Play in the two-week U.S. Open begins Monday with the top half of the men's bracket and bottom half of the women's bracket, which includes Serena Williams playing the opening match of what is expected to be her final U.S. Open and could be her last tournament appearance anywhere. In the men's events, Rafael Nadal, seeded 2, will return after a torn abdominal muscle forced him to pull out of Wimbledon in July.
The top half of the women's field and the bottom half of the men's will play Tuesday. The women’s singles final is Saturday, Sept. 10; the men’s singles final is Sunday, Sept. 11. Iga Swiatek is seeded No. 1 in the women’s draw; Anett Kontaveit is No. 2 and would be Williams' opponent in the second round if both win their opening matches.
Defending champion Daniil Medvedev is No. 1 in the men’s draw while Rafael Nadal is No. 2 after winning the Australian Open and French Open this year to give him a men's-record 22 Grand Slam singles titles. He hasn't played in New York since winning the last of his four U.S. Open titles in 2019. The men's field is missing two top-10 players, with Novak Djokovic unable to travel to the United States because he is not vaccinated against COVID-19 and Alexander Zverev recovering from ankle surgery.
Medvedev, seeded 1, is trying to defend a Grand Slam title for the first time in his career. "I don’t know how I’m going to feel if I win a second one or third one. That’s my first one, so I’m really happy. Means a lot to me," Medvedev said after last year's U.S. Open championship.
Iga Swiatek, seeded 1, had a 37-match winning streak before it ended with a loss to Alize Cornet in Wimbledon's third round in July. Before that, she had won her previous six tournaments and she has not won more than two matches at any of her three tournament appearances since the end of that run. She is also the only player from Poland to win a Grand Slam singles championship.
"I want to kind of really be fearless again," Swiatek said after her dip in form following her long winning streak.
Total player compensation reached $60 million for the first time, but the women’s and men’s singles champions each will receive $2.6 million – a 33% decrease from the $3.9 million the winners received in 2019, the last pre-pandemic edition of the tournament. At the other end of the scale, players losing in the first round of singles will earn $80,000, a jump of 38% from $58,000 three years ago.
Serena Williams has said she is "evolving" toward the end of her playing career and indicated this will be her last U.S. Open. She has said she wants to have a second child (Olympia, her daughter with husband Alexis Ohanian, turns 5 on Sept. 1) and pursue her business interests. She has been practicing in Arthur Ashe Stadium during the week before the start of the competition and crossed paths with her older sister, 42-year-old Venus Williams, there on Thursday. Venus is a seven-time major champion, including twice at the U.S. Open.
"I can’t do this forever," Serena Williams said earlier on playing professional tennis.