The last Grand Slam of the season is set to start on Monday, August 28, as the US Open gets going at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadow Corona Park, New York.
The schedule for Day One of the US Open has been confirmed, with the likes of world No. 1 Iga Swiatek taking to the courts.
The first matches are set to take place at 11:00 am EDT, which is 17:00 CET and 16:00 BST.
All of the opening matches are expected to get underway at around 11:00 am EDT except for Swiatek's first-round match at the Arthur Ashe Stadium which is set to begin at around 12:00 pm local time.
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The 2022 US Open champion will be looking to defend her title, and her campaign to do this will begin with a match against world No. 92 Rebecca Peterson.
The 22-year-old will also be trying to maintain her place at the top of the WTA Ranking despite the challenges from world No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, who doesn't play her opening match until Wednesday.
High hopes for Gauff on home soil
Moreover, Coco Gauff is set to begin her US Open bid at Arthur Ashe Stadium later in the day against Laura Siegemund. The world No. 6 is coming into the New York major after a hugely successful month on the North American swing, winning the WTA 500 DC Open before securing the WTA 1000 Cincinnati Open title.
This means that many of the home fans will be supporting Gauff to win the tournament, which would be the 19-year-old's first Grand Slam title. However, her opponent Siegemund leads their head-to-head 1-0 on hard-courts, meaning it should be an interesting match.
Between Swiatek and Gauff's respective matches, world No. 10 Frances Tiafoe will face Learner Tien at Arthur Ashe, meaning two out of three matches in the main stadium will feature an American player.
Christopher Eubanks and Jennifer Brady are among the other Americans playing on Monday, taking to Grandstand and Court 5 respectively. The former has achieved a meteoric rise over the last few months after winning the Mallorca Championships and reaching the quarter-final of Wimbledon. He enters the US Open as the 28th seed.
Meanwhile, Brady is returning to the US Open for the first time in three years, having missed the Slam in 2021 and 2022 due to injury.
Seventh seed Stefanos Tsitsipas is set to face 2016 Wimbledon finalist Milos Raonic at the Louis Armstrong Stadium. This clash comes after the Canadian said he wasn't sure if he would even play at the US Open following his comeback to the sport a few months ago.
The 32-year-old's aggressive style should serve him well, but many are predicting that Tsitsipas, who reached the Australian Open final earlier this year, will take the victory here.
Former champions playing on first day
Aside from defending champion Swiatek, the first day of the US Open will also see some of its other former champions take to the court.
Although there are several past victors playing at the tournament, it is Sloane Stephens and Dominic Thiem who will be in action on the first day. Stephens won the US Open in 2017, defeating Madison Keys in an all-American final. She will face Beatriz Haddad Maia in her opening round at the Louis Armstrong Stadium.
Meanwhile, 2020 US Open champion Thiem lifted the trophy at Flushing Meadows after he ousted Alexander Zverev in a five-set thriller. The Austrian will open his 2023 campaign against Alexander Bublik on Grandstand.
Both Stephens and Thiem have yet to win another Slam since their respective victories in New York and are unseeded at this year's tournament.
Another big name playing on Monday is 2022 Wimbledon champion and world No. 4 Elena Rybakina, who will face Marta Kostyuk on Grandstand. The Kazakhstani player will be looking to secure a second victory at a major after failing to defend her SW19 title last month.
Ruud, Rune, Sakkari and Kvitova among the rest
Court 17, the venue's fourth-largest stadium, will host the matches of Maria Sakkari, Casper Ruud, Tommy Paul, and Petra Kvitova on its opening day. All of them are expected to progress through to the second round.
Over on Court 5, fourth seed Holger Rune will face Roberto Carballés Baena in his first match. Some fans have expressed confusion over why the world No. 4 has been put on the fifth most important court, but he is predicted to win the match as long as his recent difficulties with a back injury don't re-emerge. On Court 12, world No. 10 Karolina Muchova will face Storm Hunter.
America's Ben Shelton and Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime will also play on Monday, with the former facing Pedro Cachin on Court 10 and the latter facing Mackenzie McDonald on Court 5.