team of Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza 6-3, 6-4 in the quarterfinals before losing in the semifinals. With all the players gearing up for the year’s final major, let’s take a look at five of the dark horses for the Men’s Singles tournament at the US Open.
Over the last decade, however, there were a series of women who reached the No. 1 ranking without winning a major either at the time or since. Still, even if the weather is dry, the new $150 million retractable roof atop the tournament’s main arena will make a debut of sorts: The U.S. Tennis Association plans to shut the structure after the day session, then open it while Phil Collins performs “In the Air Tonight” during the opening-night ceremony.
Novak Djokovic of Serbia smiles during the Draw Ceremony prior to the start of the 2016 US Open on August 26, 2016 in the Queens borough of New York City.
McHale played almost every day for two weeks in early August for the New York Empire in the World Team Tennis league co-founded by King.
But that hasn’t dented his confidence that he can claim a second US Open, four years after his breakthrough in NY saw him become the first British man in 76 years to win a Grand Slam title.
You should never bet against Williams, not until she has well and truly called it a career.
She’s now ranked 55th with a 31-20 record this year.
Advertisement
Serena Williams and 2012 champion Andy Murray will get underway on Tuesday. Should Williams and Kerber both falter, either Garbine Muguruza or Agnieszka Radwanska could overtake both of them.
