All you need to know about US Open 2022: Dates, Venues, Top Seeds, Draw, Format, Defending Champions, and Prize Money
The 2022 US Open will be the 142nd edition of the hardcourt Slam. The final Slam of the year will be played at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. The matches will be played on 14 Laykold courts. The men’s singles defending champion is World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev and the women’s singles defending champion is World No. 13 Emma Raducanu.
The main draw wildcards for the 2022 US Open were recently announced. Dominic Thiem, Sam Querrey, Emilio Nava, JJ Wolf, Ben Shelton, Leanne Tien, Ugo Humbert and Rinky Hijikata received wildcards for the men’s singles event. On the women’s side, Venus Williams, Sofia Kenin, CoCo Vandeweghe, Elizabeth Mandlik, Peyton Stearns, Eleana Yu, Harmony Tan and Jaimee Fourlis received wildcards.
One of the oldest tennis tournaments still played today, the US Open, was founded in 1881 and has been played annually nearly ever since. It was first played on the grass garden of the Newport Casino, Rhode Island.
Today, the tournament is one of the most famous in existence and features 128 men and 128 women competing in singles, as well as men’s and women’s doubles and mixed doubles tournaments. The men’s singles tournament is the attention grabber, the final of which is played at the Arthur Ashe stadium in front of a capacity crowd.
Here’s all you need to know about the 2022 edition of the final Grand Slam of the year –
Schedule
The qualifying rounds are to take place from August 23-26. The tournament will officially begin on August 29 and end on September 11.
The US Open, like the other three Grand Slams, has seven rounds that take place over a two-week period. The tournament will begin on Monday, August 29, with the first four rounds going on until next Monday, September 5.
The quarter-finals will take place on September 6-7. The women’s semi-final is scheduled for Thursday, September 8, with the men’s semi-final set for the following day.
The women’s championship match will take place on Saturday, September 10. The men’s title round will take place on Sunday, September 11. Both finals are set to begin at 4 pm local time.
Venues
The Grand Slam will be contested in the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center that is located inside the Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, most commonly known as ‘Flushing Meadows, Queens, New York. The facility has a total of 22 courts inside its 46 and a half acres and 12 more in the adjoining park.
There are three stadiums inside the facility including Arthur Ashe Stadium which is the largest tennis venue in the world with a capacity of 23,200. The other two main venues are the Louis Armstrong Stadium, which has a capacity of 14,000, and the Grandstand which holds 8,125 spectators.
Traditionally, the 33 courts had used DecoTurf cushioned acrylic surfaces until 2020 when the venue adopted Laykold surfaces.
Top Seeds
Daniil Medvedev is most likely to be seeded one in the men’s singles event
Defending champion Daniil Medvedev is most likely to be seeded one in the men’s singles event whilst 2022 Australian and French Open champion Rafael Nadal is likely to be seeded second after Alexander Zverev withdrew his name from the competition after not recovering from his ankle injury in time.
Meanwhile, Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic is currently seeded fifth, but he may have to sit out of the tournament as he is not eligible for a visa due to being unvaccinated against Covid-19.
In the women’s competition, 2022 French Open champion Iga Swiatek is most likely to be seeded one. Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit is likely to be seeded second whilst last year’s French and US Open semi-finalist Maria Sakkari is to be seeded third. Meanwhile, Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina is likely to be seeded 25th.
Draw
The draw ceremony will take place on Thursday, August 25. The exact time is yet to be revealed. Hence that is the day we will also be officially confirmed as the seedings of this Grand Slam.
Format
As is the case with all Grand Slams, the 2022 edition of the US Open will see a knockout format wherein the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, whose winner becomes the tournament champion.
Defending Champions
Emma Raducanu is the defending women’s singles champion of the US Open
Daniil Medvedev won the 2021 US Open title with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 victory against Novak Djokovic in the championship match. Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury lifted the men’s doubles trophy, defeating Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 in the final.
Emma Raducanu made history last year, becoming the first Slam qualifier in the history of the sport to go on and win the title. Raducanu defeated Maria Sakkari in the semi-finals and defeated Leylah Fernandez 6-4, 6-3 in the final to win her first major.
In women’s doubles, Sam Stosur and Zhang Shuai defeated Coco Gauff and Caty McNally to win their second major title as a team. Desirae Krawczyk and Joe Salisbury won the mixed doubles title. By doing so, Krawczyk became the first player in 15 years to win three consecutive mixed doubles titles.
Prize money
In 2021, the total prize money awarded to the players reached a record $57.5 million. However, in 2022, the prize money purse is now up to a record-extending $60 million. Players who lose in the first round of the New York Major will earn $80,000, which is 85% more than the 2016 edition. The men’s and women’s singles champions will earn $2.6 million.
SINGLES
Winner: $2,600,000/2,000 points
Finalist: $1,300,000/1,200 points
Semi-finalist: $705,000/720 points
Quarter-finalist: $445,000/360 points
Fourth Round: $278,000/180 points
Third Round: $188,000/90 points
Second Round: $121,000/45 points
First Round: $80,000/10 points
DOUBLES ($ per team)
Winner: $688,000/2,000 points
Finalist: $344,000/1,200 points
Semi-finalist: $172,000/720 points
Quarter-finalist: $97,500/360 points
Third Round: $56,400/180 points
Second Round: $35,800/90 points
First Round: $21,300/0 points