Apparently the All-England Club digs Serena Williams more than the USTA does. Williams may still make the earth move at Flushing Meadows, but enters in a tough spot.
With a chance to ignore the rankings and give the surging Williams a top-eight seed in the U.S. Open, the USTA did Williams no favors yesterday. She will be seeded 28th at the Open — her WTA ranking after missing 18 months with a sliced-up foot and blood clot.
The four Grand Slams can seed players without going by rankings in case of aberrations. Wimbledon seeded Williams seventh upon her comeback in June despite the fact she was ranked 25th at the time.
“After careful deliberation regarding Serena Williams’ seeding, we decided to maintain the objective criteria in place to determine the women’s singles seeds at this year’s U.S. Open,” said Jim Curley, the Open’s tournament director.
Though she fell flat at Wimbledon, Williams has rediscovered her form, winning two hardcourt titles this month — in Stanford and Montreal — and is emerging as the favorite to win her fourth Open.
Dumping Williams to 28 means she will have to face a top-eight seed in the third round — possibly even No. 1 seed Caroline Wozniacki or No. 3 seed Maria Sharapova.
Williams and the USTA have no love lost. She makes her first appearance at the Open since 2009’s expletive-filled explosion at a female linesperson during the women’s finals led to her default.
*
A source in Novak Djokovic’s camp said the sore-shouldered Serbian has rested Monday and yesterday and may not take the court until later this week. The USTA will announce Djokovic as No. 1 Open seed today.