Defending champion Serena Williams was seeded No. 2 for the U.S. Open on Tuesday, behind Dinara Safina, because the tournament stuck to its policy of following the rankings.
Roger Federer was seeded No. 1 for the fifth time at the year’s last Grand Slam tournament. He is ranked No. 1 and has won the U.S. Open five years in a row.
Safina is No. 1 in the WTA computer, which calculates rankings based on performances across tournaments over the preceding 52 weeks. The younger sister of former men’s No. 1 Marat Safin is still seeking her first Grand Slam title. She is 0-3 in major finals, including a loss to Williams at the Australian Open in January.
Williams has won three of the past four Grand Slam singles championships and 11 overall, the most among active women. She will be seeking her fourth U.S. Open title.
Tournament director Jim Curley said the U.S. Tennis Association did discuss the possibility of moving Williams ahead of Safina.
“The U.S. Open has the prerogative of altering its seedings; it’s something we have not availed ourselves of in quite some time,” Curley said. “We certainly spoke about it, but it never got to the point where we were seriously intending to not follow the rankings.”
Since 1997, the USTA has matched its seedings to the ATP and WTA rankings.
“At the end of the day, whether you’re seeded No. 1 or seeded No. 2 at the U.S. Open, it really doesn’t matter. You’re either at the top of the draw or the bottom of the draw, and the rest of the draw is determined by a coin toss,” Curley said. “From a competition perspective, there really isn’t any difference being seeded 1 or 2.”
The draw will be announced Thursday, and the tournament begins Monday.
French Open semifinalist Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia withdrew from the tournament, citing a rib injury. She is No. 16 in this week’s rankings.
