The last Slam of the season begins on Monday, August 28. Two years later, the 23-time Majors winner, Novak Djokovic, will perform on the courts of New York. Recall that in 2022 the famous Serb was not allowed to participate due to the coronavirus rules, and now he is fighting not only for the title, but also for the title of the first racket in the world.
History
The tournament was first played in 1881, four years after Wimbledon, but unlike the other three Grand Slam tournaments, the United States Championship was never interrupted, not even for a year. Thus, the current draw will be the 143rd consecutive number (Wimbledon was played “only” 136 times due to “pauses” due to the two world wars and the coronavirus pandemic). Until the late 1970s, the US Open was held in different locations, until in 1978 it finally moved to New York’s Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, to the courts of the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
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heroes of yesteryear
The tournament record holders for the number of titles in the Open Era (since 1968) among men are Jimmy Connors, Pete Sampras and Roger Federer (five trophies each), and among women Chris Evert and Serena Williams, six. each. Rafael Nadal has four wins, but ended this season ahead of schedule due to injury. Novak Djokovic has “only” three wins.
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Classification
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Russians who distinguished themselves in New York
The US Open is quite a successful Grand Slam tournament for Russian tennis players and, in general, for domestic tennis players. Marat Safin (2000), Svetlana Kuznetsova (2004), Maria Sharapova (2006) and Daniil Medvedev (2021) celebrated their singles victories here. Elena Dementieva (2004), again Kuznetsova (2007), Vera Zvonareva (2010) and again Medvedev (2019) reached the final. In women’s doubles they won Natalya Zvereva (1991, 1992), Zvonareva (2006, 2020), Dinara Safina (2007), Elena Vesnina and Ekaterina Makarova (2014), Evgeny Kafelnikov (1997) it was different in men. In mixed doubles, the titles were won by Zvonareva (2004) and Makarova (2012).
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title defense
From 2004 to 2008, Roger Federer had an incredible run of five titles in New York. But since then, everything was cut off: none of the subsequent champions could defend the title. Will the 2022 tournament winner, Carlos Alcaraz, be able to break this unsightly trend and repeat his success in the current draw?
Carlos Alcaraz
Photo: Julian Finney/Getty Images
Only a miracle will prevent Djokovic from becoming the first racket in the world
Since Novak Djokovic was not allowed to participate in the US Open last year due to his coronavirus vaccination position, in the current draw all the rating points will go in his favor, but Alcaraz will not be able to add anything to the points. obtained up to now. even if he defends the title. And it turns out that it is enough for Djokovic to go to the second round to be guaranteed to return to the first line of the ranking and not depend on the results of the rest. What’s more, Carlos could fall directly to third place. If he doesn’t make it past the fourth round and Medvedev wins the title, the Russian will overtake the Spaniard and become second behind Djokovic.
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Sobolenko has excellent chances
At the last US Open, Arina Sobolenko lost in the semifinals to future champion Iga Swiatek. After deducting points for 2022, the Belarusian will even be slightly ahead of her Polish rival: 11 points. And if the tennis players retire at the same stage of the current draw, Sobolenko will become the first racket in the world. Well, which of the girls will go the distance further? She will be the first.
Arina Sobolenko
Photo: Matthew Stockman/Getty Images
record prize fund
The US Open increased last year’s record prize pool of $60.1 million by another 8.15%. Now it is 65 million dollars. The individual champions, male and female, will receive 3 million dollars each (at current exchange rates, it is about 285 million rubles), and the finalists will receive 1.5 million dollars, which is still far from enough. the record figures of 2019: 3.85 million dollars and 1.9 million dollars, respectively. Then, in the pre-Covid period, the prize money was doled out at a completely different percentage, with a bias towards those who made it furthest down the grid.
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Four Russian debutants at the US Open
Russia in the singles draws of the US Open 2023 is represented by 21 players. In the men’s category there are seven participants: Daniil Medvedev (third favorite), Andrey Rublev (8), Karen Khachanov (11), Aslan Karatsev, Pavel Kotov, as well as rookies in the tournament Alexander Shevchenko and Roman Safiullin. 14 Russians will play among the women: Daria Kasatkina (13), Lyudmila Samsonova (14), Veronika Kudermetova (16), Ekaterina Alexandrova (22), Anastasia Potapova (27), Anna Blinkova, Anna Kalinskaya, Mirra Andreeva, Elina Avanesyan, Camilla . Rakhimova, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Margarita Betova (former Gasparyan), qualifiers Vera Zonareva and Tatyana Prozorova. Note that Andreeva is the debutant of the US Open, and Prozorova, in principle, of the Grand Slam tournaments.
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Differences in the men’s grid
The draw distributed the representatives of the first 8 classified in such a way that Daniil Medvedev (3) put Carlos Alcaraz (1) in the middle of the grid. In the quarterfinals the Russian was his partner Andrey Rublev (8), and Alcaraz the Italian Yannick Sinner (6). In the lower part the following combinations can be formed: Kasper Ruud (5) – Holger Rune (4) and Stefanos Tsitsipas (7) – Novak Djokovic (2). If we talk about the Russians, then Aslan Karatsev will play in the first round with the Czech Jiri Legechka, Pavel Kotov – with the Australian Rinki Hidzikata (WC), Roman Safiullin – with the Italian Marco Chekkinato, Medvedev – with the Hungarian Attila Balazs. , Rublev – with the Finn Emil Ruusuvuori, Alexander Shevchenko – with the British Cameron Norrie (16) and Karen Khachanov (11) – with the American Michael Mmo (WC).
Differences in the women’s grid
The top 8 seeds in the women’s category were distributed as follows: Iga Sviontek (1) – Corey Gauff (6), Elena Rybakina (4) – Maria Sakkari (8), Caroline Garcia (7) – Jessica Pegula ( 3) and Ons Zhaber (5 ) – Arina Sobolenko (2). Note that out of 14 Russians, only one got the top-seeded opponent: Kamila Rakhimova will take on Olympic champion Belinda Bencic (15).
Here are 10 reasons why you should keep an eye out for the US Open 2023. The tournament will take place in New York from August 28 to September 10. All the details – about the “Championship”.
