Federer, the five-time defending champion of the season’s last grand slam tournament, had a phenomenal year after his highly emotional finals loss to Rafael Nadal at the Australian Open earlier this year.
The Swiss went on to win the French Open in May to tie Pete Sampras’s grand slam record (14), and then battled Andy Roddick in an epic Wimbledon final that ended in a 16–14 set and his 15th grand slam. He is now only the sixth man to ever complete the career Grand slam.
Federer has wrestled the world No. 1 spot back from Nadal after previously holding it for a record 237 consecutive weeks, and is followed in the U.S. Open seeding by Britain’s Andy Murray at No. 2, Nadal at No. 3, Novak Djokovic at No. 4, and Andy Roddick at No. 5.
Safina and Serena
Dinara Safina may be the top seed for the women’s singles event at Flushing Meadows next week, but one can’t help favor world No. 2 Serena Williams for the victory.
The 23-year-old Safina has won three titles this year, including consecutive wins in Rome and Madrid, but she is 0–3 in grand slam finals and lost to Williams at the Australian Open in January.
Serena on the other hand has won three of the past four grand slams and will be seeking her fourth U.S. Open title. She owns 11 grand slams titles, and although she has had an average year with lackluster performances in less important matches, she’s proven she can step it up when it counts.
Serena is followed by her sister Venus Williams (No. 3), whom she defeated in the Wimbledon final, and 2008 Beijing Olympics singles gold medalist Elena Dementieva (No. 4), and 2008 U.S. Open runner-up Jelena Jankovic (No. 5).
Rankings Criticism
USTA organizers have matched the ATP and WTA rankings since 1997 to determine the men’s and women’s singles seeds.
The rankings have received some criticism because they do not give enough weight to wins at the biggest tournaments and instead calculate rankings based on all performances across tournaments over the preceding 52 weeks.
But U.S. Open organizers have stood by the international system. “At the end of the day, whether you’re seeded No. 1 or seeded No. 2 at the U.S. Open, it really doesn’t matter,” said tournament director Jim Curley in a telephone interview with the Associated Press.
“You’re either at the top of the draw or the bottom of the draw, and the rest of the draw is determined by a coin toss,” Curley said.
The draw for the two-week tournament at Flushing Meadows, New York, will be announced on Thursday.
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