The 4th and final Grand Slam of the year is finally upon us. Played on acrylic hard courts, the US Open also is one of the most watched events on the Tennis calendar. Stars like Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray or Serena Williams, Garbine Muguruza etc will all be aiming to last the distance at Queens, New York and land the final major of 2016.
Though the tournament will be poorer for the injury-enforced absence of Roger Federer, a lot is at stake this time around. Let's take a look at the seedings, draw and schedule of this year’s tournament.
Seedings:
The defending champion, Novak Djokovic, is the men’s top seed (No surprises there) while Wimbledon and Olympic champion Andy Murray is the 2nd seed. Murray also has a chance of unseating Djokovic from his No.1 ranking if he wins the US Open.
Djokovic’s shield of invincibility has waned recently with the Serb suffering a surprise defeat against Sam Querrey in Wimbledon which he put down to ‘personal issues’. Interacting with the media ahead of the tournament, Djokovic admitted – “It was nothing physical. It’s not an injury. It was some other things that I was going through privately.”
He also put down his loss to Juan Martin Del Potro in the Olympics to a wrist injury from which he has now fully recovered.
Stan Wawrinka (3rd), Rafael Nadal (4th) and Milos Raonic (5th) will also be looking to steal a march on the top-2. Especially Nadal, who looks fit and fresh to go after recovering from a troublesome wrist injury and reaching the semifinals at Rio 2016. Who knows, he might win a 15th Grand Slam!
The 2015 champion Flavia Pennetta won’t be defending her title this time – the Italian retired immediately following her win last year. Serena Williams, as usual, is the women’s top seed and she won’t just be chasing her 7th US Open title but also Margaret Court’s all-time major haul of 24 titles.
Serena’s tied with Steffi on 22 currently. But a cloud cast by fears of an injury threatens to mar her campaign. Also, 2nd seed Angelique Kerber, Garbine Muguruza (3rd) or even Radwanska (4th) and Halep (5th) will want to pose a significant threat to Serena.
The draw:
In the men’s section, Djokovic will start his campaign against Poland’s Jerzy Janowicz (ranked No.120) while Andy Murray kickstarts his campaign against Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic, who gained fame by defeating Rafael Nadal in Wimbledon 2012.
Murray has a relatively easy route to the semifinals with only a potential quarter-final meeting with 6th seed Kei Nishikori a significant threat. But Djokovic, on the other hand, might have to face 48th-ranked Jiri Vesely who beat him at Monte Carlo earlier this season in the 2nd round.
Stan Wawrinka, who is in Murray’s half of the draw, will play a tricky first match against Spanish veteran Fernando Verdasco, and may have to deal with Bernard Tomic or Nick Kyrgios in the 4th round.
Nadal who faces a semifinal showdown with Djokovic, provided he wins a potential quarter-final against Milos Raonic, begins against Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan. The dangerous Juan Martin Del Potro starts against compatriot Diego Schwartzmann and can meet Stan Wawrinka in the quarter-final.
In the women’s side, Serena has been drawn in a strong quarter of the draw. She kickstarts her campaign against Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova but can meet 5th seed Simona Halep and the gritty Sam Stosur before the semifinals. Serena cannot afford a slip up as she will lose her No.1 ranking if she fails to make the finals and Angelique Kerber reaches at least the quarterfinals.
To boot, Kerber has a relatively easier route to the semifinals. The German will play Polona Hercog of Slovenia in the 1st round and faces a clash against Roberta Vinci, who upset Serena last year, in the quarter-final. Kerber might have to deal with French Open winner Garbine Muguruza in the semifinals if the Spaniard gets through a tough quarter that includes the Olympic champion Monica Puig and 8th seed Madison Keys.
Venus Williams, who is playing her last major, is drawn in Serena’s half and will have to get past 4th seed Agnieszka Radwanska in the quarter-finals to set up a meeting with her sister.
