As the U.S. Open heads into its first weekend, let’s have a moment of silence for all the top seeds gone too soon.
On the women’s side:
- No. 2 Simona Halep lost to Maria Sharapova in the first round (not exactly inconceivable, but still an upset).
- No. 5 Caroline Wozniacki lost to Ekaterina Makarova in the second round (after the match, Wozniacki was not happy about Sharapova getting placed on Center Court).
- No. 6 Angelique Kerber lost to Naomi Osaka in the first round, despite the fact that Osaka’s mind sometimes wanders to mesothelioma commercials.
- No. 7 Johanna Konta lost to Aleksandra Krunic in the first round.
- No. 8 Svetlana Kuznetsova lost to Kurumi Nara in the second round.
- No. 11 Dominika Cibulkova lost to Sloane Stephens in the second round.
- No. 14 Kristina Mladenovic lost to Monica Niculescu in the first round.
On the men’s side:
- No. 4 Alexander Zverev lost in the second round to fellow kid Borna Coric.
- No. 7 Grigor Dimitrov lost in the second round to Andrey Rublev, despite the latter’s battle with his own shirt.
- No. 8 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga lost to Denis Shapovalov in the second round, but he did win this insane point.
- No. 13 Jack Sock lost to Jordan Thompson in the first round.
- No. 14 Nick Kyrgios lost to John Millman in the first round after picking up a shoulder injury and smashing a racket.
- No. 15 Tomas Berdych lost in the second round to Alexandr Dolgopolov, who says he does not fix matches because he has no online friends, thank you very much.
There are survivors: No. 1 Karolina Pliskova is still in it, after winning a three-set match over American Nicole Gibbs, as are 2017 Wimbledon winner and No. 3 Garbiñe Muguruza, No. 9 Venus Williams, and 2017 French Open winner and No. 12 Jelena Ostapenko. The unseeded Sharapova, though, could create more havoc.
As for the men, Rafael Nadal and a shaky Roger Federer are in the mix, as well as No. 9 David Goffin and No. 10 John Isner. A whole crop of talented teens will try to unseat them.