Serena Williams seeded 17th at U.S. Open

By Nick ZaccardiAug 21, 2018, 12:00 PM EDT

Serena Williams has been seeded 17th at the U.S. Open, nine spots higher than her WTA ranking as she returns from childbirth.

The rest of the women’s and men’s singles seeds follow WTA and ATP rankings. Williams is seeded one spot below older sister Venus, a two-time U.S. Open winner.

Williams goes for her seventh U.S. Open title beginning next week. She eyes her 24th Grand Slam singles title overall, which would tie Margaret Court‘s record.

Williams returned to the WTA Tour in March after Sept. 1 childbirth followed by multiple surgeries. She made the fourth round of the French Open in May and June before withdrawing with a pectoral muscle injury.

She then reached the Wimbledon final, losing in straight sets to German Angelique Kerber.

Williams has lost two of her three matches since Wimbledon in U.S. hard-court tournaments.

The French Open did not give Williams a seed when she was ranked No. 453 due to the maternity leave. Wimbledon seeded Williams 25th when she was ranked No. 183.

The U.S. Open would “revise the seedings if pregnancy is a factor in the current rankings of a player,” USTA president and chairwoman Katrina Adams said in June, according to The New York Times.

2018 US Open Women’s Singles Seeds

1. Simona Halep, Romania

2. Caroline Wozniacki, Denmark

3. Sloane Stephens, United States

4. Angelique Kerber, Germany

5. Petra Kvitova, Czech Republic

6. Caroline Garcia, France

7. Elina Svitolina, Ukraine

8. Karolina Pliskova, Czech Republic

9. Julia Goerges, Germany

10. Jelena Ostapenko, Latvia

11. Daria Kasatkina, Russia

12. Garbiñe Muguruza, Spain

13. Kiki Bertens, Netherlands

14. Madison Keys, United States

15. Elise Mertens, Belgium

16. Venus Williams, United States

17. Serena Williams, United States

18. Ashleigh Barty, Australia

19. Anastasija Sevastova, Latvia

20. Naomi Osaka, Japan

21. Mihaela Buzarnescu, Romania

22. Maria Sharapova, Russia

23. Barbora Strycova, Czech Republic

24. CoCo Vandeweghe, United States

25. Daria Gavrilova, Australia

26. Aryna Sabalenka, Belarus

27. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Russia

28. Anett Kontaveit, Estonia

29. Dominika Cibulkova, Slovakia

30. Carla Suarez Navarro, Spain

31. Magdalena Rybarikova, Slovakia

32. Maria Sakkari, Greece

2018 US Open Men’s Singles Seeds

1. Rafael Nadal, Spain

2. Roger Federer, Switzerland

3. Juan Martin del Potro, Argentina

4. Alexander Zverev, Germany

5. Kevin Anderson, South Africa

6. Novak Djokovic, Serbia

7. Marin Cilic, Croatia

8. Grigor Dimitrov, Bulgaria

9. Dominic Thiem, Austria

10. David Goffin, Belgium

11. John Isner, United States

12. Pablo Carreno Busta, Spain

13. Diego Schwartzman, Argentina

14. Fabio Fognini, Italy

15. Stefanos Tsitsipas, Greece

16. Kyle Edmund, Great Britain

17. Lucas Pouille, France

18. Jack Sock, United States

19. Roberto Bautista Agut, Spain

20. Borna Coric, Croatia

21. Kei Nishikori, Japan

22. Marco Cecchinato, Italy

23. Hyeon Chung, South Korea

24. Damir Dzumhur, Bosnia and Herzegovina

25. Milos Raonic, Canada

26. Richard Gasquet, France

27. Karen Khachanov, Russia

28. Denis Shapovalov, Canada

29. Adrian Mannarino, France

30. Nick Kyrgios, Australia

31. Fernando Verdasco, Spain

32. Filip Krajinovic, Serbia

Olympian Derrick Mein ends U.S. men’s trap drought at shotgun worlds

By OlympicTalkSep 28, 2022, 12:56 PM EDT

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Tokyo Olympian Derrick Mein became the first U.S. male shooter to win a world title in the trap event since 1966, prevailing at the world shotgun championships in Osijek, Croatia, on Wednesday.

Mein, who grew up on a small farm in Southeast Kansas, hunting deer and quail, nearly squandered a place in the final when he missed his last three shots in the semifinal round after hitting his first 22. He rallied in a sudden-death shoot-off for the last spot in the final by hitting all five of his targets.

He hit 33 of 34 targets in the final to win by two over Brit Nathan Hales with one round to spare.

The last U.S. man to win an Olympic trap title was Donald Haldeman in 1976.

Mein, 37, was 24th in his Olympic debut in Tokyo (and placed 13th with Kayle Browning in the mixed-gender team event).

The U.S. swept the Tokyo golds in the other shotgun event — skeet — with Vincent Hancock and Amber English. Browning took silver in women’s trap.

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LET'S GO! Derrick Mein is the 2022 World Champion for Men's Trap AND earned an Olympic quota!!!!!!!#USASWorlds #TeamUSA #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/yh5bDzyLgu

— USA Shooting (@USAShooting) September 28, 2022

Mo Farah withdraws before London Marathon

By OlympicTalkSep 28, 2022, 12:22 PM EDT

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British track legend Mo Farah withdrew before Sunday’s London Marathon, citing a right hip injury before what would have been his first 26.2-mile race in nearly two years.

Farah, who swept the 2012 and 2016 Olympic track titles at 5000m and 10,000m, said he hoped “to be back out there” next April, when the London Marathon returns to its traditional month after COVID moved it to the fall for three consecutive years. Farah turns 40 on March 23.

“I’ve been training really hard over the past few months and I’d got myself back into good shape and was feeling pretty optimistic about being able to put in a good performance,” in London, Farah said in a press release. “However, over the past 10 days I’ve been feeling pain and tightness in my right hip. I’ve had extensive physio and treatment and done everything I can to be on the start line, but it hasn’t improved enough to compete on Sunday.”

Farah switched from the track to the marathon after the 2017 World Championships and won the 2018 Chicago Marathon in a then-European record time of 2:05:11. Belgium’s Bashir Abdi now holds the record at 2:03:36.

Farah returned to the track in a failed bid to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics, then shifted back to the roads.

Sunday’s London Marathon men’s race is headlined by Ethiopians Kenenisa Bekele and Birhanu Legese, the second- and third-fastest marathoners in history.

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