NEW YORK, Aug 29 (Reuters) – The 146th edition of the U.S. Open kicks off on Sunday, with former finalist and local favorite Jessica Pegula launching her bid to win her maiden Grand Slam, while Novak Djokovic continues his quest for a record 25th major.
Two-time winner Venus Williams will make her 26th appearance in the main draw, while Marta Kostyuk, who reached the semi-finals in the last two majors, looks to carry that momentum into the last Grand Slam of the year.
TOP MEN’S MATCH: NOVAK DJOKOVIC V MARIANO NAVONE
Since winning the U.S. Open in 2023, Djokovic has reached two Grand Slam finals and six semi-finals, but a 25th major trophy, which would take him past Margaret Court to become the single most successful player in tennis history, has remained just beyond his reach.
But the 39-year-old, ranked fifth in the world, remains defiant in his pursuit, shrugging off the idea of retiring any time soon in a documentary about his life released earlier this month.
“I know a lot of people are retiring me already, for many years,” he said in the documentary “Novak Djokovic: the Wolf in Winter”.
“Why would you want me to retire when I am still playing and competing at the highest level? I’m still top-five, top-10 in the world. Why would I talk about retirement when I am proving to myself that I can still win?”
Last year, Djokovic lost in the semi-finals of all four Grand Slams. He reached the Australian Open final this year, before reaching the last four at Wimbledon.
“I guess for 99% of the players, that would be a very good Grand Slam result. For me, it’s good but not good enough, because I’m blessed and cursed to be used to something of a highest degree in terms of results and achievements,” Djokovic said after his Wimbledon loss in July.
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The closest Pegula has got to a Grand Slam title was on home soil, where she went down fighting to Aryna Sabalenka in the 2024 U.S. Open final. Last year, Sabalenka knocked her out again, this time in the semis.
“I always feel like I’m close. I always feel I can go out, and I can beat these girls,” Pegula said after last year’s U.S. Open exit.
“Even though maybe I don’t have the massive weapon that some of them have, or the flashiness that some of them have, I feel like I’m always right there every time I play them.”
This year, Pegula has reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open, and the quarters at Wimbledon. She also reached the finals of the Washington Open and Cincinnati Open in the lead-up to the U.S. Open.
But the 32-year-old is not keen to dwell on defeats.
“You just kind of have to wipe it and move on and move forward and keep working on some stuff that I want to get better,” she said ahead of her 10th main draw appearance at Flushing Meadows.
KOSTYUK LOOKS TO BUILD ON STRONG SEASON
Kostyuk made her Grand Slam main draw debut in 2018, but it took her a few years to establish herself on the circuit.
She had turned heads with a run to the Australian Open quarter-finals in 2024, but the 24-year-old has finally hit her stride this year, reaching the semis of the French Open and Wimbledon.
She holds a career-best ranking of 11th in the world going into the U.S. Open, and has the opportunity to scale greater heights as she kicks off her campaign at the Grandstand against Australia’s Storm Hunter.
“I want to cherish this moment. I want to appreciate how far we’ve all come, me and my team,” Ukraine’s Kostyuk said after her Wimbledon exit following a loss to champion Linda Noskova last month.
“You don’t know how your life is going to look tomorrow, today, whenever. Hopefully, I will get more opportunities, but you never know if you will.”
U.S. OPEN ORDER OF PLAY ON SUNDAY (prefix number denotes seeding):
ARTHUR ASHE STADIUM (1600 GMT/1200 ET)
3-Jessica Pegula (U.S.) v Elena-Gabriela Ruse (Romania)
7-Daniil Medvedev (Russia) v Hugo Gaston (France)
4-Novak Djokovic (Serbia) v Mariano Navone (Argentina)
Venus Williams (U.S.) v Sofia Kenin (U.S.)
LOUIS ARMSTRONG STADIUM (1500 GMT/1100 ET)
19-Jasmine Paolini (Italy) v Veronika Erjavec (Slovenia)
Coleman Wong (Hong Kong) v 20-Tommy Paul (U.S.)
9-Elina Svitolina (Ukraine) v Solana Sierra (Argentina)
15-Alexander Bublik (Kazakhstan) v J.J. Wolf (U.S.)
(Reporting by Chiranjit Ojha in Bengaluru; Editing by Alex Richardson)
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