US Open Tennis 2016: Schedule, Odds, Draw and Preview

For many people, summer is a time to relax, take a vacation and revel in the enduring warmth of long, sunny days and cozy nights. For the game's best tennis players, this summer has been anything but a break from the grind of their year-round professional sport. 

The 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro has made a normally busy season even more hectic for the game's top players, coming not long after the double dip of the French Open and Wimbledon in late May/early June. On Monday, the U.S. Open gets its turn to take the spotlight.

With so much going on this year, it's little wonder that some of the sport's top stars are ailing heading into the year's final Grand Slam event. The tournament in Flushing Meadows, New York, has seen its fair share of surprise winners in the past couple of years, and this year's edition could be even more wide open than usual. 

Here's a look at the TV schedule for the tournament, the draw for the top players and the top odds. For a complete draw, head on over to USOpen.org. 

Date	Time (ET)	Event	TV
Aug. 29	1 p.m.	First Round	ESPN
	6 p.m.	First Round	ESPN
Aug. 30	1 p.m.	First Round	ESPN
Aug. 31	1 p.m.	Second Round	ESPN
	6 p.m.	Second Round	ESPN2
Sept. 1	1 p.m.	Second Round	ESPN
	6 p.m.	Second Round	ESPN2
Sept. 2	1 p.m.	Third Round	ESPN
	6 p.m.	Third Round	ESPN2
Sept. 3	11 a.m., 7 p.m.	Third Round	ESPN2
Sept. 4	11 a.m., 7 p.m.	Round of 16	ESPN2
Sept. 5	11 a.m., 7 p.m.	Round of 16	ESPN2
Sept. 6	Noon, 7 p.m.	Quarterfinals	ESPN
Sept. 7	Noon	Quarterfinals	ESPN
	7 p.m.	Quarterfinals	ESPN2
Sept. 8	7 p.m.	Women's Semifinals	ESPN
Sept. 9	Noon	Mixed Doubles Finals	ESPN2
	3 p.m.	Men's Semifinals	ESPN
Sept. 10	4 p.m.	Women's Final	ESPN
Sept. 11	4 p.m.	Men's Final	ESPN

Men's Singles		Women's Singles
No. 1 Novak Djokovic vs. Jerzy Janowicz		No. 1 Serena Williams vs. Ekaterina Makarova
No. 28 Martin Klizan vs. Mikhail Youzny		No. 29 Ana Ivanovic vs. Denisa Allertova
No. 20 John Isner vs. Frances Tiafoe		No. 23 Daria Kasatkina vs. Qiang Wang
No. 13 Richard Gasquet vs. Kyle Edmund		No. 16 Samantha Stosur vs. Camila Giorgi
No. 9 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga vs. Guido Andreozzi		No. 11 Carla Suarez Navarro vs. Teliana Pereira
No. 23 Kevin Anderson vs. Yoshihito Nishioka		No. 19 Elena Vesnina vs. Anett Kontaveit
No. 26 Jack Sock vs. Taylor Fritz		No. 31 Timea Babos vs. Barbara Haas
No. 7 Marin Cilic vs. Rogerio Dutra Silva		No. 5 Simona Halep vs. Kirsten Flipkens
No. 4 Rafael Nadal vs. Denis Istomin		No. 4 Agnieszka Radwanska vs. Jessica Pegula
No. 31 Albert Ramos-Vinolas vs. Julien Benneteau		No. 25 Caroline Garcia vs. Pauline Parmentier
No. 24 Lucas Pouille vs. Mikhail Kukushkin		No. 20 Kiki Bertens vs. Ana Konjuh
No. 15 Roberto Batista Agut vs. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez		No. 15 Timea Bacsinzsky vs. Vitalia Diatchenko
No. 10 Gael Monfils vs. Gilles Muller		No. 10 Karolina Pliskova vs. Sofia Kenin
No. 18 Pablo Cuevas vs. Dudi Sela		No. 17 Anastasia Pavlyuchenko vs. Louisa Chirico
No. 32 Benoit Paire vs. Dusan Lajovic		No. 27 Laura Siegemund vs. Patricia Tig
No. 5 Milos Raonic vs. Dustin Brown		No. 6 Venus Williams vs. Kateryna Kozlova
No. 8 Dominic Thiem vs. John Millman		No. 8 Madison Keys vs. Alison Riske
No. 29 Sam Querrey vs. Janko Tipsarevic		No. 29 CoCo Vandeweghe vs. Naomi Osaka
No. 19 Steve Johnson vs. Evgeny Donskoy		No. 18 Barbora Strycova vs. Monica Niculescu
No. 11 David Ferrer vs. Alexandr Dolgopolov		No. 9 Svetlana Kuznetsova vs. Francesca Schiavone
No. 14 Nick Kyrgios vs. Aljaz Bedene		No. 13 Johanna Konta vs. Bethanie Mattek-Sands
No. 17 Bernard Tomic vs. Damir Dzumhur		No. 32 Monica Puig vs. Saisai Zheng
No. 27 Alexander Zverev vs. Daniel Brands		No. 3 Garbine Muguruza vs. Elise Mertens
No. 3 Stan Wawrinka vs. Fernando Verdasco		No. 7 Roberta Vinci vs. Anna-Lena Friedsam
No. 6 Kei Nishikori vs. Benjamin Becker		No. 30 Misaki Doi vs. Carina Witthoeft
No. 25 Philipp Kohlschreiber vs. Nicolas Mahut		No. 21 Irina-Camelia Begu vs. Lesia Tsurenko
No. 21 Ivo Karlovic vs. Yen-Hsun Lu		No. 12 Dominika Cibulkova vs. Magda Linette
No. 12 David Goffin vs. Jared Donaldson		No. 14 Petra Kvitova vs. Jelena Ostapenko
No. 16 Feliciano Lopez vs. Borna Coric		No. 22 Elina Svitolina vs. Mandy Minella
No. 22 Grigor Dimitrov vs. Inigo Cervantes		No. 27 Sara Errani vs. Shelby Rogers
No. 30 Gilles Simon vs. Radek Stepanek		No. 2 Angelique Kerber vs. Polona Hercog
No. 2 Andy Murray vs. Lukas Rosol		No. 24 Sloane Stephens (Withdrew)

