Rune vacates softest section of U.S. Open draw, Shelton and Thiem look to capitalize

Holger Rune made himself the story of U.S. Open eve after he was put on Court 5 for his first-round match against Roberto Carballes Baena. Despite being ranked No. 4 in the world, Rune was relegated to at best the fifth-biggest court at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center and at worst the eighth-biggest. It’s arguably less prestigious than 7, 11, 12 while obviously ranking behind Arthur Ashe, Louis Armstrong, the Grandstand, and 17.

Rune wasn’t too happy about it, either. After receiving his assignment, the 20-year-old posted a map of the tennis center on Twitter to direct fans to Court 5.

There will be no maps required for Rune fans moving forward–at least not at the 2023 U.S. Open. The No. 4 seed became the story of Day 1 at the U.S. Open, too, as he lost to Carballes Baena via a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 decision.

Afterward, Rune consistently took the high road when asked multiple times in his press conference about the scheduling situation.

“It’s not difficult (to play on Court 5),” but it’s different,” the Dane commented. “You’re more close to all the people. It’s a nice atmosphere. So, I mean, it’s no problem with the court. I just didn’t expect to play on that court. (I’m) not going to blame the court on the loss. He played very, very solid. Credit to him.

“I just did [made the post] kind of for fun. I mean, of course I was a bit not happy when I saw the schedule, but I saw the schedule Friday so I had time to recover from it. It’s not like I can’t play tennis if I play not on center court. I (have) played probably more matches on outside courts in my life than big courts, so (it’s) all good.”

It could be really good for everyone else in Rune’s section of the draw, which also includes a vulnerable Casper Ruud. Fellow seeds Alexander Bublik and Sebastian Korda are already out, so among the remaining players looking to capitalize are Frances Tiafoe, Tommy Paul, Dominic Thiem, and Ben Shelton.

Thiem and Shelton will go head-to-head on Wednesday, with the winner to face either Carballes Baena or Aslan Karatsev. The opening day of the season’s fourth and final major saw Thiem upset Bublik in straight sets, while Shelton came back from a set down to defeat Pedro Cachin in four.

Now the door is open for Thiem, who won the U.S. Open in 2020 but has struggled for more than two years due in part to a wrist injury.

“It was a very good match basically from the first moment on,” the 29-year-old Austrian assessed after beating Bublik 6-3, 6-2, 6-4. “It’s a pretty special victory, because it’s the first since two and a half years at Grand Slams. I think, I don’t know, (it’s been) six or seven Grand Slams without a match win. So it’s great–especially here at the U.S. Open with all the past and all the memories I have here.”

Thiem will try to create more memories in a marquee matchup with Shelton–one that most definitely won’t be on Court 5.

“I played him on clay, but that was just his first clay court tournament ever,” Thiem said of the 20-year-old American. “On hard, I guess it’s a completely different game. He played quarters in the Australian Open. He (has) had some great results on hard court. In general, I’m looking forward a lot to that match. He’s a great guy. He’s unbelievable athlete. I really love to watch him.”

[yop_poll id=”528″]