There seems to be no escaping the number 23 for Serena Williams as she prepares for an emotional final grand slam at the US Open.

It is 23 years since the legendary American won her first major singles title at Flushing Meadows, where she was also crowned doubles champion back in 1999.

Williams has gone on to win an astonishing 23 grand slam singles titles and 14 major doubles titles in an incredible career that is about to come to an end in New York.

One of the all-time greats turns 42 next month and although she is unlikely to bow out by claiming an elusive 24th major singles title in her home major, she is sure to be given a spine-tingling farewell.

Novak Djokovic's absence due to not being vaccinated against COVID-19 has been the big talking point in the men's singles, with Rafael Nadal getting an opportunity to extend his record tally of major successes.

Stats Perform picks out the standout numbers to preview the final major of the year as Emma Raducanu and Daniil Medvedev prepare to defend their titles.

Serena's incredible longevity

Such is the remarkable longevity of Williams' career, defending champion Raducanu and world number one Iga Swiatek were not even born when she won her first major.

Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina was only a few months old when the iconic Saginaw native beat Martina Hingis in the 1999 US Open final for the first of so many major titles.

Only Chris Evert can boast as many US Open titles as Williams' tally of six in the Open Era, while she has played in a record 10 finals at Flushing Meadows.

The retiring veteran has 106 victories in her home major, a record in the Open Era, and only Martina Navratilova has recorded more wins in a single major - with 120 at Wimbledon.

Williams will be making her 21st main-draw appearance at the US Open, with only her older sister, Venus, bettering that figure in the Open Era as she prepares for her 23rd.

 

Long-awaited New York return for Nadal 

Nadal has not played at Flushing Meadows since he was crowned champion for a fourth time three years ago, having missed the 2020 tournament amid the coronavirus pandemic and not played last year due to a foot injury.

The Spanish great's hopes of completing a first calendar Grand Slam were ended by an abdominal injury that resulted in his withdrawal from Wimbledon ahead of a scheduled semi-final against Nick Kyrgios.

He could make it three major titles out of four this year in New York, though, where he will be bidding to take his haul of grand slam titles to 23 and move two clear of the absent Djokovic once again.

If Nadal lifts the trophy on Arthur Ashe Stadium, it would give him a record-equalling fifth US Open men's singles title - matching the haul of Jimmy Connors, Pete Sampras and Roger Federer.

Only Bjorn Borg (89.2 per cent) has a higher winning ratio in grand slam tournaments during the Open Era than Nadal's 88.3 per cent among players with at least 100 victories to their name, 

 

Another record in women's singles?

Teenage Brit Raducanu made history when she became the first qualifier to win a major title last year, beating Leylah Fernandez in the final.

Swiatek has dominated the women's game for much of this year, the highlight being her second French Open triumph.

With the retired Ash Barty, Swiatek and Rybakina taking the singles titles in 2022, there could be four different gram slam champions for a fifth consecutive season - excluding 2020 - and that would be the longest such streak in the Open Era.

Alcaraz to make major breakthrough?

While Nadal will be the Spaniard with the largest burden of expectation on his shoulders, Carlos Alcaraz should be a big threat in New York.

The 19-year-old could become the fifth player in the Open Era to reach at least the quarter-finals in his first two appearances at Flushing Meadows after Ken Rosewall, Arthur Ashe, John Newcombe and Johan Kriek.

Alcaraz has the joint-most ATP Tour titles this year with four, matching Nadal's tally.

Serena Williams will face Danka Kovinic in the first round as the American great begins her final US Open campaign.

It will be a final grand slam for 40-year-old Williams, who has won six singles titles in New York and been a runner-up on four occasions.

Her first singles crown in a major came as a 17-year-old at Flushing Meadows, when she beat Martina Hingis in the 1999 final.

Now the end of a glorious career is beckoning for the 23-time singles major winner, who has also landed 16 doubles grand slam titles.

Kovinic is the world number 80 from Montenegro, with the 27-year-old having only won two matches at the US Open in four previous main-draw appearances.

The winner of that match will likely face Estonian second seed Anett Kontaveit in round two. Kontaveit's first-round opponent will be Romanian Jaqueline Adina Cristian.

Defending champion Emma Raducanu, who was a shock winner last year, faces a tricky first-round assignment against France's Alize Cornet.

Cornet is the tour veteran who beat Iga Swiatek at Wimbledon, ending the Pole's 37-match winning streak, and this will be her 64th consecutive grand slam appearance, a record for WTA Tour players.

World number one Swiatek starts against Italian Jasmine Paolini and could face 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens in round two.

