CNN
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The curtain will quickly come down on one of many best careers the world of sport has ever seen and Flushing Meadows, the house of the US Open, will present a becoming stage for Serena Williams’ closing act.
Williams introduced earlier this month that she would “evolve away from tennis” after this 12 months’s US Open, saying that she has “by no means preferred the phrase retirement.”
Now 41 years of age, Williams’ profession will come full circle as her closing match is to be performed on the website of the primary of her 23 grand slam singles wins, the 1999 US Open. Then simply a teen, Williams burst onto the scene to stun world No. 1 Martina Hingis within the closing and lay the primary stepping stone on her path to 20 years of dominance.
“If I may simply decide one factor that she possesses extremely strongly in comparison with different gamers and champions, it’s a powerful willpower to undergo troublesome levels and to win it doesn’t matter what, 12 months after 12 months,” Marin Cilic, the 2014 US Open males’s champion, informed CNN Sport.
“I’m hoping that she’s going to have a improbable US Open and to provide the perfect farewell is to go together with the win. So [I’m] hoping that she will be able to do it.”
Since returning to the circuit again in June after a 12 months out by damage, Williams has managed to win only a single match and has been unable to get near the shape that helped her win her final grand slam title in 2017.
Even when she can not obtain a dream closing flourish by lifting the title at Flushing Meadows, Williams’ 23 grand slam singles titles will go down as essentially the most by any participant within the Open Period and only one shy of Margaret Courtroom’s all-time document.
Williams’ greatness is just not solely restricted to the singles courtroom, having received each doubles grand slam title at the very least twice and profitable two of 4 combined doubles grand slam titles. She has additionally achieved greater than $94 million in on-court profession earnings.
Few tennis gamers have transcended the game like Williams and her presence will undoubtedly be missed on the Tour.
One of many many younger skills that can doubtless be plugging that hole is defending US Open champion Emma Raducanu. {The teenager} shocked the world of sport final 12 months by turning into the primary qualifier in historical past to win a grand slam title in what was solely her second look in the principle draw of a slam.
Raducanu and Williams crossed paths for the primary time two weeks in the past on the Cincinnati Masters, with Raducanu popping out on high in straight units.
Nevertheless, that was one among simply 12 wins that Raducanu has mustered in a season that has been blighted by accidents and patchy kind. She’s proven flashes, although, of the participant that triumphed at Flushing Meadows final 12 months, most notably within the latest demolition of two-time grand slam champion Victoria Azarenka in Cincinnati.
Two thousand of the two,756 rating factors that presently have Raducanu eleventh on this planet – and as excessive as tenth again in June – got here from her US Open win, and failure to get near defending her crown will see the 19-year-old plummet down the WTA world rankings.
Raducanu’s run in Cincinnati was ended by the hands of world No. 8 Jessica Pegula, but it surely was a closely-fought contest to complete per week that can doubtless give Raducanu elevated confidence going into the US Open.
Among the many stars hoping to snag Raducanu’s New York crown will likely be Poland’s world No. 1 Iga Swiatek, who has received a outstanding six singles titles in 2022.
The 2-time French Open winner goes into the event because the bookmakers’ favourite, however has solely ever reached the fourth spherical at Flushing Meadows and has struggled for kind on the exhausting courtroom within the lead as much as the US Open.
Nevertheless, Swiatek did attain the Australian Open semifinals at the beginning of the 12 months and received three successive WTA 1000 exhausting courtroom occasions earlier within the season, so she little doubt has the flexibility to go all the best way in New York.
Within the males’s draw, all eyes will likely be on Rafael Nadal as he seems so as to add to his males’s document 22 grand slam titles.
Nevertheless, the 36-year-old has performed only one match, a primary spherical defeat to Borna Ćorić on the Cincinnati Masters final week, since withdrawing from the Wimbledon semifinals with an stomach damage and it stays unclear simply how match Nadal is forward of the US Open.
“The principle factor for me is to remain wholesome,” Nadal informed reporters after the defeat. “It has been a troublesome damage to handle, to be trustworthy.
“The final month and a half hasn’t been simple as a result of, having a tear on the stomach, you don’t know when (you may be) one hundred pc over the factor, in order that impacts me a bit of bit by way of not (being) positive if you’ll be able to strive your finest in each serve.”
However New York has been a cheerful searching floor for Nadal through the years with the Spaniard profitable the title on 4 events, most not too long ago in 2019 when he got here by a five-set epic towards Daniil Medvedev.
Russia’s Medvedev, competing below a impartial flag since his nation’s invasion of Ukraine, is the bookmakers’ favourite to elevate the trophy and retain the crown he received in 2021 to mark his maiden grand slam victory.
Daniil Medvedev on stopping Novak Djokovic’s calendar grand slam
The 26-year-old’s lone title in 2022 got here on the exhausting courtroom in Mexico earlier this month, however Medvedev did attain the Australian Open closing at the beginning of the 12 months, agonizingly shedding out after holding a two-set lead over Nadal.
Alexander Zverev, who would have been among the many favorites to win, confirmed earlier this week that he was pulling out of the US Open after failing to get well from damage in time.
The world No. 2 underwent surgical procedure again in June on torn ligaments in his ankle, which he sustained after touchdown awkwardly within the French Open semifinals towards Nadal.
Zverev’s absence from the draw strikes all these gamers ranked beneath him up a spot within the seedings, which means Nadal and Medvedev can now solely face one another within the closing.
Novak Djokovic confirmed on Thursday that he wouldn’t be competing at Flushing Meadows in 2022. America’ vaccination guidelines for non-US residents meant the Serbian wouldn’t have been granted a visa to enter the nation, so Nole will wait at the very least yet another 12 months earlier than returning to the Huge Apple.
The world No. 6 triumphed at Wimbledon earlier this 12 months to win his twenty first grand slam title and transfer to inside one among long-time rival Nadal, however has been unable to play in any of the Tour’s US Open warmup occasions within the States or Canada.
The US Open would be the second grand slam this 12 months that Djokovic will miss out on resulting from his unvaccinated standing, after he twice had his visa revoked forward of the Australian Open in January.
“Sadly, I will be unable to journey to NY this time for US Open,” Djokovic wrote on social media. “Thanks #NoleFam to your messages of affection and help.
“Good luck to my fellow gamers! I’ll preserve in good condition and constructive spirit and anticipate a possibility to compete once more. See you quickly tennis world!”
With a large open subject, the lads’s draw will likely be fascinating to observe – will or not it’s Nadal tying Serena on 23 grand slam singles titles or will one other rise as much as reign in New York?
