Silver lining found with young stars
U.S. OPEN
NEW YORK — After a bunch of bad news about big names missing the U.S. Open, the folks who run the tournament are searching for a silver lining. Who could blame them?
They figure there’s no time like the present to promote the future stars of tennis.
At least Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal still will be in the field when play begins today, although even that didn’t quite work out for the U.S. Tennis Association and its TV partners. The presence of the two greats — and the tantalizing prospect of what could be their transcendent rivalry’s first installment at Flushing Meadows — is not as enticing as it could have been, because the luck of the draw set up the bracket so they only could meet in a semifinal, not the final.
There’s a significant drop off in wattage from there: An event already without the sport’s top woman, 23-time major champion Serena Williams (she is pregnant), will be contested without three of the top five members of the men’s rankings, and five of the top 11.
Andy Murray, the 2012 champion and No. 2 seed, became the latest to pull out when he unexpectedly withdrew Saturday, citing an injured hip that could sideline him for the remainder of the season. That followed withdrawals by reigning champion Stan Wawrinka and the man he beat in last year’s final, Novak Djokovic, a two-time champion and five-time runner-up in New York.
Also absent: 2014 U.S. Open runner-up Kei Nishikori, meaning just one of the 2016 men’s semifinalists returns, and 2016 Wimbledon runner-up Milos Raonic.
“We want the players to do what’s best for them in terms of their bodies and their health. But we know one thing: Somebody’s got to win the tournament,” U.S. Open spokesman Chris Widmaier said in an interview. “And we think tennis fans are going to see a lot of new, exciting young talent.”
“We recognize that we have a responsibility to start promoting new names in tennis and that will start at this year’s Open,” he added. “You’ll see new faces in ads. You’ll see new names at night.”
One example: No. 4 seed Alexander Zverev, a 20-year-old German considered the “Next Big Thing,” will play under the lights in Arthur Ashe Stadium tonight against Darian King.
Widmaier said Zverev or Nick Kyrgios, a talented and volatile 22-year-old Australian, could be the focus of TV, print or digital promotion that otherwise might have put Djokovic, Murray or Wawrinka in the spotlight.
That is a good thing for tennis, which will see a generation of significant players on its way out in the coming years. Federer, after all, is 36. Wawrinka is 32, Nadal 31. Djokovic and Murray are 30. Williams turns 36 next month; her older sister Venus is already 37, the oldest woman in the draw.
Those seven players own a combined 82 major singles titles.
Tonight’s Ashe schedule kicks off with a blockbuster first-round contest, as five-time major champion Maria Sharapova plays her first grand slam match since the 2016 Australian Open against No. 2 seed Simona Halep. Sharapova returned from a 15-month doping ban in April.