Former champion Naomi Osaka, unseeded this year, was paired with Danielle Collins, the 19th seed who was an Australian Open runner-up at the start of the year.

The tournament gets under way on Monday.

Men's defending champion Daniil Medvedev faces American Stefan Kozlov in his opener, while Rafael Nadal, who has not lost a grand slam match all year, faces Australian wild card Rinky Hijikata.

Nadal won the Australian Open and French Open titles before pulling out of Wimbledon ahead of his semi-final against Australian Nick Kyrgios due to an abdominal tear.

That handed Kyrgios a bye through to face Novak Djokovic, who got the better of the Australian, but the Serbian must miss the US Open because his refusal to be vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus meant he would not be allowed to enter the United States.

Djokovic's absence was confirmed shortly before the draw was revealed.

Fast-rising Spanish teenager Carlos Alcaraz begins against Argentina's Sebastian Baez, while fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas will face a yet-to-be-determined qualifier.

Nick Kyrgios set up a mouth-watering second-round showdown against world number one Daniil Medvedev after defeating Argentina's Sebastian Baez 6-4 6-4 in his opening match of the Canadian Open on Tuesday.

The in-form Kyrgios is coming off his first ATP singles title since 2019 after winning the Washington Open this past week, where he also won the doubles partnered with Jack Sock. 

Against Baez, he served all six of the match's aces to make it through unscathed, and he will now play the top-ranked Russian – who Kyrgios has beaten twice – although he dropped their third meeting at the Australian Open this year.

Dating back to the start of his Wimbledon run, where Kyrgios made his first grand slam final, the Australian has now won 13 of his past 14 matches, with the only loss coming in the Wimbledon final to Novak Djokovic.

Earlier on, 11th seed Matteo Berrettini was the first upset of the day as he went down 6-3 6-2 against Spain's Pablo Carreno-Busta, while fellow Spaniard Pedro Martinez had less success, getting bounced by France's Gael Monfils 7-6 (7-4) 3-6 6-2.

America's Tommy Paul delivered a gut-punch to his neighbours in the Great White North by eliminating Canada's own Vasek Pospisil 6-4 6-4, and his Canadian compatriot Alexis Galarneau also struggled in his 6-4 7-5 loss to Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov.

Marin Cilic showed why he is the 13th seed with a strong 6-3 6-2 win in his all-Croatian battle against Borna Coric, and American Maxim Cressy had similar success against Russia's Aslan Karatsev 6-4 6-4.

In a battle of the French it was Adrian Mannarino prevailing 6-3 6-3 against Arthur Rinderknech, and a pair of Englishmen made their way through unscathed as Daniel Evans won a back-and-forth contest against Filip Krajinovic 6-2 1-6 6-0, while Jack Draper returned to his rain-interrupted fixture against Hugo Gaston to finish the job 6-2 6-3.

Alex de Minaur ensured it would be a grim day for the Canadian fans as he eliminated Denis Shapovalov 7-5 7-6 (7-4), before Holger Rune fought off the challenge of Fabio Fognini to emerge a 6-3 7-5 winner.

In the late session, Roberto Bautista-Agut defeated Marcos Giron 7-6 (7-5) 6-3, ninth seed Cameron Norrie needed just over an hour for his straight sets 6-4 6-4 win over Brandon Nakashima, and Andy Murray had no answer for Taylor Fritz as he went down 6-1 6-3.

Yoshihito Nishioka's strong form held up after his runner-up finish at the Washington Open, cruising past Benoit Paire 6-2 6-3, while 25-year-old Botic van de Zanschulp continued his rise up the rankings with a 6-1 7-5 victory over Miomir Kecmanovic.

12th seed Diego Schwartzman needed three sets to navigate the challenge of Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 1-6 6-3 6-4, and Albert Ramos-Vinolas got the better of Belgium's David Goffin 7-6 (7-2) 6-2.

In the final match of the night, world number 10 Hubert Hurkacz responded to adversity in the second set to pull out a 6-3 6-7 (4-7) 6-2 win against Finland's Emil Ruusuvuori.

World number one Daniil Medvedev strolled to victory for his first title of the year at the Los Cabos Open with a 7-5 6-0 demolition of reigning champion Cameron Norrie on Saturday.

The Russian, returning to hard-court tennis in Mexico this week ahead of his US Open title defence, pulled away after an injury timeout late in the first set to comfortably triumph against the 12th-ranked Briton.

Medvedev won every game after the timeout, taken for treatment on a hand issue, after scores were locked at 5-5, with both players having broken serve in the first set.

The third-seeded defending champion had no answers in a lopsided second set which only lasted 26 minutes.

