The U.S. Open draw ceremony was held on Friday at the Billie Jean King National Center, and it did not do world No. 1 Novak Djokovic any favors. Starting in the fourth round, the top-seeded Serb may have an extremely difficult path the entire rest of the way.
In the top quarter of the bracket, John Isner looms large as a potential opponent for Djokovic in the last 16. Richard Gasquet is the second-highest seed in Djokovic’s eighth of the draw, but the Frenchman has been struggling physically of late and would have to be considered the underdog against Isner in round three. Looking ahead even further, Cincinnati champion and 2014 U.S. Open winner Marin Cilic is a possible quarterfinal adversary for Djokovic, and Rafael Nadal is also in the same half.
Aside from being in the same section as Milos Raonic, Nadal has to like his opportunity to make some serious noise in New York. He and Denis Istomin put on an awesome night-session show in 2010, but Nadal still got the job done in straight sets and there is no reason to think anything different will transpire in this year’s first round. The Uzbek, after all, is in the midst of a disastrous 2016 campaign whereas Nadal is coming off a stellar performance in both singles and doubles at the Rio Olympics.
The third quarter of the draw is arguably the most intriguing, in part due to the difficulty of Stan Wawrinka’s road through Flushing Meadows and the relative ease of Juan Martin Del Potro’s path. At the mercy of the draw as an unseeded entrant, Del Potro escaped having to face any top-eight seed until at least the fourth round–and even then it would be a worn-out Dominic Thiem. The 2009 U.S. Open champ and recent Olympic silver medalist opens with Diego Schwartzman before possibly running into Steve Johnson. That potential second-round showdown would be especially mouth-watering because Johnson–in no uncertain terms–called out the USTA for giving Del Potro a wild card instead of dishing another one out to a young American.
Wawrinka has to face Fernando Verdasco right off the bat in round one and could meet Alexander Zverev in the last 32. Familiar foe Nick Kyrgios is the likely fourth-round opponent for Wawrinka.
Speaking of enticing matchups in which no love would be lost, at the very bottom of the bracket two-time gold medalist Andy Murray is kicking off his campaign against Lukas Rosol. Murray, who has a favorable draw overall, could go up against either Feliciano Lopez or Grigor Dimitrov in the last 16 before a potential quarterfinal date with Kei Nishikori.
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so nole is having his wrist looked at during a practice session? i don’t see how he is going to win if it is a problem. come on delpo get through and take out murray!!
Same VAMOS DEL PO
Wow, in a bad way. Personal problems and wrist issue. Sounds like the bad luck continues for him.
yeah rc. have a feeling he may not even get to the final. doesn’t sound very good. he’s got a mountain of points to defend as well from now till the end of the season…
glad you’re on board with the delpo love benny!! go delpo!! he could have beaten murray for gold if he wasn’t so tired so i reckon he can beat murray…
Had a feeling it was personal problems.
sigh. second slam in a row rafa is in with nole.
wonderful draw for delpo – he could go all the way to the semis!
another easy draw for murray. sigh. was hoping delpo would dispose of him in the early rounds!!
#amydeuceStrikingDiscordantNotes
#MozartTurningInHisGrave
For your sake amy I hope Muzz loses in the first round. So you can watch the rest of the USOpen without hiding behind a sofa or taking a walk in the countryside.
#MethinksTheLadyDothProtestTooMuch
Stan has the toughest draw!
Nole and Muzz will probably have to work out a lot in their Qf’s against Cilic and Nishi respectively.
Rafa has to like his quarter.
Raonic’s game will be something to look forward too. Was really disappointed with the way he played against Muzz in Cincy SF.
For Delpo, the hopes continue!
Agreed Stan has the toughest draw. But anyway, even with a favorable draw he probably wouldn’t have made it to the semis.
Stellar performance by Nadal? Well nadal standards were pretty much higher before, nobody would have talked of a stellar performance for a 4th place until 2-3 years ago. Did you realise Nadal is a completely done player, bro?
He won a gold, no?
Finishing 4th is better than not being able to compete.
He won a gold in doubles (lol) beating mr F.Mergea and H.Tecau in the final. C’mon
As opposed to Federinka’s gold win over Thomas Johansson and Simon Aspelin in 2008 LOL.
C’mon
abhirf, good to see you posting again. Sorry that Roger won’t be there this year. As a Rafan, I know how frustrating that can be.
How’s med school coming along?
completed my med school.
I’m a general practitioner now!
Enjoying vacation time.
Congrats Dr. Abhirf!
Definitely not the same with Fed out of the mix.
#Understatement
Thanks for the wishes 🙂
Are you in India abirf? I have been to Mumbai. Great city!
I’m from Mumbai 🙂 . Native of Mumbai born and brought up there..though now work in Pune which is 3 hrs from Mumbai
Glad you liked my city 🙂
And yeah, it’s quite a bummer to not see Roger at the US Open especially after how well he played here the last year! Didn’t lose a set before the finals!
He played amazing.
Could have won at that level this year considering the field especially with Nole looking shakier than last year.
Roger is confused with his moniker’s namesake.
#IronyIsEverywhere
Solid draw. Rough for johnson to get del Po second round. That’s tough for del Po too though. Still he’ll prob take down Stevie.
I just hope that the scheduling guys can put this match (if it comes to fruition) on for the night session at Ashe.
^ meant ‘fruitition’
With fed out, who you rooting for.
Rafa I’m guessing. 🙂
With Fed out,
Nole vs Delpo final will be my 1st priority,
if not Delpo, then Wawa.
I would like 1 of those 3 to win the event.
I’m neutral for the rest of the field.
Just hoping that they can provide some great tennis action over the next 02 weeks.
ESPNTennis @ESPNTennis:
Playing Monday at #USOpen: Djokovic, Kerber, Nadal, Muguruza, Isner, Keys
Top half of men’s draw/bottom half of women’s take the court 8/29
So Rafa will get an early start!
Thanks for the update!
?
Tiggy’s “made up story” picks:
Semifinals: Djokovic d. Raonic; Murray d. Kyrgios
Final: Djokovic d. Murray
Tiggy’s not buying the mental exhaustion, personal issues, bad wrist story. hmm…
woe is me, what to do?
As usual, Tiggy is upto his jinxing antics 😉
I think it’s the picks of Raonic and Krygios that surprise me. So Tiggy thinks Rafa won’t get past Raonic. Not out of the realm of possibility. But Kyrgios? He can blow hit it cold. I don’t know about that one.
Obviously, Novak and Murray in the final would not be a surprise.
Tiggy is not buying the wrist or mental exhaustion with Novak. We will have to wait and see. Novak needed a break and maybe that will be what he needed.
Tiggy also doesn’t see a dark horse spoiling the party.
Hoping Delpo can repeat 2009. Go Juan.
I am glad Delpo is in the other half. Pity he is not in Muzz’s Quarter.
Lets go. Based on the draw, it looks like Rafa will make it to the quarters and I get to see him 🙂
C’mon Cilic.
I’ve got my bracket done. And my picks are bold as usual baby. I’ll post my picks and everything once the picks and predictions pages are up.
Ha right when I comment that you post one.