Roger Federer is seeded No. 7 for the U.S. Open, his first slot outside the top three at any Grand Slam tournament in a decade.Federer’s ranking dropped two slots to seventh Monday, and the U.S. Tennis Association’s seedings followed the ATP standings.
Federer’s record 17 Grand Slam titles include five at the U.S. Open. He’s among five former champions in the men’s field, including No. 1-seeded Novak Djokovic, No. 2 Rafael Nadal, and No. 3 Andy Murray, who won the 2012 title.
Federer was seeded No. 1 at 18 consecutive Grand Slam tournaments from 2004-08. He hadn’t been seeded outside the top three at the U.S. Open since he was 13th in 2002. The last time he was seeded fourth or worse at any major tournament was when he was No. 4 at Wimbledon in 2003 — when he went on to win his first Grand Slam title.
The U.S. Open women’s seedings were to be announced later on Tuesday; the draw is scheduled for Thursday. Play at the year’s last major tournament starts next week. Wimbledon hangover is behind me: Murray
london: Back when he was blithe and unbound by a thousand obligations, Andy Murray would invoke the spirit of Jack Kerouac for a trip to the US Open. In 2005, seeking a novel way to travel from the tour stop in Cincinnati to New York, he and then coach Mark Petchey hired a souped-up ‘Yank tank’ for an On the Road-style driving adventure — a long, straight shot up the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
“Sometimes I’m still up for driving,” admits Murray, hankering for a little escapism from his regimented world. “But it can take up a lot of time. When you’re trying to prepare for a grand slam, it’s probably better to get there as quickly as possible, rather than be cramped inside a car for nine hours.”
Private plane it is, then. We can safely assume that a boy’s own, top-down trek across America’s eastern states would not quite square with the plans of Ivan lendl, busy galvanising his protégé for a US Open title defence and a third Grand Slam triumph. Instead, a premium is placed upon ritual and routine, as Murray returns this week to the same New York hotel where 12 months ago he hatched his masterplan for that night of historic major glory.
“Yeah, I’ve been in that hotel the last couple of years — it’s pretty quiet,” he says. “I’ve changed in Australia numerous times, but in New York I stick to the same place. You need to try to conserve as much energy as you can during the slams, so the more you get away from everything, the noise of the city, the better,” he said.