TENNIS in DEPTH.

Serena Williams has been seeded 28th at the US Open, which is sticking with its policy of following the world rankings instead of taking into account players’ past performances. Williams has won 13 Grand Slam titles and is the bookies favourite to add a 14th in New York, where she has won three times. The former world number one also recently won consecutive hard-court tournaments in Stanford and Toronto. The American is currently ranked 29th, up from 175th in July, a few weeks after she returned to the tour following nearly a year off because of a series of health problems.

Big sister Venus, who has only played in 5 tournaments in the past 12 months due to a series of injuries and ilnesses, is ranked outside of the top 32, and if she plays will enter the tournament as just another player.

Top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki is seeded one, despite never having won a Grand Slam and with just one final to her name – a defeat at Flushing Meadows to Kim Clijsters two years ago. Russian Vera Zvonareva is seeded two. Two-time reigning US Open champion Clijsters, currently ranked third in the world, will miss the tournament with a stomach muscle injury.

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