August is shaping up as peak Serena season.
Twenty-three-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams has joined world No. 1 Iga Swiatek in the field for next month's Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati. The tournament entry list is here.
More: Kasatkina Comes Out as Gay
It's the second WTA 1000 tournament commitment from the former world No. 1, who has also entered Toronto on a protected ranking.
The Western & Southern Open is set for August 13-21st, where first serve will take place at 10 a.m. on August 13th for the qualifying tournament. The men’s and women’s singles finals will take place on Sunday, August 21st.
On the men's side, world No. 1 Daniil Medvedev, 22-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal and Wimbledon winner Novak Djokovic are all on the entry list though Djokovic, who is unvaccinated, would not be permitted entry to the United States under current regulations.
Together, 11 former tournament winners and 19 Grand Slam major champions are scheduled to compete in Cincinnati.
The tournament will welcome five former champions in the WTA field, featuring two-time champions Williams (2015, 2014) and Victoria Azarenka (2020, 2013), as well as winners Madison Keys (2019), Garbiñe Muguruza (2017) and Karolina Pliskova (2016). In addition to Medvedev who won in 2019, five other former men’s champions on the entry list in 2022 include Alexander Zverev (2021), Grigor Dimitrov (2017), Marin Cilic (2016) and Rafael Nadal (2013), as well as two-time champion Novak Djokovic (2020, 2018).
The women’s field is also highlighted by 13 champions of Grand Slam majors. In addition to Williams, Swiatek, Azarenka and Muguruza, major champions include Naomi Osaka, Emma Raducanu, Simona Halep, Elena Rybakina, Bianca Andreescu, Jelena Ostapenko, Barbora Krejcikova, Angelique Kerber and Petra Kvitova. Seven entrants have held WTA's No. 1 ranking, with former winners Azarenka, Muguruza, Pliskova and Williams being joined by three-time Cincinnati finalist Halep, Kerber and current No. 1 Swiatek.
The six men’s Grand Slam major champions in the field include Medvedev, Djokovic, Nadal, Stan Wawrinka, Dominic Thiem and Cilic. In addition to current No. 1 Medvedev, Djokovic and Nadal are former No. 1 players.
Joining 19-year-old Raducanu in the youth charge are teens Coco Gauff and Leylah Fernandez in the women’s draw, and Carlos Alcaraz and Holger Rune in the men’s draw. Boris Becker won the tournament as a 17-year-old, but any of the three teen women would become the youngest winner of the women’s title in the professional era of the event (since 1969).
Photo credit: US Open Facebook