The US Open is the final Grand Slam tournament in tennis this season — starts in New York on Monday.
Seven Russians will compete in the men's singles, the winner of the two-year-old tournament Daniil Medvedev has the best chance of success. 14 Russians will play in the women's US Open, among them — the finalist of the 2010 competition Vera Zvonareva. The main event of the tournament for many is the return of Serb Novak Djokovic.
Djokovic will try to catch up with the courtNovak Djokovic will participate in the US Open for the first time in two years. In 2022, he was unable to enter the United States due to a refusal to disclose his coronavirus vaccination status, or, in simpler terms, because he did not want to be vaccinated. This year, a covid vaccination certificate is not on the list of mandatory documents for crossing the American border, and Djokovic is already in the New World, where, in particular, he met with the US Major League Soccer (MLS) player for Inter Miami, the great Argentinean Lionel Messi.
But the main goal of the next two weeks for Djokovic, of course, is connected with a smaller ball. The Serb will try to win the 24th Grand Slam title in singles and catch up with Australian tennis player Margaret Court in this indicator. Novak had this opportunity a month and a half ago when he met Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz in the Wimbledon final. However, in the epic five-set confrontation, youth turned out to be stronger than experience.
During this time, 36-year-old Djokovic and 20-year-old Alcaraz have already managed to meet again — in the finals of the Masters in Cincinnati. And the Serbian tennis player won, and along the way he played match points. However, Djokovic, of course, cannot call this success a full-fledged revenge — after all, the match was held not in five sets, but in three. The Serb will have the opportunity to play to the fullest in New York, if, of course, the first seeded Carlos and the second racket of the tournament Novak reach the final.
And many can stop them. First of all, the winner of the US Open-2021 champion title Daniil Medvedev. It was the Russian who prevented Djokovic from winning the calendar Grand Slam two years ago, beating him in the decisive match in New York. For the third racket of the world, hard in the game is very suitable, therefore, if Medvedev, who is in the same half of the grid with Alcaraz, stops first the Spaniard, and then the Serb, this will not be called a grandiose sensation.
The only thing that worries me is that Medvedev spent an average part of the season preparatory to the US Open. At the Masters in Toronto, he lost in the quarterfinals to the Australian Alex de Minaur, and at the tournament of a similar status in Cincinnati, to the German Alexander Zverev, and a round earlier, in the 1/8th. However, far-reaching conclusions, of course, should not be drawn from this fact. Before the French Open, Daniil won the Masters in Rome, but in Paris he lost in the first round to the 172nd racket of the world from Brazil. But before Wimbledon, the Russian did not achieve much success, and in London he reached the semi-finals, where he folded only to Alcaraz.
In addition to Medvedev, six more Russians will perform in the men's singles in New York — Andrey Rublev, Karen Khachanov, Aslan Karatsev, Roman Safiullin, Alexander Shevchenko and Pavel Kotov. Rublev is seeded eighth, Khachanov is seeded 11th and they are both in the same half of the grid as Daniil.
Mirra Andreeva is on the verge of a rematch with the favorite There is also a race for records in the singles draw of the US Open Women's Championship. American Venus Williams, who received a wild card from the organizers at the age of 43, will perform in her 24th US Open. She first played in this tournament in 1997, and in 2000 and 2001 she won the championship title. In June of this year, the eldest of the Williams sisters began training for the US Open and in the course for the first time in four years beat a tennis player from the twenty strongest in the world — Russian Veronika Kudermetova fell into the hands of the veteran.
Sister Venus Serena, as you know, ended her career last year, having played a farewell match at the US Open. It was the younger Williams who was the last tennis player to win in New York several times in a row — from 2012 to 2014. Since then, the tournament has a new champion every time. The last was Iga Swiatek from Poland — and this season she has excellent chances to repeat this success. Schwentek is the first racket of the world, and in the last two tournaments — in Montreal and Cincinnati — she reached the semifinals.
But the local public in New York will, as usual, especially ardently cheer for their own. And there are two home favorites at the US Open. First — Jessica Pegula, seeded under the third number. She won the tournament in Montreal this summer, defeating Russia's Lyudmila Samsonova in the final. The second is Corey Gauff. The 19-year-old American was seeded at the US Open under the sixth number, and in the process of preparation she beat Swiatek and became the champion of tournaments in Washington and Cincinnati.
Russians in the women's singles grid at US Open 14, and one of them attracts special attention, coupled with the deepest respect. Vera Zvonareva, who played in the US Open final in 2010, qualified for the main tournament this season at the age of 38. And he has every chance to continue his victorious pace, since in the first round the former second racket of the world will play with Janina Wickmayer from Belgium, who got into the net in the status of a lucky loser.
The highest seeded number of all Russian tennis players in New York for Daria Kasatkina is 13th. But already in the fourth round she can meet with the second racket of the tournament Arina Sobolenko from Belarus. In the same half of the grid and Samsonova (14th seed number). But Mirra Andreeva, who made some noise on the courts of Paris and London, is in the same place as Shventek. But the promising Russian woman is far from a potential meeting with the first racket of the world: the next serious goal is a rematch in the second round with Gauff, whom she lost to at Roland Garros.
Veronika Kudermetova (16th seed) will also play in the US Open. ), Ekaterina Alexandrova (22), Anastasia Potapova (27), Elina Avanesyan, Tatyana Prozorova, Anna Kalinskaya, Margarita Betova, Kamilla Rakhimova, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Anna Blinkova.
US Open will last on the courts of New York until September 10th. Total payouts to players will be $65 million. The winners in the men's and women's singles will each receive three million in US currency.