Serena Williams, defending champions, Tickets, schedule: 12 questions about the 2022 US Open – updated with prize money

Where does the US Open take place?

The US Open takes place in New York City, in the borough of Queens, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. The venue has 22 courts, including Arthur Ashe Stadium and Louis Armstrong Stadium.

The exact location of the tournament is:

USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center
Flushing Meadows – Corona Park
Flushing, NY 11368

What are the dates for the 2022 US Open?

The main draw of the tournament is scheduled from August 29 to September 11, 2022. The qualifying draw gets underway on August 23.

What is the tournament schedule?

The official 2022 US Open day-by-day schedule is available on the US Open website via this link.

How do I get tickets for the US Open?

You can find out more about US Open 2022 tickets at the tournament’s official website. There are several types of packages available – from daily passes to weekend passes and season passes.

Tickets can be purchased by visiting USOpen.org and Ticketmaster.

Who are the defending US Open champions?

Daniil Medvedev and Emma Raducanu are the men’s and women’s defending champions respectively.

Medvedev won his first Grand Slam singles title at Flushing Meadows last year with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 win over Novak Djokovic, ending the Serb’s quest for a calendar Grand Slam at the final hurdle.

Raducanu defeated fellow teen Leylah Fernandez 6-4, 6-3 to win her first title on the WTA Tour. The Brit, ranked No 150 in the world at the time, created history by becoming the first qualifier, male or female, to win a Grand Slam singles title.

Here are all the champions from the 2021 US Open:

• Women’s singles: Emma Raducanu
• Men’s singles: Daniil Medvedev
• Women’s doubles: Samantha Stosur/ Zhang Shuai
• Men’s doubles: Rajeev Ram/ Joe Salisbury
• Mixed doubles: Desirae Krawczyk / Joe Salisbury
• Wheelchair men’s singles: Shingo Kunieda
• Wheelchair women’s singles: Diede De Groot
• Quad singles: Dylan Alcott
• Quad doubles: Sam Schröder/  Niels Vink
• Wheelchair men’s doubles: Alfie Hewett/ Gordon Reid
• Wheelchair women’s doubles: Diede de Groot/ Aniek van Koot
• Boys’ singles: Daniel Rincón
• Girls’ singles: Robin Montgomery
• Boys’ doubles: Max Westphal / Coleman Wong
• Girls’ doubles: Ashlyn Krueger / Robin Montgomery

Who are the past winners of the US Open?

Initially played in 1881 as the US National men’s singles and doubles championships in Newport, Rhode Island, the competition has been held every year for the past 141 years, with women’s singles first held in 1887, followed by women’s doubles in 1889 and mixed doubles in 1892. The tournament has been held at nine different sites. It moved to Forest Hills, New York at the start of the Open Era, and then to its current location in Flushing Meadows in 1978.

Among the past (active) winners are six-time champion Serena Williams, five-time champion Roger Federer, four-time champion Rafael Nadal, three-time champion Novak Djokovic and two-time champions Naomi Osaka and Venus Williams.

Chris Evert is tied with Serena Williams for the all-time Open Era singles titles record with six, while Federer,  Pete Sampras and Jimmy Connors are tied for the all-time Open Era men’s singles titles record with five.

What is the prize money for the tournament?

The total prize money on offer at the 2022 edition will be more than $60 million for the first time ever. This breaks the earlier record of $57.5 million that was set in 2021.

The men’s and women’s singles champion will earn $2.6 million each players losing in the first round at Flushing Meadows will earn $80,000.

The round-by-round prize money for the 2022 singles’ draws is a s follows:

• Champion         $2,600,000
• Runner-Up        $1,300,000
• Semifinalist       $705,000
• Quarterfinalist   $445,000
• Round of 16      $278,000
• Round of 32      $188,000
• Round of 64      $121,000
• Round of 128    $80,000

Will Djokovic play the 2022 US Open?

As of August 22, Djokovic will not be allowed to participate in the 2022 edition if he remains unvaccinated. But the Serb remains entered into the tournament as he hopes for a last minute change in entry rules into the United States.

In a recent interview, Djokovic said he found it strange that an American player, who is unvaccinated, will be allowed to compete at the US Open but he, being a foreign citizen, would not be allowed to do so.

Other players have also questioned the federal decision, notably Australian John Millman, who wrote on Twitter: “I could be covid positive and fly into the States, no questions asked because I’m vaccinated. But someone who has recovered from covid, is now covid negative but hasn’t been [vaccinated] is denied entry.”

Will Serena Williams play the 2022 US Open?

Serena Williams will play at the US Open this year. It seems likely that the 2022 US Open will be her final tournament before retiring, or ‘evolving’ as she prefers to call it.

In her essay for Vogue released earlier in August 2022, she said she would hang up her racquets after a few weeks and suggested that a fairytale end to her on-court career would be to win the US Open one last time.

Williams is a six-time singles champion at the US Open and has also picked up three doubles (women’s and mixed) in New York during her career.

Which top players won’t be playing at the Flushing Meadows this year?

Among the men, Roger Federer, who is yet recovering from his most recent knee surgery, will miss the US Open. The Swiss has not played since Wimbledon 2021 and had pencilled the Laver Cup in September as his comeback event.

Current world No 2 Alexander Zverev, who underwent surgery following the French Open, is also out after failing to recover in time from the nasty ankle injury he suffered at the French Open, for which he underwent surgery later.

Frenchman Gael Monfils, American Reilly Opelka and South African Lloyd Harris will also be watching from the sidelines this year.

On the women’s side, Elina Svitolina, a former world No 3, will miss the US Open as she is due to give birth to her first child later this year.

Which players have been awarded wild cards for the 2022 US Open?

Two-time US Open singles champion Venus Williams, 2020 US Open men’s singles champion Dominic Thiem and former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin are among those who have been awarded wild cards into the main draw of the 2022 US Open event. For the complete list, click on the link below.

Who is the Tournament Director?

Former WTA CEO Stacey Allaster took over as tournament director in 2020. Allaster also serves as the USTA’s chief executive of professional tennis. She is the first female director in the tournament’s 140-year history. 

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