Serbia's Novak Djokovic is the top seed in the men's draw which includes five-times US Open champion and 17-times Grand Slam winner Roger Federer as seventh seed - his first time the Swiss has been placed outside the top three in a Grand Slam in over ten years.
'I LOVE YOU, Roger. Thank you for everything you've done in tennis and with myself. Tennis world will never be the same without you.'
'Just six months ago, you would've been labelled mad for even suggesting the possibility of Djokovic relinquishing the top spot in men's tennis.'
World number one Serena Williams opened her US Open account with a tidy 6-3, 6-3 win over Ekaterina Makarova on Tuesday, to join her sister Venus in the second round of the year's final Grand Slam.
Teenager Taylor Fritz earned the chance to face his hero Roger Federer after the American defeated an unranked French qualifier on Tuesday to reach the second round in Stuttgart. Federer will be playing his first match in nearly a month after recovering from back pain and skipping the French Open, as he ramps up his preparations for Wimbledon. Number 65 Fritz has had time on court with the Swiss legend -- a Wimbledon training session a year ago - but booked his place into the match of his life with a 3-6 7-6 (8/6) 6-1 win over Fabrice Martin on the grass at the Weissenhof Club. Fritz, 18, said he will not worry with nerves when he faces one of the best players on the planet. "I have nothing to lose, there is no pressure on me, I don't think there will be any nerves." The teenager said he had watched and admired Federer as a boy aged 11.
Rediff.com gives you a quick flashback, in pictures of the month gone by...
Live tennis action is a fading memory during the coronavirus shutdown but 20,000 fans tuned in to watch old rivals Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray chew the fat on Instagram on Friday. Sitting on their sofas at home, the duo spent an entertaining hour reminiscing about some of the classics in their 36-match series, painful losses and even came up with the perfect tennis player.
IMAGES from the matches played at Miami Miasters in Key Biscayne, Florida, on Wednesday
The Canadian's win sets up a semi-final clash with Del Potro on Saturday that will pit power against power.
A golden moment for Australian Ashleigh Barty and American CoCo Vandeweghe was tinged with disappointment when tournament officials did not let them speak to the crowd after winning the U.S. Open women's doubles final on Sunday.
Defending champion Rafael Nadal failed to win a single game in the opening set of his US Open quarter-final against Dominic Thiem on Tuesday but fought back to beat the Austrian 0-6, 6-4, 7-5, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (5) in match that ended past 2 am in New York.
This time last year, Federer was the pundits' pick to claim a third Grand Slam title of 2017 in New York, after roaring back from a season decimated by injury to win the Australian Open and Wimbledon.
The world number one had arrived in Tokyo aiming to become the first man to win all four majors and an Olympic gold medal in the same calendar year. But that quest came to an end after he was beaten by fifth-ranked German Alexander Zverev in Friday's semi-final.
For soccer great Diego Maradona, Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro was more than a friend and fellow Latin American legend, he was "a second father." Maradona said Castro's death late on Friday hit him like a tennis ball to the chest served by Juan Martin del Potro, the Argentine player he cheered on in the Davis Cup final where he received the news. "I wept uncontrollably," Maradona told reporters on the sidelines of the tennis tournament. "After my father, it's the deepest sorrow I know."
IMAGES from matches on Day 9 at the French Open at Roland Garros
Novak Djokovic no longer sees winning Grand Slam titles or staying top of the men's ATP rankings as a priority in his tennis career, Serbia's world number one said on Friday.
Former champion Rafael Nadal shrugged off concerns about his fitness ahead of the Australian Open and paid tribute to fellow 'Big Four' rival Andy Murray, a day after the emotional Briton revealed plans to retire.
Ana Konjuh was not a year old when Serena Williams played her first US Open match but both will be in the Arthur Ashe Stadium spotlight on Wednesday, with four gripping quarter-finals to take centre stage at the year's final Grand Slam.
World No 1 Novak Djokovic will face Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro, the player who denied him a medal in London, in the opening round of the Rio Olympics after the draw was made on Thursday.
Kyle Edmund has the most destructive forehand in tennis and it can power him into the world's top 10, according to three-times Australian Open champion Mats Wilander.
Djokovic is clubbed with Federer, Juan Martin Del Potro, David Goffin and Alexander Zverev.
Serena, a six-times champion in New York who is seeded 17th, will start her campaign against Polish world number 60 Magda Linette and could face Venus in the third round before a possible fourth-round showdown with Romanian top seed Halep.
Rediff.com brings you this and a lot more gripping sporting action from the week gone by...
The world No 1 is certainly buoyed by the prospect of emulating his achievement of holding all four majors but knows that nothing less than perfection will be required.
Zverev defeated Anderson 6-4, 6-4 and captured his fourth title of the year in the finals played on Sunday.
'Not only are four of the top five fathers, but Federer famously injured a knee, weakened by years of twisting and turning on tennis courts, early this year while giving his elder pair of twins a bath.'
World number one Roger Federer survived a scare from unseeded Borna Coric to beat him 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 in the BNP Paribas Open on Saturday and set up a final showdown with Juan Martin del Potro who cruised to a 6-2, 6-3 win over Milos Raonic.
Argentina's Diego Schwartzman ended a two-year wait for his second ATP tour title as he overpowered an exhausted Fernando Verdasco to win the Rio Open 6-2, 6-3 on Sunday.
Barcelona winger Raphinha secured a 1-0 win in LaLiga for the second straight week this time at Athletic Bilbao as his side tightened their grip on top spot.
Rafael Nadal kept the flag flying for the old guard at the Australian Open with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 victory over American Frances Tiafoe on Tuesday for a place in the semi-finals, where he will meet another next generation player in Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Roger Federer says he does not regret passing up the chance to topple great rival Rafael Nadal from the top of the world rankings at the ATP Finals in London this week.
Maradona told friends during the coronavirus lockdown that when he died he wanted to be embalmed
Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer will set aside their long-time rivalry when they play for Europe against the rest of the world in the inaugural Laver Cup tournament which starts on Friday.
One of sport's great rivalries, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have clashed 37 times over the years but never stood across from each other on Flushing Meadows' hardcourts.
Djokovic had his personal best winning sequence of 30 consecutive sets ended as Cilic played almost flawlessly aggressive tennis to draw first blood in a magnificent duel.
The 32-year-old, who has not played since retiring injured in the US Open semi-finals, cited an abdominal injury.
Leander Paes and his partner Benoit Paire of France lost to the Colombian duo of Robert Farah and Juan Cabal in the second round.
Top seed and defending champion Roger Federer battled past in-form Russian Daniil Medvedev 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 to reach the last-16 at the Shanghai Masters on Wednesday.
This is not the first time that Murray has won our hearts with his stance against sexism.
