US Open title contenders now Serena Williams is out
Serena Williams will miss the US Open with the foot injury that has kept the world No. 1 off court since Wimbledon, but could her absence open title doors for another Flushing Meadows fairytale in 2010?
The news was conveyed on Friday with Serena’s publicist releasing the following statement on her behalf: "It is with much frustration and deep sadness that I am having to pull out of the US Open. My doctors have advised against my playing so that my foot can heal."
With it, the US Open lost one of its biggest drawcards, someone who has held the silverware aloft in New York on three previous occasions, but a handful of players who could rightly expect to be among the action at the pointy end of the tournament have just seen their chances of becoming the US Open champion improve.
Defending champion Kim Clijsters is surely one of them. Yes, the comeback queen saw off Serena in the semis last year (a match that will long be remembered for Williams’ tirade at a lineswoman that ultimately cost the American a point penalty on match point) but Clijsters’ 2010 Grand Slam results have struggled to match the expectations generated by her US Open success last year, just three tournaments after returning to competitive tennis.
Her 6-0, 6-1 loss to Nadia Petrova in the third round of the Australian Open could well be regarded as the world No. 4’s worst match of the year; injury kept her away from Roland Garros; and, in her best result at a major this year, she blew a one set lead over eventual runner-up Vera Zvonareva in the quarter-finals at Wimbledon.
Clijsters hasn’t faced Williams since the 2009 US Open, where she recorded just her second win over the 28-year-old in nine meetings, but it’s one less obstacle standing between her and the title.
Zvonareva is another for whom Serena’s absence might make a difference to her title chances. The Russian was thoroughly outplayed by the defending champion in the Wimbledon final, but will head to the US Open with the experience of playing in the decider at a major packed alongside her racquets. That she won’t encounter Williams along the way must surely tick some boxes for the world No. 11’s title chances.
What too of Venus Williams’ chances now her sister and rival is out of the picture? Venus’ last US Open title was in 2001, she hasn’t reached the final since 2002, but is still the world No. 5. Serena leads the career head-to-head between the pair 13-10, and importantly has won the last four times they’ve faced off on opposite sides of the net.
At 30, Venus is running out of time to expand her Grand Slam title collection, but should she make it into the second week of the year’s final major, the fact Serena is presumably cheering from her player’s box rather than looming large late in the draw has to increase her chances of claiming a third US Open title.
Another who may breathe a sigh of relief at Serena’s absence is a resurgent Maria Sharapova. The former world No. 1 pushed Serena harder than any of her other Wimbledon opponents this year, but couldn’t quite pull off the upset.
A heel injury sustained in the Montreal final (where she had three championship points against Clijsters before losing in three sets) has interrupted Sharapova’s US Open preparations, but there’s no doubting that Wimbledon marked a return to something of the pre-shoulder injury version of the 23-year-old.
Taking the world’s best player out of the equation may be just what Sharapova needs as she bids for her fourth career Grand Slam title at Flushing Meadows this August and September.
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