US Open day 1: Order of play, how to watch, expected highlights

James Richardson 24 Aug 2024 5:39 PM

Novak Djokovic reacts during a match

Novak Djokovic gets his pursuit of a 25th Grand Slam underway at Arthur Ashe Stadium when he faces Radu Albot in the US Open first round on day one of the final Major of the year on Monday 26 August.

Djokovic hasn’t played at all since winning Olympic gold, taking time off for a holiday with his family instead but he will be out to find form quickly in New York.

American world No 13 Ben Shelton will play the first match on Arthur Ashe when he faces former US Open champion Dominic Thiem on Monday afternoon.

Shelton doesn’t feel like he is under any pressure to be the man who ends the United States wait for a men’s Grand Slam winner.

“I wouldn’t say it enters my mindset at all,” Shelton said when asked about the drought that stretches back to 2003.

“I think that the gradual improvement of the ranking of American players over the last three, four years, is proof to where we’re going. I think it’s inevitable that we will have a Grand Slam champion from our country. I don’t know when it’s going to be or who it’s going to be.

“Certainly I have a bunch of goals for myself, but I think that the most important is the everyday work, the small improvements, the process, that’s what I focus on, and I think that that’s what’s important for me individually and us as a country.”

Defending women’s champion and American No 1 Coco Gauff will follow Shelton out onto the main stadium when she faces Varvara Gracheva of France.

Gauff insists that her life hasn’t changed much at all since she won the US Open last year.

“Honestly, I hate to say it, but it’s not as different as people think it’s become. Like I said before, I think I just had such a gradual rise in this sport, like, obviously it hit the stone at 15 where everything was coming at me fast, but ever since then every year has just been gradual. I think all that time prepped me to better prepare for this moment so I wasn’t such a deer in headlights and everything wasn’t so crazy, so I felt like I was being prepared for that.

“That’s why I’m grateful, I don’t know, some people thought I was going to win one at 15 or 16, which was crazy, I wasn’t going to do that. I think it just helped prepare me for now. So I think now coming in I’m going to enjoy it.

“So yeah, I think my life hasn’t been too different other than a little bit of more attention. But I feel like every year has been different because it’s always been a gradual rise of attention, and I think next year, whether I win this or not, I’ll still have maybe a little bit more attention just because that just seems the way my life is going, which is great, because I can continue to use that platform to spread positivity, light, and good messages into the world.

“I’m grateful for that. I’ll never say that I’m not grateful for it, because I know this is what I wanted to do since I was young and all of this is just a plus.”

Another American woman and former US Open champion, Sloane Stephens will open up the evening session on Arthur Ashe with a match against another Frenchwoman in Clara Burel.

Olympic gold medallist and No 7 seed Zheng Qinwen will start things off at the Louis Armstrong Stadium against home hope Amanda Anisimova.

After that men’s No 12 seed Taylor Fritz takes on Camilo Ugo Carabelli on the secondary show court and Madison Keys and Katerina Siniakova follow.

No 20 seed Frances Tiafoe will kick off the evening session on Louis when he takes on Aleksandar Kovacevic.

Tiafoe said nobody should be ruled out of a deep run at the US Open even if they have been out of action or in poor form.

“It all changes in a couple of matches,” He said when asked about carrying momentum into the Slam.

“You can’t really anticipate that. Obviously it looks like that going in, but I think it’s open for a lot of guys this year, for sure, to have a chance at it. You can never count those guys out. They’re on the top of the game for a reason.

“It’s always different in a slam. The lights are a little brighter. We’ll see. We’ll see what ends up happening. Personally I just like where I’m at and my shot at it.”

Women’s singles favourite Aryna Sabalenka closes out proceedings at Louis Armstrong Stadium on Monday with her match against Priscilla Hon.

U.S. Open Order of Play — Monday, August 26

Arthur Ashe Stadium (starting at 12:00 ET, 17:00 BST)
Ben Shelton (13) vs. Dominic Thiem
Coco Gauff (3) vs. Varvara Gracheva

Arthur Ashe Stadium (starting at 19:00 ET, 00:00 BST)
Sloane Stephens vs. Clara Burel
Novak Djokovic (2) vs. Radu Albot

Louis Armstrong Stadium (starting at 11:00 ET, 16:00 BST)
Zheng Qinwen (7) vs. Amanda Anisimova
Taylor Fritz (12) vs. Camilo Ugo Carabelli
Madison Keys (14) vs. Katerina Siniakova

Louis Armstrong Stadium (starting at 19:00 ET, 00:00 BST)
Frances Tiafoe (20) vs. Aleksandar Kovacevic
Aryna Sabalenka (2) vs. Priscilla Hon

Grandstand (starting at 11:00 ET, 16:00 BST)
Alexander Zverev (4) vs. Emil Ruusuvuori
Paula Badosa (26) vs. Viktorija Golubic
Gael Monfils vs. Diego Schwartzman
Victoria Azarenka (20) vs. Yuliia Starodubtseva (not before 18:00 ET, 23:00 BST)

How to watch the US Open

ESPN will be the US home of America’s Grand Slam in 2024, ESPN+ will serve as the streaming home of the tournament, featuring every match. Coverage will also air across the channels ESPN2, ESPN3 ABC and ESPN Deportes.

In the UK, Sky Sports holds the exlusive rights to air US Open Tennis.

US Open coverage will air free in Australia (9Now) and New Zealand (TVNZ+).

The US Open broadcast rights for Africa are largely split between pay channels BeIn Sports and SuperSport.

US Open News

Finishing late can really ruin your tournament but US Open taking positive steps

Aryna Sabalenka admits to big injury regret ahead of US Open

Cable channel TSN has the rights to broadcast the US Open 2024 in Canada.

The rights for Latin America and the Caribbean are via ESPN International.

The US Open broadcast rights for Europe come courtesy of Eurosport. Residents of the following countries can watch US Open 2024 live streams via Eurosport: Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Tyroll, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan.

JOYN in Austria will stream coverage of the Slam while Sky Sport athe the choice in Germany.

Viewers in Italy can watch the 2024 US Open on Super Tennis and Movistar Plus in Spain.