Schedule for day 1:
Arthur Ashe Stadium:
| Time (IST) | Fixture |
| 20:30 | Roberta Vinci (ITA) [7] vs. Anna-Lena Friedsam (GER) |
| After the above match | Polona Hercog (SLO) vs. Angelique Kerber (GER) [2] |
| After the above match | Rafael Nadal (ESP) [4] vs. Denis Istomin (UZB) |
| 04:30 (30.08.2016) | Novak Djokovic (SRB) [1] vs. Jerzy Janowicz (POL) |
| After the above match | Madison Keys (USA) [8] vs. Alison Riske (USA) |
Louis Armstrong Stadium:
| Time (IST) | Fixture |
| 20:30 | Rogerio Dutra Silva (BRA) vs. Marin Cilic (CRO) [7] |
| After the above match | Francesca Schiavone (ITA) vs. Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) [9] |
| -do- | Elise Mertens (BEL) vs. Garbiñe Muguruza (ESP) [3] |
| Not before 03:00 (30.08.2016) | Jack Sock (USA) [26] vs. Taylor Fritz (USA) |
Grandstand:
| Time (IST) | Fixture |
| 20:30 | Taylor Townsend (USA) vs. Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) |
| After the above match | John Isner (USA) [20] vs. Frances Tiafoe (USA) |
| -do- | Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) [9] vs. Guido Andreozzi (ARG) |
| -do- | Johanna Konta (GBR) [13] vs. Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) |
Court 17:
| Time (IST) | Fixture |
| 20:30 | Samantha Crawford (USA) vs. Belinda Bencic (SUI) [24] |
| After the above match | Gael Monfils (FRA) [10] vs. Gilles Muller (LUX) |
| -do- | Magda Linette (POL) vs. Dominika Cibulkova (SVK) [12] |
| Not before 04:30 (30.08.2016) | Dustin Brown (GER) vs. Milos Raonic (CAN) [5] |
Court 5:
| Time (IST) | Fixture |
| 20:30 | Kyle Edmund (GBR) vs. Richard Gasquet (FRA) [13] |
| After the above match | Alizé Cornet (FRA) vs. Mirjana Lucic-Baroni (CRO) |
| -do- | Brian Baker (USA) vs. Federico Delbonis (ARG) |
| -do- | Barbora Strycova (CZE) [18] vs. Monica Niculescu (ROU) |
Old Grandstand:
| Time (IST) | Fixture |
| 20:30 | Jordan Thompson (AUS) vs. Steve Darcis (BEL) |
| After the above match | Vasek Pospisil (CAN) vs. Jozef Kovalik (SVK) |
| -do- | Monica Puig (PUR) [32] vs. Saisai Zheng (CHN) |
| -do- | Mandy Minella (LUX) vs. Elina Svitolina (UKR) [22] |
Court 13:
| Time (IST) | Fixture |
| 20:30 | Carina Witthoeft (GER) vs. Misaki Doi (JPN) [30] |
| After the above match | Naomi Osaka (JPN) vs. Coco Vandeweghe (USA) [28] |
| -do- | Yoshihito Nishioka (JPN) vs. Kevin Anderson (RSA) [23] |
| -do- | James Duckworth (AUS) vs. Robin Haase (NED) |
Court 4:
| Time (IST) | Fixture |
| 20:30 | Thomaz Bellucci (BRA) vs. Andrey Kuznetsov (RUS) |
| After the above match | Yulia Putintseva (KAZ) vs. Sabine Lisicki (GER) |
| -do- | Dudi Sela (ISR) vs. Pablo Cuevas (URU) [18] |
| -do- | Madison Brengle (USA) vs. Kayla Day (USA) |
Court 6:
| Time (IST) | Fixture |
| 20:30 | Andrea Petkovic (GER) vs. Kristina Kucova (SVK) |
| After the above match | Catherine Bellis (USA) vs. Viktorija Golubic (SUI) |
| -do- | Marcos Baghdatis (CYP) vs. Facundo Bagnis (ARG) |
