The 2017 US Open begins on Monday, and the men’s and women’s draws are both wide open.
With GOAT Serena Williams absent for the third major in a row due to her pregnancy, Victoria Azarenka withdrawing due to a custody battle, and Maria Sharapova playing her first match at a major in over 18 months, the WTA continues to lack a clear favorite. As of the start of play on Monday, eight different women will have the chance to end the fortnight ranked number one.
Due to a plethora of injuries to the top-ranked ATP players, the men’s draw may be even more wide open than the women’s. With all five of the men who ended 2016 ranked in the top five withdrawing from the Open due to injury, and co-GOAT contenders Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal also not 100%, there is a feeling of unpredictability in the air in New York.
Let’s take a look at the best matchups in Monday’s Order of Play, which features many players with inspiring and emotional stories worth rooting for, as well as the most marquee opening round match at a major in a long time.
Petra Kvitova vs. Jelena Jankovic
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The first match of the day on the make-shift Louis Armstrong Stadium (the new stadium will not be ready until 2018, so a temporary court surrounded by bleachers has been set up for this year’s tournament) will see two WTA veterans who have struggled of late with injuries. In Kvitova’s case, the injury was caused by a terrible, frightening incident. The two-time Wimbledon champion returned to tennis at Roland Garros after a six-month absence due to a home invasion where her left hand was severely cut with a knife while defending herself. She surprised many, including herself, by quickly returning to glory in winning the title on the grass of Birmingham in just her second tournament back. Since that victory however, Petra is just 4-5 on the summer. Most recently she was upset in her first match last week in New Haven. On that day she won just three games, though she explained the lopsided loss by saying she had just arrived from China the day before, and was sleeping shortly before the match began. Her opponent on Monday is a former US Open finalist, but that was almost a decade ago. Jankovic is now ranked outside the top 50 in the world, and has twice as many losses on the year as wins. Kvitova has a slight 4-3 edge in their head-to-head, but Jankovic won their most recent meeting in the third round of Wimbledon in 2015. Kvitova will need to quickly regain her competitive form against a tough first round opponent, and at the only major where she has never advanced past the quarterfinals.
Steve Johnson vs. Nicolas Almagro
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Another good option to start off your tennis-viewing day is this first match on the Grandstand, with two players who have had really emotional years. Steve Johnson was devastated when his father died suddenly in his sleep in May. A few weeks later, following a tight victory over Borna Coric at Roland Garros, Johnson crumbled to the court while sobbing amid the grief of his father’s passing. Just a day later in Paris, Nicolas Almagro also sobbed on the court while being consoled by Juan Martin Del Potro, as he was forced to retire from their match due to a knee injury. Almagro has not played a main-level tour match since that day, having undergone knee surgery a few days later. Meanwhile Johnson has struggled this summer on the North American hard courts, going 0-3 during a time of the year where he normally excels. The Spaniard prevailed in their only previous meeting, a five-set match almost five years ago at the Australian Open. Both men will be easy to root for on Monday as they look to get their seasons back on track.
Janko Tipsarevic vs. Thanasi Kokkinakis
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Speaking of men who could use some luck to go their way, the third match scheduled on Court 17 features two players who have seen their careers severely disrupted by injuries in recent years. Tipsarevic is a former top 10 player who spent the better part of two years sidelined by a foot injury, and who spent much of 2017 playing challenger events to get himself ranked back inside the top 100. Kokkinakis is a 21-year-old Australian who was tipped to be a future champion. However since the start of 2016, Thanasi has missed over a year of action dealing with multiple injuries, and even considered retiring from the sport. He is now ranked outside the top 200, but has shown signs of getting back on track in recent months. Kokkinakis upset Milos Raonic at Queen’s Club in June, and advanced to the final in Los Cabos just a few weeks ago, a run which included a semifinal victory over Tomas Berdych. This first meeting between these two flashy players could be a good one if both are feeling 100%.
