12-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal is scheduled to kick off his U.S. Open Championship campaign on Monday while Roger Federer and Serena Williams will also make their first appearance on Flushing Meadows on the same day.
The schedule was released Sunday and Day One proves to be star-studded. Nadal, Federer, and Williams, who combined for 45 career singles Grand Slam crowns, will be gracing the opening salvo of the last major tournament of the year - the U.S. Open.
Nadal, who enters the tourney as a huge favorite following his epic back-to-back wins on the hard court of Montreal and Cincinnati, will be facing Ryan Harrison of the United States. Harrison, ranked no. 97 in the world, lost to the Spaniard in straight sets in the second round of the Indian Wells Open last March.
"I thought [Harrison] was one of these guys the last couple of months," Nadal said in Cincinnati, when asked to evaluate the best players of the next generation, according to Sports Illustrated. "I still believe that he can be in the top in the future if he's able to reverse the situation that, in the last year, he probably didn't play his best."
Federer will start his U.S. Open campaign against world's no.621 Grega Zemjla from Slovenia in the first round. Facing Federer could be a mismatch for Zemjla, but after setbacks against low-ranked opponents as of late, the Swiss star has increasingly become vulnerable against unheralded tennis players.
The Swiss Master has a 2-0 head-to-head advantage over Zemjla, who reached the third round of this year's Wimbledon Open Championships.
On the women's side, Williams will also open her quest for another Grand Slam title when she takes on former French Open champion Francesca Schiavone of Italy. Other high-profile players hitting the court on Monday include Agnieszka Radwańska, Jelena Jankovic, Sabine Lisicki and new tennis darling Monica Puig.
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