Jie Zheng is among the seeded women looking to topple Kim Clijsters at this year’s U.S. Open (photo by twi-ny/mdr)
2010 U.S. OPEN
USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center
Flushing Meadows Corona Park
August 30 – September 12
www.usopen.org
2009 u.s. open slideshow
For the second year in a row, there will be no repeat men’s champion at the U.S. Open, which begins August 30 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, right across the street from Citifield. Last year, Roger Federer’s streak of five straight championships came to an end at the hands of the surprising Juan Martin del Potro, who has pulled out of this year’s tournament because of a wrist injury. The men’s number one seed is Rafael Nadal, with Federer at two, Novak Djokovic at three, and Andy Murray at four. On the women’s side, Kim Clijsters, who completed an impressive comeback to the sport by knocking off upstart Caroline Wozniacki to win the 2009 crown, is seeded second, with Wozniacki gaining the top spot, followed by Venus Williams at three and Jelena Jankovic at four; Serena Williams is also out, the result of a foot injury. The Open get under way Monday, August 30, with Clijsters taking on Greta Arn, Andy Roddick battling it out with Stephane Robert, Venus Williams serving against Roberta Vinci, Federer vying with Brian Dabul, and other games featuring Nikolay Davydenko, Daneila Hantuchova, Taylor Dent, Francesca Shiavone, Robin Soderling, Jie Zheng, and Elena Dementieva. The opening night ceremonies will honor Martina Navratilova, James Blake, Esther Vergeer, and Dori Samadzai-Bonner, hosted by Christiane Amanpour, with a live performance by Gloria Estefan. As always, we highly recommend getting a relatively inexpensive $24 ticket for one of the first week’s evening sessions, when you can wander among the smaller courts and see some great tennis up close and personal, especially fast-paced doubles action, while a high seed is destroying a low seed in Arthur Ashe Stadium.