By Chris Oddo | Sunday August 28, 2016
The final major of 2016 will begin on Monday at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center with much fanfare. There will be the new roof over Arthur Ashe Stadium, the new Grandstand Court, the old Grandstand Court, and of course—the first-round!
Here’s what we’ll be watching on Day 1:
Nadal, Djokovic Back-to-Back on Ashe
There will be no rain on this parade. With a new roof ready to cover the court should the weather become inclement, fans can rest assured they’ll get to see both Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic on Day 1.
And we’ll all be curious to see what type of form each player can bring. Nadal will play the third match of the day session against Denis Istomin. Nadal returned from a 73-day hiatus to make a major impact on the Rio Games, winning the Gold in doubles and reaching the semis in singles. But after over 23 hours of court time he was too tired to show his best form in Cincinnati. How will he look here in New York?
Nadal and Istomin met six years ago at the U.S. Open, with Nadal winning in straight sets in the second round and eventually going on to take his first U.S. Open title. The Spaniard has won nine straight sets against Istomin, who is 6-19 on the season at the ATP-level. It sounds bad on paper, but Istomin is a talented player when he’s on. It should be a decent first-round test for Nadal.
In the first match of the night session, all eyes will be on defending champion Novak Djokovic, who enters the draw with a black injury cloud following him. The Serb opened up to reporters on Friday, saying that his left wrist has been a problem for three and a half weeks, and admitting that it’s still not quite right. The 12-time major champion is still the heavy favorite to win this draw, but Djokovic will need to demonstrate that he’s fit in New York, and to do that best, he’ll have to get in and out against the dangerous but erratic Janowicz.
Kuznetsova and Schiavone on Armstrong
The sweet 16th meeting of these true blue tried-and-true vets doesn’t need to be half as good as their last two meetings at majors to be the best match of the day in New York. The last time these two grizzled warriors did battle they played one of the longest matches in Grand Slam history. That was at the 2015 French Open. But that pales in comparison to what they did in 2011, when they played a four-hour and 44-minute thriller in the Australian Open’s round of 16. That battle, won by Schiavone 16-14 in the third, remains the longest women’s singles match in Grand Slam history. We can’t wait to see what Kuznetsova and Schiavone have in store for us on Monday.
Puig Returns, Plus other Notable Tilts
There’s so much action with the whole top half on the men’s side and the whole bottom half on the women’s side in play on Monday. It’s going to be hard to watch it all—but we’ll try. Here’s a few other matchups that we’re highlighting on the OOP:
Monica Puig makes her return to reality (will it still be a dream, like her Olympic run in Rio?) when she faces China’s Saisai Zheng in the third match on Old Grandstand, which we are now officially referring to simply as “OG.” How will Puig deal with the fact that she’s now an international celebrity?... If volatile tempers are your thing, then head on over to Court 14 at 11 A.M. to watch Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny and Slovakia’s Martin Klizan square off. This has the potential to be a racy battle. Both players are fun to watch, both on a pure tennis level and on a pure entertainment level… Is Petra Kvitova on upset alert on Day 1? Well, she’s lost both of her matches to 19-year-old Jelena Ostapenko this year, so an upset is certainly a possibility. They’ll play the first match on Court 12. According to FiveThirtyEight’s sophisticated “ELO”-based predictions, Ostapenko has a 21 percent chance to score the upset.
Here’s your full Day 1 schedule
Here’s your U.S. Open draws
Enjoy the tennis!