This year's Australian Open runner-up, playing in his fourth final of the season, sent down 5-0 aces and converted six of 10 break points for the match to secure his 14th career title. He was exceptional on serve, with a 67 per cent first-serve win percentage.

The triumph capped an excellent week for Medvedev, who did not drop a set across five wins.

"Every match was very good, but the final match is always special," Medvedev said on court after the match. "It's always a high-level match and I'm really happy I managed to show some good levels and play some good shots."

Wimbledon finalist Nick Kyrgios will take on unseeded Japanese Yoshihito Nishioka in the Washington Open final on Sunday after maintaining his unblemished record at this year's event with a 7-6 6-3 victory over Mikael Ymer on Saturday.

Kyrgios, who won in Washington DC in 2019, had played twice on Friday following rain delays on Thursday but found his passage through with 10 aces including one on match point to secure victory in one hour and 34 minutes.

"I didn’t play anywhere near my best tennis today," Kyrgios said. "I served pretty solid, but from the back of the court I didn’t play well at all. I'm just happy to be in the final once again."

Kyrgios is yet to drop serve throughout this year's tournament and has knocked off seeds Francis Tiafoe, Reilly Opelka and Tommy Paul along the way.

The Australian will take on Nishioka who stunned top seed Andrey Rublev 6-3 6-4 in one hour and 20 minutes to secure a spot in his third career final, beating a top 10 opponent for the third time in his career.

Rublev blasted 21-8 winners but also hit 31-14 unforced errors, with the Japanese's consistency proving enough for victory.

Daniil Medvedev showed on Thursday why he is the top overall seed at the Los Cabos Open, comfortably handling the challenge of Ricardas Berankis in a 6-2 6-2 win.

The world number one gave Berankis no avenues into the match, winning 48 per cent (27-of-56) of his total return points, while also converting 88 per cent (21-of-24) of his own successful first serves into points.

Medvedev will meet Serbia's Miomir Kecmanovic in the semi-final after he pulled off an impressive 6-2 6-4 victory against American Brandon Nakashima.

Kecmanovic's ability to serve his way out of trouble was the deciding factor, saving four of five break-point opportunities, while Nakashima could only save six out of 10.

Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime booked his spot in the second semi-final after defeating America's Steve Johnson 6-4 7-6 (7-3).

The 22-year-old winner – who now sits ninth in the world rankings – served up 17 aces in the contest, while Johnson, who is usually known for his serve, could only muster four.

Cameron Norrie was a straights-sets winner over Radu Albot, although he needed a second-set tie-break to get the job done in a 6-3 7-6 (7-4) triumph.

Meanwhile, Norrie's British compatriot Daniel Evans won a war of attrition against American Taylor Fritz at the Washington Open, pulling ahead 3-6 7-6 (8-6) 4-1 before the heavy favourite retired due to the oppressive conditions.

With rising temperatures, combined with spots of rain, the humidity threatened to claim a number of scalps as multiple players in Thursday's action took extended medical timeouts, before a serious downpour halted the rest of play.

The only other matches to reach their conclusion were Yoshihito Nishioka's 7-6 (7-2) 7-6 (7-1) win against Karen Khachanov, and a 6-3 6-7 (3-7) 6-4 triumph for Sweden's Mikael Ymer against Finland's Emil Ruusuvuori.

When play resumes, Nick Kyrgios will look to finish off Reilly Opelka after reaching the rain with a 7-6 (7-1) 2-1 lead, and Grigor Dimitrov won his first set 6-4 against Sebastian Korda.

Botic van de Zandschulp was the beneficiary of the break against Frances Tiafoe, winning the first set 6-4 before slowing down in a big way to drop the second 6-2, but he will get a chance to recharge his batteries before the decider.

Second seed Hubert Hurkacz was a shock second-round casualty from the Citi Open on Wednesday after a straight-sets defeat to Emil Ruusuvuori.

World number 46 Ruusuvuori triumphed 6-4 7-6 (7-3) in one hour and 43 minutes to book a quarter-final spot.

Hurkacz, who is ranked 11th in the world and reached last year's Wimbledon semi-finals, fought hard but failed to capitalise on four break points throughout the match.

"He had an early break point, but then I was able to keep that service game and give myself a chance to break him and I was able to use it and then just try to keep my own serve," Ruusuvuori said.

"I just tried to hang in there and tried to stay as tough as [I] can."

Wimbledon runner-up Nick Kyrgios defeated 14th seed Tommy Paul 6-3 6-4 in one hour and 25 minutes.

The Australian hit 29-21 winners, with the majority coming from his serve and forehand, sending down 15 aces, winning 84 per cent on his first serve.

