Federer and Safina Named 2009 US Open Top Seeds
August 25, 2009
FLUSHING, N.Y. — The USTA announced today that five-time defending US Open champion and world No. 1 Roger Federer of Switzerland and world No. 1 Dinara Safina of Russia will be the top seeds at the 2009 US Open in men’s and women’s singles, respectively. The 2009 US Open will be played at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y., August 31 – September 13.
Federer, winner of the French Open and Wimbledon this summer, is the No. 1 seed at the US Open for the fifth time. He will be followed by No. 2 Andy Murray of Great Britain; No. 3 Rafael Nadal of Spain, the reigning Australian Open champion; No. 4 Novak Djokovic of Serbia; and No. 5 Andy Roddick of Austin, Texas.
Safina, a three-time Grand Slam singles finalist, is followed by No. 2 seed and defending champion Serena Williams of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., winner of 11 Major singles titles; No. 3 seed Venus Williams of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., a two-time US Open champion and winner of seven Major singles titles overall; No. 4 seed Elena Dementieva of Russia, the women’s singles gold medalist at the 2008 Beijing Olympics; and No. 5 seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, the 2008 US Open runner-up.
Federer, 28, has won four titles this year including his first French Open title to become the sixth man to complete the career Grand Slam. He then won his 15th career Major singles title at Wimbledon to break Pete Sampras’ record. On Sunday, he won his 61st career singles title at the Olympus US Open Series event in Cincinnati. Federer will attempt to win three Major singles titles in the same year for the fourth time in his career.
Safina, 23, has won three titles this year, including her back-to-back victories at Rome and Madrid. She also reached the final of the French Open for the second consecutive year, as well as the Australian Open.
For 2009, the US Open followed the ATP World Tour and Sony Ericsson WTA Tour rankings to determine the men’s and women’s singles seeds. This is the eighth consecutive year that the US Open has seeded 32 players in both singles events.
The singles draws for the 2009 US Open will be announced live on the US Open Draw Show on ESPNews, Thursday, August 27 at 12 PM ET. Chris McKendry will host the show along with U.S. Davis Cup Captain Patrick McEnroe and U.S. Fed Cup Captain Mary Joe Fernandez serving as lead analysts.
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