World No.1 Iga Swiatek and six-time champion Serena Williams are on the packed star-studded entry list for the final Grand Slam event of the season US Open 2022 which commences on August 29. World No.1 claimed the top spot from the list of 104 players who received direct entry into the season’s last major. Swiatek will aim for her second Grand Slam crown of the year after winning the French Open title as part of an amazing 37-match winning streak. The six-time US Open champion Serena Williams also claimed a spot on the list. Williams has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles in her career, the most by any player, female or male, since the opening of the Open Era in 1968.
The current WTA Top 5 are: Swiatek, Anett Kontaveit, Maria Sakkari, Paula Badosa and 2022 Wimbledon finalist Ons Jabeur. Reigning Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina will also make her first appearance at a major as a Grand Slam winner. British player Emma Raducanu will return to US Open to defend her title. Last year, British teen sensation Raducanu swept through ten matches without the loss of any set to become the first player, female or male, to win a Grand Slam event as a qualifier. Other Grand Slam champions entered include Simona Halep, Garbine Muguruza, Petra Kvitova, Barbora Krejcikova, Jelena Ostapenko and three-time US Open finalist Victoria Azarenka. Coco Gauff, this year’s French Open finalist, and Danielle Collins, this season’s Australian Open finalist, are two Americans who will try to go one step further in New York this year. 2018 and 2020 champion Naomi Osaka, 2016 champion Angelique Kerber, and 2017 winner Sloane Stephens are other former US Open titlists in the mix.