Kyrgios, who broke Paul in his opening service game, converted three of four break points for the match, while the American failed to capitalise on any of his four.

Sixth seed Denis Shapovalov was bundled out in the second round by American wildcard J.J. Wolf 6-2 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 in a major upset.

Third seed Taylor Fritz avoided an early exit with a 6-4 6-4 win over Australian Alexei Popyrin in one hour and 11 minutes, while fourth seed Reilly Opelka came from a set down to defeat Denis Kudla 6-7 (6-8) 6-4 6-4 in just over two hours. Opelka sent down 28 aces across the match.

Fifth seed Grigor Dimitrov got past Adrian Mannarino 6-1 3-6 7-5 and ninth seed Holger Rune brushed off Benoit Paire 6-3 6-2.

Francis Tiafoe defeated Christopher Eubanks 6-3 7-6 (7-2), while 13th seed Maxime Cressy fought back from an early deficit to get past Jack Sock 4-6 6-4 6-0 to set up a third-round clash with top seed Andrey Rublev.

There were defeats for 11th seed Alex de Minaur to Yoshihito Nishioka 3-6 7-6 (8-6) 6-2, 12th seed Sebastian Baez against Sebastian Korda 6-1 6-4 and 15th seed Aslan Karatsev against Andy Murray's first-round conqueror Mikael Ymer 6-4 3-6 6-4.

At the Los Cabos Open in Mexico, second seed Felix Auger-Aliassime had no troubles against local Juan Alejandro Hernandez Serrano, winning 6-3 7-5.

American sixth seed Brandon Nakashima also progressed into the quarter-finals with a 6-3 6-3 win over Max Purcell, while Miomir Kecmanovic beat Jordan Thompson 6-4 6-2.

Tennis great Roger Federer is no longer ranked by the ATP Tour after his remaining ranking points expired, meaning he has dropped out of the top 100 for the first time this century.

The 40-year-old has not played since undergoing knee surgery after a straight-sets defeat to Hubert Hurkacz in the quarter-finals at Wimbledon in 2021, having also missed much of the 2020 season with a similar injury.

But Federer, a 20-time grand slam champion, has repeatedly ruled out retiring and recently said he intends to make an ATP Tour comeback in 2023.

His remaining ranking points have now expired, meaning he has not only dropped out of the top 100 for the first time in almost 23 years, but he is no longer ranked at all by the ATP.

According to Opta, the last time the Swiss superstar was not ranked among the 100 best players in the world was October 4, 1999, a remarkable 8,316 days ago.

Daniil Medvedev remains as world number one, while Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic slipped to seventh in the rankings despite his win over Nick Kyrgios at SW19 on Sunday, as ranking points were stripped in this year's tournament.

Novak Djokovic has slipped to seventh in the ATP Tour rankings despite winning Wimbledon, where ranking points were stripped in this year's tournament.

Players from Russia and Belarus were banned from competing at the third major of the year due to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

The ATP and WTA retaliated by stripping ranking points from the event at the All England Club, where the likes of world number one Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev did not feature.

Moscow-born Elena Rybakina, who switched to represent Kazakhstan four years ago, lifted the women's title in the singles competition, while Djokovic triumphed for a fourth straight time in the men's event.

Yet, Djokovic has lost 2,000 rankings points – the standard total awarded to a grand slam singles champion – after winning in SW19 last year, with no such rewards available on this occasion.

That meant the Serbian has dropped from third place to seventh, his lowest position since August 2018 when he fell to 10th.

Djokovic moved within just one major title of Rafael Nadal's record of 22 grand slams, and the Spaniard has jumped up one spot to third.

Medvedev and Alexander Zverev are unmoved as the respective top two after losing just 180 rankings points in the latest edition. Both missed Wimbledon, with the Russian banned and the German still injured.

Stefanos Tsitsipas, Casper Ruud and Carlos Alcaraz make up the top six after climbing a place each, while Rublev, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Jannik Sinner are the trio behind Djokovic.

Nick Kyrgios appeared in his maiden major final against Djokovic at Wimbledon as world number 40, the lowest-ranked grand slam male finalist since Marcos Baghdatis (54) at the Australian Open in 2006.

Just a day later Kyrgios has dropped five places to 45th in the rankings, losing 90 points from his third-round berth last year. If the ban was not imposed, the Australian would have broken into the top 20.

Cameron Norrie is another loser from the ranking points fallout. His run to the semi-finals at the London major would have seen him climb to eighth, but instead he has to settle for 11th.

Nick Kyrgios is convinced he can make Wimbledon stars "look pretty ordinary" and insists he will embrace being a crowd "villain" when he starts against British wildcard Paul Jubb.

