SERENA SHOULDERS BURDEN OF HISTORY AT FLUSHING MEADOWS
New York, Aug. 28: Serena Williams once again arrives at Flushing Meadows poised to rewrite the tennis record books — if her own troublesome right shoulder and increasingly emboldened rivals allow.
The 34- year- old US superstar matched Steffi Graf ’ s Open Era record of 22 Grand Slam singles titles with her triumph at Wimbledon in July.
With a seventh US Open triumph she can break Graf’s record, and continue her march toward Australian Margaret Court’s all- time mark of 24 Grand Slam titles.
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.
But after seeing a frustrating year go by between her 21st Grand Slam win and no. 22, Williams said she’d learned to let history take care of itself.
“At this point, I’m taking it a day at a time,” Williams said. “I just am more relaxed, for sure.”
Williams faces a tricky opening encounter against experienced Russian Ekaterina Makarova.
She could find fifth- seeded Romanian Simona Halep waiting in the quarters and elder sister Venusin the semis.
2015 US Open winner.
“The wrist has not been ideal for three weeks. There are different methods of healing. One involved electricity treatment to enhance the recovery process,” said Djokovic who faces Jerzy Janowicz of Poland in his opener.
Outside of the top two, five- time champion Roger Federer, who has played every US Open since 2000, called time on his season after a five- set semi- final defeat to Raonic at Wimbledon. The 35- year- old aggravated a knee injury in Germany’s Kerber, who defeated Williams in the Australian Open final in January, is just one of the players with a chance to seize the number one ranking if Williams falters.
Kerber, 28, also boasts a title at Stuttgart, an Olympic silver medal and finals appearances at Brisbane in January and this month in Cincinnati — where she missed her first chance to supplant Williams atop the rankings.
Third- seeded Spaniard Garbine Muguruza also has a shot at the top, although the 22- year- old who stunned Williams in the French Open final will need her best US Open ever to do so.
Fourth- seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland also has an outside chance at the world number one ranking if she can claim her first Grand Slam title. that loss. Fellow old- stager Rafael Nadal, the 2010 and 2013 US Open champion, won gold in doubles at the Rio Olympics but lost the singles bronze medal playoff to Kei Nishikori. Nadal tackles Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan first up.
Other contenders are likely to be world number three Stan Wawrinka, a two- time semi- finalist, sixth- ranked Raonic, world number seven Kei Nishikori, the 2014 runner- up, Cilic, the surprise 2014 champion and 2009 winner Del Potro.