| -do- | Lucas Pouille (FRA) [24] vs. Mikhail Kukushkin (KAZ) |
Court 7:
| Time (IST) | Fixture |
| 20:30 | Lukas Lacko (SVK) vs. Ernesto Escobedo (USA) |
| After the above match | Maria Sakkari (GRE) vs. Ying-Ying Duan (CHN) |
| -do- | Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL) vs. Virginie Razzano (FRA) |
| -do- | Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP) vs. Roberto Bautista Agut (ESP) [15] |
Court 8:
| Time (IST) | Fixture |
| 20:30 | Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR) vs. Gastao Elias (POR) |
| After the above match | Anastasija Sevastova (LAT) vs. Anna Karolina Schmiedlova (SVK) |
| -do- | Mischa Zverev (GER) vs. Pierre-Hugues Herbert (FRA) |
| -do- | Su-Wei Hsieh (TPE) vs. Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR) |
Court 9:
| Timr (IST) | Fixture |
| 20:30 | Julien Benneteau (FRA) vs. Albert Ramos-Vinolas (ESP) [31] |
| After the above match | Yafan Wang (CHN) vs. Alison Van Uytvanck (BEL) |
| -do- | Danielle Collins (USA) vs. Evgeniya Rodina (RUS) |
| -do- | Jiri Vesely (CZE) vs. Saketh Myneni (IND) |
Court 11:
| Time (IST) | Fixture |
| 20:30 | Bjorn Fratangelo (USA) vs. Guido Pella (ARG) |
| After the above match | Christina McHale (USA) vs. Mona Barthel (GER) |
| -do- | Jan Satral (CZE) vs. Mackenzie McDonald (USA) |
| -do- | Aliaksandra Sasnovich (BLR) vs. Lauren Davis (USA) |
Court 12:
| Time (IST) | Fixture |
| 20:30 | Petra Kvitova (CZE) [14] vs. Jelena Ostapenko (LAT) |
| After the above match | Sara Errani (ITA) [27] vs. Shelby Rogers (USA) |
| -do- | Benoit Paire (FRA) [32] vs. Dusan Lajovic (SRB) |
| -do- | Adrian Mannarino (FRA) vs. Ryan Harrison (USA) |
Court 14:
| Time (IST) | Fixture |
| 20:30 | Mikhail Youzhny (RUS) vs. Martin Klizan (SVK) [28] |
| After the above match | Stephane Robert (FRA) vs. Andreas Seppi (ITA) |
| -do- | Irina-Camelia Begu (ROU) [21] vs. Lesia Tsurenko (UKR) |
| -do- | Sorana Cirstea (ROU) vs. Ana Bogdan (ROU) |
Court 15:
| Time (IST) | Fixture |
| 20:30 | Irina Falconi (USA) vs. Cagla Buyukakcay (TUR) |
| After the above match | Marton Fucsovics (HUN) vs. Nicolas Almagro (ESP) |
| -do- | Guilherme Clezar (BRA) vs. Marco Chiudinelli (SUI) |
Fans across the world can tune into the following networks to catch all the action live on television:
United Kingdom: SkySports & British EuroSport
USA: ESPN
Australia: FoxSports
Canada: TSN, RDS
Most European Countries: EuroSport 1 & 2
Middle-east: beIN Sports
Indian Sub-Continent: TEN Sports
Mexico: Sky Mexico
Spain: EuroSport
South America: ESPN
Brazil: SporTV
South Africa: SuperSports
Russia: NTV+ & EuroSports
France, Germany: EuroSports
Japan: Wowow
New Zealand: SKY NZ
Pacific Countries: Sky NZ
Fans can also catch the action on the internet via live streaming in websites www.usopen.org and www.tensports.com.
What is the foot injury that has troubled Rafael Nadal over the years? Check here