The Australian world number 45 has looked sharp on grass already this month, reaching semi-finals in Stuttgart and Halle, where his runs were ended by Andy Murray and Hubert Hurkacz respectively.

Kyrgios, who could play Queen's Club Championship runner-up Filip Krajinovic in round two at Wimbledon, expects to have only a small portion of support when he begins against 22-year-old Jubb.

That match is set for Tuesday, and Kyrgios believes he is playing well enough to win through comfortably, ahead of the more obvious tests of his game that lie ahead.

Renowned as an immensely talented firebrand, the 27-year-old would rather be remembered as a grand slam champion, but there are some major obstacles blocking his path to that objective.

"I've played top-10 players in the world this year and made them look pretty ordinary," he said.

That claim is not without merit, given Kyrgios beat Stefanos Tsitsipas in Halle, Andrey Rublev in Miami, and Casper Ruud in Indian Wells.

He is picking and choosing when he competes to allow himself plenty of time to spend with friends and family, and is determined to find a successful work-life balance.

"I know where my game's at," Kyrgios added. "I know if I'm confident and playing well, I'm able to light it up whenever I want. I've got to pick and choose, so when I play, I've got to make sure I'm having some good results and putting in my best effort.

"If I figured that out earlier in my career, maybe the narrative may have been different, but I'm proud to be where I am at the moment.

"I know if I'm serving well and playing well, I can beat anyone. I've beaten pretty much everyone in the draw before."

Kyrgios lost to Russian Daniil Medvedev in the second round of the Australian Open in January and is disappointed the world number one has been banned, along with all Russian and Belarusian players, from Wimbledon.

That position has been taken because of the Russian-led invasion of Ukraine, but Kyrgios said: "My honest opinion is I don't think it was a good idea to ban the Russian players.

"Medvedev is the best we have in our sport right now. I think whenever we have cameras on and a lot of people tuning in, you want a lot of our players to be on showcase for the sport to grow.

"I'm disappointed that they're not here. It's weird not seeing Medvedev here, because we all know what he's capable of."

Medvedev will be far away from SW19 when Kyrgios begins his campaign against Judd.

The 'bad boy' image has stuck to Kyrgios, and he has often not helped his cause, with a string of incidents of volatile behaviour in his past. He accepts the crowd will be siding with the underdog on Tuesday.

"I'm used to wearing that black hat, the villain-type role, and I've just got to embrace it," he continued.

"I'm going to go out there and just play my game. If you look at the results of the last couple of weeks, if I just stick to my guns, the results say I should win pretty easy. 

"But I know that's not going to be the case, so I've got to be focused."

Top seed Daniil Medvedev crashed out of the Mallorca Championships following a straight-sets defeat by Roberto Bautista Agut in the quarter-finals.

Reigning champion Medvedev was a commanding winner when he locked horns with Bautista Agut in Halle last week.

But the Spaniard gained revenge this time around, prevailing 6-3 6-2 for his fourth victory in five meetings with the world number one.

"I had to play very good to beat Daniil," said the former Wimbledon semi-finalist. "He’s the number one; the last champion here in Mallorca. He just beat me a few days ago.

"I played a really compete match. I was more convinced with my game, hitting strong, very solid. I think I did a really good match."

Next up for the Doha champion is Antoine Bellier after the Swiss qualifier came from behind to defeat Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor 5-7 7-6 (7-5) 6-2.

Elsewhere, Stefanos Tsitsipas is through to his first tour-level semi-final on grass after eventually seeing off Marcos Giron 7-6 (7-5) 4-6 6-3.

The former Roland Garros runner-up, who hit 13 aces, claimed the crucial break in game eight of the deciding set to extend his record tally of wins for the campaign to 38.

The world number six will play Benjamin Bonzi in the last four after the Frenchman overcame Daniel Altmaier 6-3 6-4.

Meanwhile, Cameron Norrie was beaten in the quarter-finals of the Eastbourne International, the top seed going down 7-5 7-5 against Maxime Cressy.

The debutant hit 10 aces and won 80 per cent of points on his first serve to advance to a second tour-level semi-final of the season.

There, he will play Jack Draper, who built on his victory over Diego Schwartzman by downing compatriot Ryan Peniston 6-3 6-3 to seal his maiden ATP semi-final appearance.

Reigning champion Alex De Minaur overcame Tommy Paul 6-2 4-6 6-4 to set up a clash with 2019 winner Taylor Fritz, who claimed his seventh successive victory at Eastbourne after seeing off Alexander Bublik 6-3 6-2 in just 67 minutes.

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