Serena, Isner to lead U.S. charge at Australian Open

New year. New Decade. New Grand Slam season. But as the Australian Open approaches, the main storyline surrounding Serena Williams remains the same: the chase for No. 24.

 

Williams (pictured above) will look to begin 2020 the same way she started 2010—by lifting the trophy on championship Saturday in Melbourne.

 

When she defended her title 10 years ago, it was her fifth in Australia and her 12th Grand Slam singles title overall. So much has happened in the 10 years since, including her second “Serena Slam” and major titles No. 13 through 23.

 

But that 24th win, which would give her the most by any player in the history of tennis, has eluded her. Four times since giving birth to daughter Olympia, with whom she was pregnant when she won No. 23 in Melbourne in 2017, she has reached a Grand Slam final. Four times, against four different women playing the match of their life, she has fallen just short.

 

Currently the world No. 9, Williams is one of 19 American women looking to start the season off on the right foot when play gets underway at Melbourne Park on Jan. 20.

 

Among the women, there are 18 Americans who earned direct entry.

 

The 38-year-old Williams is joined by fellow Top-20 players Madison Keys, Sofia Kenin and Alison Riske. 

 

Riske had a breakthrough season in 2019, reaching a career-high of No. 18 in the rankings after six consecutive years of ending the season inside the Top 100 but outside the Top 40. In Melbourne, she will be seeded at a major for the first time, affording her the opportunity to put ranking points on the board well before her preferred grass-court season rolls around later this summer.

 

Amanda Anisimova is playing her first Slam since the death of her father last summer, while Sloane Stephens and surprise 2019 semifinalist Danielle Collins are also set to be among the 32 seeds in the first major of the year.

 

Should the U.S. indeed have seven seeded women, it will the most at a Slam since the 2004 US Open, when seven American women were also seeded. The last time more women were seeded at a single major was at 2004 Wimbledon, when U.S. ladies made up one quarter of the 32 seeds. 

 

CiCi Bellis has entered on protected ranking and will play her first Slam in two years after a series of wrist, elbow and arm injuries kept her away from the tour since March 2018. Venus Williams, Jen Brady, Lauren Davis, Bernarda Pera, Coco Gauff, Taylor Townsend, Christina McHale, Kristie Ahn, Jessica Pegula and Madison Brengle round out the women’s entrants. 

 

Coco Vandeweghe, who underwent right ankle surgery in 2018 and has won just one Grand Slam women’s singles match since reaching the semifinals of the 2017 US Open, earned entry by winning the USTA Pro Circuit's Australian Open Wild Card Challenge. 

 

Sixteen other American women are entered into the Australian Open Qualifying Tournament, with seeds Caty McNally, Francesca Di Lorenzo, Nicole Gibbs, Usue Arconada, Ann Li, Allie Kiick and former junior No. 1 Whitney Osuigwe all in first-round action over the next two days. No. 10 seed McNally, the highest ranked of the U.S. women in the qualifying tournament, starts against Asia Muhammad in the only all-American first-round women's qualifying match. 

 

On the men’s side, the U.S. is represented by John Isner, Taylor Fritz, Steve Johnson, Reilly Opelka, Tommy Paul, Sam Querrey, Tennys Sandgren and Frances Tiafoe. 

 

Jared Donaldson, who has not played since the ATP Masters 1000 event in Miami in March, and Mackenzie McDonald, who last played at Roland Garros in May, missed the direct-entry cut-off but have entered with their protected rankings.

 

Marcos Giron earned a spot in the main draw by winning the USTA Australian Open Wild Card Challenge at the end of 2019. 

 

At No. 20 in the world, Isner will be seeded once again in Melbourne, a place where he has inexplicably struggled the past few years. In 2017, as the 19th seed, he lost in the second round. Then in both 2018 and 2019, seeded 16th and ninth, respectively, he lost to Matthew Eden and Opelka in the first round. 

 

Last year, the best performance by a U.S. man was from 21-year-old Tiafoe, who reached his first career quarterfinal before falling to eventual finalist Rafael Nadal. 

 

With 11 U.S. men guaranteed to play in the main draw, that means there will likely be 10 more Americans competing for one of 16 qualifying spots, assuming there are not enough withdrawals prior to the tournament to move Denis Kudla, who was ranked No. 113 in the world at the entry deadline on Dec. 9, into an alternate spot. 

 

No. 7 seed Kudla has one of the more fascinating first-round qualifying matches against hometown favorite Bernard Tomic. Other opening qualifying matches to keep an eye on include two all-American matches: Thai-Son Kwiatkowski against Chris Eubanks in a battle of former top collegians, and Ernesto Escobedo against Mitch Krueger. 

 

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Main Draw, Women

Serena Williams

Madison Keys

Sofia Kenin

Alison Riske

Amanda Anisimova

Sloane Stephens

Danielle Collins

CiCi Bellis (protected ranking)

Venus Williams

Jen Brady

Lauren Davis

Bernarda Pera

Coco Gauff

Taylor Townsend

Jessica Pegula

Christina McHale

Kristie Ahn

Madison Brengle

Coco Vandeweghe

 

Qualifying, Women

Caty McNally

Francesca Di Lorenzo

Nicole Gibbs

Usue Maitane Arconada

Whitney Osuigwe

Allie Kiick

Caroline Dolehide

Ann Li

Irina Falconi (protected ranking)

Sachia Vickery

Robin Anderson

Varvara Lepchenko

Shelby Rogers

Danielle Lao

Asia Muhammad

Hailey Baptiste

 

Main Draw, Men

John Isner

Taylor Fritz

Reilly Opelka

Sam Querrey

Frances Tiafoe

Tennys Sandgren

Mackenzie McDonald (protected ranking)

Steve Johnson

Tommy Paul

Marcos Giron 

Jared Donaldson

 

Qualifying, Men

Denis Kudla

Bradley Klahn

Mitchell Krueger

Maxime Cressy

JJ Wolf

Noah Rubin

Michael Mmoh

Ernesto Escobedo

Chris Eubanks

Donald Young