Daniil Medvedev vs. Denis Shapovalov
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Here’s another first-time meeting, this one between two of the top-ranked contenders for the Next Gen ATP Finals later this year in Milan. Shapovalov is the 18-year-old Canadian who shocked the tennis world with his thrilling run to the semifinals of the Masters 1,000 event in Montreal just a few weeks ago to the severe delight of his home country crowd. After saving match points in his opening round, he went on to upset Juan Martin Del Potro and Rafael Nadal before losing to eventual champion and fellow Next Gen leader Alexander Zverev. He is the youngest player to ever advance to a Masters semifinal, and he followed that result up by winning three rounds of qualifying to make his US Open main draw debut on Monday. Medvedev has also impressed in 2017. The 21-year-old Russian started his year by making the final in Chennai, but really made his mark during the grass court season. Medvedev went 10-4 on the grass, highlighted by his first round upset of Stan Wawrinka on Centre Court of The All England Club. This could be a glimpse into the future between what many believe will be two champions of the next generation, and is well worth wandering out to Court 7 in the afternoon.
Simona Halep vs. Maria Sharapova
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This is easily the biggest first round matchup in recent memory at a major. It will be Maria Sharapova’s return to the big stage, with her first match at a Grand Slam event since the 2016 Australian Open. Sharapova of course was suspended for 15 months due to a drug policy violation. She returned to the tour in April, but has only played nine matches and had to withdraw or retire from multiple tournaments due to injury. After not being granted a wild card into the French Open or Wimbledon, the USTA went against the grain and awarded Sharapova with a spot in the main draw. Sharapova has played only one match in the past three months, so there are a lot of questions surrounding her current form. It will also be interesting to see how the New York crowd reacts to the return of the controversial former champion.
She will be facing the number two player in the world in the first match of the opening night session. Simona Halep has had an emotional 2017. After her coach Darren Cahill walked away from her camp following the tournament in Miami due to her negative attitude, she regained her form as he rejoined her side. While she has been the most consistent WTA player over the past few months, she’s continuously faltered in the big moments. In multiple tournaments, she’s been just a win or two away from becoming the new number one if she prevailed. Halep was up a set and a break in the French Open final before allowing Jelena Ostapenko back into the match and watching the youngster become the biggest surprise major champion in decades. Halep recovered quickly from that distressing loss, but was defeated in a close battle by Johanna Konta at Wimbledon. She again came right back and made the semifinals in Toronto and the final in Cincinnati, but competed extremely poorly in her losses at both of those tournaments. Halep only won a combined three games in those two matches. How will Simona perform under the big lights of Arthur Ashe Stadium in this highly-anticipated matchup, and against a player she has never beaten in six tries? This should be a fascinating way to kick off two unpredictable weeks at the 2017 US Open.
