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What is Serena Williams' path to US Open 2022 final?
The field was always going to be difficult for Williams to navigate based on her current ranking. She is the No. 605 singles player in the world.
Of course, the field no longer has a challenge of Kontaveit's level until the final. And Williams won't face a seeded player until at least the quarterfinals.
Williams will play Ajla Tomljanovic, who is ranked 46th by the WTA, in the third round Friday. There was a chance that she could have faced No. 14 Leylah Fernandez or No. 23 Barbora Krejcikova in the Round of 16. Instead, it will be either Liudmila Samsonova or Aleksandra Krunic. Samsonova is the world No. 35 player and Krunic is at No. 96.
(speculation about even later rounds)
Why does the seeding matter? In her career, Williams has dominated unseeded players, particularly at the US Open. She is 57-3 against unseeded players in the tournament and she has never lost to them prior to the semifinals....
That's plenty of high-ranking potential opponents, but after defeating the No. 2 player in the world, there's no reason to think that one of the greatest tennis players of all time, who's playing without "anything to prove" or "anything to win," as she said after the match, couldn't make a run in an event she has won six times while playing in front of a supportive crowd.
What is Serena Williams' potential US Open 2022 schedule?
Perhaps the biggest obstacle could simply be the amount of tennis she still has left to play. Williams has made it past the third round just three times in 10 singles tournaments since the 2020 US Open; she reached the quarterfinals of the 2021 Yarra Valley Classic, the semifinals of the 2021 Australian Open and the Round of 16 in the 2021 French Open.
But on top of having the singles schedule to navigate, she is also entered in doubles with her sister, Venus Williams. The last time she participated in both singles and doubles in the same tournament was at the ASB Classic 2020. She won the singles tournament and lost the doubles while paired with Caroline Wozniacki.
One day after her victory against Kontaveit, the Williams sisters will face Lucie Hradecka and Linda Noskova at 7 p.m. ET Thursday in their first doubles match.
Here's how Serena's schedule could look if she keeps advancing in both singles and doubles:
Doubles first round Thu., Sept. 1
Singles third round Fri., Sept. 2, or Sat., Sept. 3
Doubles second round Fri., Sept. 2, or Sat., Sept. 3
Singles Round of 16 Sun., Sept. 4, or Mon., Sept. 5
Doubles third round Sun., Sept. 4, or Mon., Sept. 5
Singles quarterfinals Tue., Sept. 6, or Wed., Sept. 7
Doubles quarterfinals Tue., Sept. 6, or Wed., Sept. 7
Singles semifinals Thu., Sept. 8
Doubles semifinals Fri., Sept. 9*
Singles final Sat., Sept. 10
Doubles final Sun., Sept. 11
Given how the scheduling for these matches usually works, it would be expected that Williams would not play both her singles and doubles matches on the same day at any point. However, that would still mean playing a round of tennis every day between Wednesday and Sept. 11, if she were to make it all the way in both singles and doubles.
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If Serena can beat #2 she can . . .
That's a lot, theoretically, for 'dem 40 year old bones.
They should call the Men's side the Non-U.S. Open.
