The Spanish Carlos Alcaraz and the Polish Iga Swiatek, the number one in the world in their division and reigning champions of the tournament, are ready to defend the throne against the most competitive rivals of the moment.
The appointment has the Serbian Novak Djokovic, who arrives with the desire to recover the first position and hunger to reach his 24th Grand Slam title.
Swiatek plays at noon on the opening day, at Arthur Ashe Stadium, against Sweden’s Rebecca Peterson, while Alcaraz will face Germany’s Dominik Koepfer on Tuesday night at the same venue.
World number 2 and three-time US Open champion, Serbian Novak Djokovic, number 5 and last year’s finalist, Norwegian Casper Ruud, number 7, Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas and the two best Americans of the moment, number 9 Taylor Fritz and number 10 Frances Tiafoe.
Fritz and Tiafoe are two of the five Americans seeded at the US Open, the most since 2004, with a total of 15.
The New York event of the tennis elite looms full of expectations once all the restrictions of the pandemic era have been released, so the organizers anticipate the massive presence of fans, as was already evidenced in the previous days with the Fan Week, which broke all attendance records.
main crops
The top seeds in the men’s draw after Alcaraz and Djokovic are Daniil Medvedev, Holger Rune and Casper Ruud; while on the female side, Swiatek was led by Aryna Sabalenka, Jessica Pegula, Elena Rybakina and Ons Jabeur.
Awards
The US Open will deliver a record total sum of 65 million dollars, this when it precisely commemorates the 50th anniversary of the equal prize for men and women tennis players, the first Grand Slam to establish this milestone. The individual winners will take 3 million and the doubles winners 700 thousand.
Latin Americans in action
Among the Latin American tennis players who play on this first day are the Argentines, Pedro Cachín, Juan Manuel Cerúndolo and Francisco Cerúndolo; the Peruvian Juan Pablo Varillas and the Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia.
Matches to watch out for today
Pedro Cachín vs. Ben Shelton – Court 10
Juan Manuel Cerundolo vs. Illya Ivashka – Court 4
Sloan Stephens vs. Beatriz Haddad Maia – Louis Armstrong Stadium
Miomir Kecmanovic vs. Juan Pablo Varillas – Court 10
Francisco Cerundolo vs. Zachary Svajda – Court 7
Novak Djokovic vs. Alexandre Müller – Arthur Ashe Stadium
Coco Gauff vs. Laura Siegemund – Arthur Ashe Stadium
Milos Raonic vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas – Louis Armstrong Stadium