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Tennis fans arrive at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center for the first round of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Monday, Aug. 28, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
NEW YORK (AP) — The season’s last Grand Slam tournament, the US Open, began on Monday in Queens with some of the biggest names in tennis — about a year after two even bigger names walked away from the sport.
The Day 1 schedule included top-ranked Iga Swiatek and American Coco Gauff on the women’s side, and the legendary and, at times, controversial Novak Djokovic and Frances Tiafoe on the men’s.
No one carries quite the star power of Serena Williams, whose last event was the 2022 U.S. Open, or Roger Federer, who announced his retirement shortly afterward.
The No. 1-ranked Swiatek, a 22-year-old from Poland, won the championship at Arthur Ashe Stadium a year ago and was back in that arena to begin the 2023 edition of the event against Rebecca Peterson of Sweden.
That was followed by Tiafoe, a 25-year-old from Maryland, against Learner Tien, a 17-year-old from California. Tiafoe reached his first major semifinal at last year’s US Open.
The night session in Ashe was led off by Gauff, a 19-year-old from Florida, against Laura Siegemund of Germany, who won the women’s doubles title in New York three years ago. Gauff was the runner-up at the French Open in singles — losing to Swiatek — and doubles in 2022.
Wrapping things up in the main stadium was 23-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic against Alexandre Muller of France, who was making his US Open debut. It marks a return to the event for Djokovic, who missed it last year because he couldn’t travel to the United States as a foreigner who is not vaccinated against COVID-19. That rule has been dropped.
The first round is played over Monday and Tuesday. The tournament lasts two weeks and wraps up…
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