Day 1 Order of play
Arthur Ashe Stadium
11:00: Varvara Lepchenko (USA) v (3) Garbine Muguruza (Spa), Tennys Sandgren (USA) v (5) Marin Cilic (Cro), Viktoria Kuzmova (Svk) v (9) Venus Williams (USA), Maria Sharapova (Rus) v (2) Simona Halep (Rom), Darian King (Bar) v (4) Alexander Zverev (Ger)
Louis Armstrong Stadium
11:00: (13) Petra Kvitova (Cze) v Jelena Jankovic (Ser), Pierre-Hugues Herbert (Fra) v (10) John Isner (USA), Sloane Stephens (USA) v Roberta Vinci (Ita), (13) Jack Sock (USA) v Jordan Thompson (Aus)
Grandstand
11:00: Nicolas Almagro (Spa) v Steve Johnson (USA), (7) Johanna Konta (Gbr) v Aleksandra Krunic (Ser), (17) Sam Querrey (USA) v Gilles Simon (Fra), (5) Caroline Wozniacki (Den) v Mihaela Buzarnescu (Rom)
Court 4
11:00: Heather Watson (Gbr) v Alize Cornet (Fra), Radu Albot (Mol) v Ernesto Escobedo (USA), (16) Anastasija Sevastova (Lat) v Carina Witthoeft (Ger), Jared Donaldson (USA) v Nikoloz Basilashvili (Geo)
Court 5
11:00: Kristyna Pliskova (Cze) v Misa Eguchi (Jpn), (28) Kevin Anderson (Rsa) v JC Aragone (USA), Saisai Zheng (Chn) v Alison Van Uytvanck (Bel), (16) Lucas Pouille (Fra) v Ruben Bemelmans (Bel)
Court 6
11:00: Natalia Vikhlyantseva (Rus) v Sachia Vickery (USA), Lukas Lacko (Svk) v Benoit Paire (Fra), Christopher Eubanks (USA) v Dudi Sela (Isr), Aliaksandra Sasnovich (Blr) v Julia Boserup (USA)
Court 7
11:00: Tereza Martincova (Cze) v (18) Caroline Garcia (Fra), Mikhail Kukushkin (Kaz) v (21) David Ferrer (Spa), Denis Shapovalov (Can) v Daniil Medvedev (Rus), (21) Ana Konjuh (Cro) v Ashleigh Barty (Aus)
Court 8
11:00: Richel Hogenkamp (Ned) v Arina Rodionova (Aus), Alessandro Giannessi (Ita) v Ernests Gulbis (Lat), Marton Fucsovics (Hun) v Nicolas Mahut (Fra), Viktorija Golubic (Swi) v Timea Babos (Hun)
Court 9
11:00: (31) Magdalena Rybarikova (Svk) v Camila Giorgi (Ita), (24) Kiki Bertens (Ned) v Maria Sakkari (Gre), (20) Albert Ramos-Vinolas (Spa) v Denis Istomin (Uzb), Jiri Vesely (Cze) v Borna Coric (Cro)
Court 10
11:00: Kyle Edmund (Gbr) v (32) Robin Haase (Ned), Claire Liu (USA) v Ying-Ying Duan (Chn), Bernard Tomic (Aus) v (19) Gilles Muller (Lux), Pauline Parmentier (Fra) v Oceane Dodin (Fra)
Court 11
11:00: Evan King (USA) v (12) Pablo Carreno-Busta (Spa), (29) Diego SebastianSchwartzman (Arg) v Carlos Berlocq (Arg), Ajla Tomljanovic (Cro) v Johanna Larsson (Swe), Monica Puig (Pur) v (29) Mirjana Lucic-Baroni (Cro)
Court 12
11:00: Rogerio Dutra Silva (Bra) v Florian Mayer (Ger), Annika Beck (Ger) v (30) Julia Goerges (Ger), (23) Mischa Zverev (Ger) v Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (USA), Ipek Soylu (Tur) v Carla Suarez Navarro (Spa)
Court 13
11:00: Horacio Zeballos (Arg) v Hyeon Chung (Kor), Yen-Hsun Lu (Tpe) v (25) Karen Khachanov (Rus), Mona Barthel (Ger) v Ekaterina Makarova (Rus), Amandine Hesse (Fra) v (22) Shuai Peng (Chn)
Court 14
11:00: Dmitry Tursunov (Rus) v Cameron Norrie (Gbr), Irina-Camelia Begu (Rom) v Kateryna Kozlova (Ukr), Donna Vekic (Cro) v Beatriz Haddad Maia (Bra), John-Patrick Smith (Aus) v Thomas Fabbiano (Ita)
Court 15
11:00: Anna Zaja (Ger) v Ekaterina Alexandrova (Rus), Andreas Haider-Maurer (Aut) v Evgeny Donskoy (Rus), Joao Sousa (Por) v Paolo Lorenzi (Ita)
Court 17
11:00: (32) Lauren Davis (USA) v Sofia Kenin (USA), (8) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (Fra) v Marius Copil (Rom), Thanasi Kokkinakis (Aus) v Janko Tipsarevic (Ser), Jana Cepelova (Svk) v (11) Dominika Cibulkova (Svk)
