2016 US OPEN: Men's and Women's Draw Released and Analyzed

The 2016 US OPEN draw has been released. 2015 US Open champion Flavia Pennetta has retired so she will not be defending her title. However, defending champion Novak Djokovic is seeded #1 this year as well. The draw has been released and the potential men's quarterfinal match ups are:

• [1] Novak Djokovic versus [7] Marin Cilic
• [4] Rafael Nadal versus [5] Milos Raonic
• [3] Stan Wawrinka versus [8] Dominic Thiem 
• [2] Andy Murray versus [6] Kei Nishikori

On the Women's side, the potential women's quarterfinal matches are:

• [1] Serena Williams versus [5] Simona Halep
• [4] Agnieska Radwanska versus [6] Venus Williams
• [3] Garbine Muguruza versus [8] Madison Keys  
• [2] Angelique Kerber versus [7] Roberta Vinci

Last year at this time Serena had won the last 4 majors in a row (i.e, the Serena Slam!) and was attempting to win her 22nd major and complete the first calendar year Grand Slam since 1988. In one of the great historic upsets in sports, she lost in the semifinals to Roberta Vinci, setting up an all-Italian major final with first-time major finalists that was won by Pennetta.

As usual, there are always some exciting first round matches. Here are the notable ones to look out for this year:

• Serena Williams versus Ekaterina Makarova
• Camilla Giorgi versus Sam Stosur
• Taylor Townsend versus Caroline Wozniacki
• Yulia Putintseva versus Sabine Lisicki
• Sara Errani versus Shelby Rogers

• John Isner versus Frances Tiafoe
• Stan Wawrinka versus Fernando Verdasco
• Gael Monfils versus Gilles Muller
• Jack Sock versus Taylor Fritz
• Janko Tipsarevic versus Sam Querrey
• Fernando Lopez versus Borna Coric

I plan to attend the tournament myself next weekend!