The first round continues as Novak Djokovic and Ashleigh Barty, both ranked No. 1 in the world, play their opening matches.
The first round continues as Novak Djokovic and Ashleigh Barty, both ranked No.1 in the world, play their opening matches. Ashleigh Barty begins her U.S. Open journey on Tuesday against a 2010 Open finalist, Vera Zvonareva. Barty, the top woman in tennis, has fewer ghosts to wrestle than Novak Djokovic but also has less experience with playing her best in New York. Barty has never reached the quarterfinals at the U.S. Open in her five appearances, though she has played the event only once since winning her first major tournament at the 2019 French Open. But though she also suffered Olympic disappointment, losing in the first round, Barty bounced back with a dominant run to the Western & Southern Open title near Cincinnati this month, not dropping a set along the way. Because of Australian travel restrictions, she has not been home for months, but said her nomadic year, one in which she won her first Wimbledon title, has become one of her best. “It’s become such a beautiful story for me this year; it’s become such a beautiful year on the tennis court,” Barty said last week. “All of those distractions, experiences, everything that’s come with it has made it all the better.” — Ben Rothenberg How to watch: From noon to 6 p.m. Eastern on ESPN; 7 to 11 p.m. on ESPN2; and streaming on the ESPN app.
