posted August 31, 2009 at 16:50 EST in Tennis Articles
U.S. Open - Sizing Up the Highest Seeds
by Charles Jay
I doubt there are many people who aren't looking for someone who is among the highest seeded players to make it to the finals of the U.S. Open. We're going to take a capsule look at those players ranked in the top ten and seeded as such who will be competing beginning today from Flushing Meadow. The odds as posted at BetUS Sportsbook appear next to their names, and the U.S. Open seed is in parentheses.
(1) Roger Federer +110
-- Current Ranking: 1, Highest Ranking: 1
The world's #1 player has won 61 career titles, including three Australian Open titles, six Wimbledon titles, one French Open title and the last five U.S. Open titles. His 15 Grand Slam titles are the most of any male player. Federer's career match record in Grand Slams is an amazing 182-26, and it is 143-8 since 2004. What else can you say? This guy is the king until he says otherwise.
(2) Andy Murray +250
-- Current Ranking: 2, Highest Ranking: 2
Murray has won 13 singles titles, including no less than seven in the last twelve months, but never a major. The best finish he has had in a Grand Slam was his spot in the 2008 U.S. Open finals, where he lost 6–2, 7–5, 6–2 to Roger Federer. Murray got to the semi-finals at Wimbledon earlier this year before losing to Andy Roddick, who he had beaten to win an early event in Qatar.
(3) Rafael Nadal +450
-- Current ranking: 3, Highest Ranking: 1
Has 36 career singles titles, including four French Open titles, one Wimbledon title and one Australian Open title. He also won a gold medal at the 2008 Olympics. Nadal's best finish in the U.S. Open was a semi-final appearance in 2008. His match record in Grand Slams is 90-15. Nadal sat out Wimbledon this year with tendinitis in both knees, and has come back to play in a few tournaments, though he dropped a spot in the rankings. He has scored 13 career wins against Roger Federer, beating him in five of the seven Grand Slam finals where they have faced each other.
(4) Novak Djokovic +800
-- Current Ranking: 4, Highest Ranking: 4
He has won 13 singles titles in his career, and is the winner of the 2008 Australian Open. Djokovic won a bronze medal in the 2008 Olympics. He was a finalist in the 2007 U.S. Open, where he lost to Roger Federer 7-6, 7-6, 6-4. Djokovic has won five events this year, and has beaten each of the top three seeds – Andy Murray, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal – in tournament finals in 2009, making him very dangerous.
(5) Andy Roddick +800
-- Current Ranking: 5, Highest Ranking: 1
Roddick has 27 career singles titles to his credit, and this three-time Wimbledon finalist has captured one Grand Slam title, which was the U.S. Open in 2003. He made the final at Flushing Meadow in 2006, but other than that, his best U.S. Open showing was getting to the quarterfinals. He's got a career 104-33 record in Grand Slam competition, and has won 33 of 41 matches at the U.S. Open.
(6) Juan Martin Del Potro +800
-- Current Ranking: 6, Highest Ranking: 5
Del Potro is the winner of six career singles titles, and got into the semi-finals of the French Open this year. He got to the U.S. Open quarterfinals last year. He has an 18-7 record in Grand Slams the last two years.
(7) Jo Wilfried Tsonga +2500
-- Current Ranking: 7, Highest Ranking: 6
Tsonga has won only four career singles titles, and got to the finals of the 2008 Australian Open, where he lost to Novak Djokovic. He's only played six matches at the U.S. Open, and has advanced to the third round of action the last two years.
(8) Nikolay Davydenko +5000
-- Current Ranking: 8, Highest Ranking 3
Has won 16 singles titles, and has made four different appearances in Grand Slam semi-finals, though the most recent of those was in 2007. In the U.S. Open, he was a semi-finalist in 2006 and 2007. Last year he got to the fourth round. This year he reached the quarters of the French Open. He was at the center of a major match-fixing investigation in 2007, for which he was ultimately cleared.
(9) Gilles Simon +10000
-- Current Ranking: 9, Highest Ranking: 6
Simon captured three of his five career wins last year, and this year he has had his best performances in Grand Slams, getting to the quarters of the Aussie Open and the fourth round at Wimbledon. His career match record in Slams is 21-16.
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