Women's Draw
Men's Draw
Player	Odds
Serena Williams	+120
Angelique Kerber	+800
Garbine Muguruza	+800
Simona Halep	+800
Madison Keys	+1400
Petra Kvitova	+2000
Belinda Bencic	+2500
Player	Odds
Novak Djokovic	Even
Andy Murray	+180
Milos Raonic	+1200
Juan Martin Del Potro	+1600
Stan Wawrinka	+1600
Marin Cilic	+2000
Rafael Nadal	+2000

Note: For a complete list of player odds, check out Odds Shark. 

   
Preview

Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams are the top seeds and favorites at the U.S. Open this year, but both are coming into the tournament dealing with nagging injuries, per David Waldstein of the New York Times: "Williams is recovering from a sore right shoulder that forced her to withdraw from an event in Cincinnati last week. Djokovic has a left wrist issue that may have contributed to his loss to Juan Martin del Potro in the first round at the Rio Olympics."

Williams is looking to avenge her shock semifinal loss to Roberta Vinci in last year's U.S. Open, which prevented her from winning all four Grand Slam events in a calendar year. This year's tournament is going to be tough right from the outset, as Williams drew Russia's Ekaterina Makarova in the first round.

Bill Kostroun/Associated Press

Though Williams is 4-1 all-time against Makarova, the latter is ranked 36th in the world and could be feeling confident after winning gold in women's doubles at the Summer Games. Makarova's lone win over Williams was on a hard court, at the 2012 Australian Open.

An issue for Williams at the U.S. Open could be her normally devastating serve. ESPN.com's Peter Bodo notes Williams' most powerful weapon hasn't been completely operational in some time:

"

Williams said the last time she felt that her serve was a fully functioning weapon was at Wimbledon, where the women's final was contested July 9. She might have relied on it too much while earning her record-tying 22nd Grand Slam title in London. But it clearly was not that familiar, lethal tool during her three matches in Rio, where she and sister Venus also saw their unbeaten Olympic doubles streak broken in the first round at 15 matches (and three gold medals).

"

Angelique Kerber is one to watch in this tournament. Ranked No. 2 in the world, she missed out on a chance to dethrone Williams as the top-ranked women's tennis player, losing to Karolina Pliskova in the final of the Western & Southern Open.

If Williams falters and Kerber soars, there could be a new order in women's tennis after the U.S. Open.

For those looking for an American other than Williams to take the tournament, Madison Keys could be the ticket. She's already won one singles title this year and reached the semifinals at the Olympics before losing to Kerber in straight sets. 

Michel Euler/Associated Press

At one point, Djokovic looked like he was on his way to a calendar Slam (or even a golden Slam, this being an Olympics year) after steamrolling the competition to win the Australian and French Opens. However, shock early exits from Wimbledon and the Olympics has derailed his momentum and likely left some fans scratching their heads, considering his peerless play in the first half of the year. 

Though his wrist troubled him in Rio, Djokovic revealed his Wimbledon exit was due to a personal matter, per Reuters (via the Sydney Morning Herald): 

"

It was nothing physical, it was not an injury. It was some other things that I was going through privately. But it was nothing linked to the wrist injury I got in Rio.

We all have private issues and things that are more challenges than issues, things we have to encounter and overcome in order to evolve as a human being. That was the period for me. Was resolved and life is going on like everything else.

"

If personal matters and physical ailments are behind him, Djokovic could very well be on his way to a 13th Grand Slam title. Roger Federer is out of the tournament with an injury, and Rafael Nadal is working his way back from a wrist injury, per Waldstein. 

Challengers to watch out for include Marin Cilic, who won the U.S. Open in 2014 and beat Andy Murray in Cincinnati on August 21 to win the Western & Southern Open. Juan Martin del Potro is also quite the dark-horse pick after he grabbed a silver medal at the Olympics after losing the final match to Murray. 

Partisan tennis fans might be hoping Del Potro's run is over early, however, as the Argentinian could face top-ranked American Steve Johnson in the second round. Johnson is just 20-19 in singles play this year, so he could find it difficult to match up with the veteran and in-form Del Potro.

Bryan R. Smith/Associated Press

Murray, of course, is a top contender after winning at both Wimbledon and the Olympics, to say nothing of reaching the finals of the Australian and French Opens this year. Murray's first Grand Slam win came at the 2012 U.S. Open, but he hasn't made it past the quarterfinals since. 

Though he's often fallen just short of usurping the likes of Djokovic, Nadal and Federer, the U.S. Open represents as good a chance as any for Murray to win a major tournament without having to deal with his tormentors. Federer is out, while Nadal and Djokovic are set to clash in the semifinals should they both make it to that point.

Murray's job will be to beat back the rising tide of younger contenders and cagey veterans. It's a task he's well suited for, and his recent play suggests he has what it takes to win it all.