2010 US Open (tennis)

Milestones

Serena Williams' withdrawal

Three-time champion and World No. 1 Serena Williams officially announced her withdrawal from the US Open on 20 August due to foot surgery. Her withdrawal also meant that she and older sister Venus could not pair up to defend the doubles title they won in 2009, and allowed WTA No. 2 Caroline Wozniacki to be installed as the top seed for the tournament, where she was defeated in the semi-finals by Vera Zvonareva. It was the first time since 2003 in which Serena Williams was forced to miss her national championships due to injury, the first Grand Slam tournament she missed through injury since Wimbledon in 2006, the first time since the 2007 Australian Open in which the women's World No. 1 missed a Grand Slam tournament and the first time in the WTA's 35-year rankings history that the World No. 1 missed the US Open.

Other notable withdrawals included two-time champion Justine Henin, as well as men's defending champion Juan Martín del Potro, Tommy Haas, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Ivo Karlović and Mario Ančić. Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova, Ana Ivanovic, Kim Clijsters and John Isner had all been in doubt after suffering minor injuries during lead-up tournaments but all were cleared to play.

Victoria Azarenka collapses

In a second round match played in 40-degree heat, Belarusian 10th seed Victoria Azarenka collapsed whilst trailing Gisela Dulko 1–5 in the first set. Azarenka was subsequently taken to hospital in a wheelchair where she was diagnosed with mild concussion and later released a statement saying that a mishap in the gym, and not the heat, caused her to collapse during the match. Her second round retirement represented her worst ever performance at Flushing Meadows, having never previously fallen before the third round. It was also the second time she was forced to retire from a match at a Major, when she retired in near identical circumstances against Serena Williams at the 2009 Australian Open.

Spanish performance

The men's tournament was well known for the excellent performances of Spanish players. Of the sixteen Spaniards that started in the 128-man draw, six of them reached the fourth round: Rafael Nadal, Fernando Verdasco, Tommy Robredo, David Ferrer, Feliciano López and Albert Montañés. There were two all-Spanish fourth round matches, guaranteeing two Spaniards in the quarter-finals: Nadal vs. López and Ferrer vs. Verdasco (the latter winning in a final set tiebreak). In a rematch of their 2009 Australian Open semi-final, Nadal defeated Verdasco in straight sets in the all-Spanish quarter-final, and went on to become the first Spaniard since Manuel Orantes in 1975 to win the US Open.

Singles players

Men's Singles

Player(s) of the Day

Men's Singles

Rafael Nadal defeated Novak Djokovic, 6–4, 5–7, 6–4, 6–2

Women's Singles

Kim Clijsters defeated Vera Zvonareva, 6–2, 6–1

Men's Doubles

Bob Bryan / Mike Bryan defeated Rohan Bopanna / Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi, 7–6^(7–5), 7–6^(7–4).

Women's Doubles

Vania King / Yaroslava Shvedova defeated Liezel Huber / Nadia Petrova, 2–6, 6–4, 7–6^(7–4)

Mixed Doubles

Liezel Huber / Bob Bryan defeated Květa Peschke / Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi, 6–4, 6–4.

Boys' Singles

Jack Sock defeated Denis Kudla, 3–6, 6–2, 6–2

Girls' Singles

Daria Gavrilova defeated Yulia Putintseva, 6–3, 6–2

Boys' Doubles

Duilio Beretta / Roberto Quiroz defeated Oliver Golding / Jiří Veselý, 6–1, 7–5

Girls' Doubles

Tímea Babos / Sloane Stephens defeated An-Sophie Mestach / Silvia Njirić, walkover

Champions Invitational

The Champions Invitational returned for the fifth year with 16 former Grand Slam tournament champions and finalists. It was a doubles only event for the first time, but employed the fan-friendly World TeamTennis format for the second consecutive year. Players were divided into four teams of four players each that were named after members of the US Open Court of Champions. All teams played two matches from Wednesday, September 8, through Saturday, September 11. For the first time, prize money was awarded to the competitors based on their team's order of finish.

The invitees for this year's event included a host of past US Open champions, including sixteen-time US Open champion Martina Navratilova, two-time women's singles champion Tracy Austin (1979, 1981) and 1988 men's singles champion Mats Wilander, as well as the Champion Invitational's first "Hall of Fame team": 2010 International Tennis Hall of Fame inductees Gigi Fernández and Natasha Zvereva, who teamed to win three US Open women's doubles titles, and Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde, collectively known as The Woodies, who won back-to-back men's doubles championships in 1995 and 1996.

Also scheduled to compete were U.S. Fed Cup Captain and two-time Grand Slam singles finalist Mary Joe Fernandez, 1989 French Open champion Michael Chang, 1987 Wimbledon champion Pat Cash, 1997 French Open champion Iva Majoli, 1996 Wimbledon runner-up MaliVai Washington and 1999 US Open finalist Todd Martin.

Wheelchair Men's Singles

Shingo Kunieda defeated Nicolas Peifer, walkover

Wheelchair Women's Singles

Esther Vergeer defeated Daniela Di Toro, 6–0, 6–0

Wheelchair Men's Doubles

Maikel Scheffers / Ronald Vink defeated Nicolas Peifer / Jon Rydberg, 6–0, 6–0

Wheelchair Women's Doubles

Esther Vergeer / Sharon Walraven defeated Daniela Di Toro / Aniek van Koot, 6–3, 6–3

Wheelchair Quad Singles

David Wagner defeated Peter Norfolk, 6–0, 2–6, 6–3

Wheelchair Quad Doubles

Nick Taylor / David Wagner defeated Johan Andersson / Peter Norfolk, 7–5, 7–6(4)

Singles seeds

The following are the seeded players and notable players who withdrew from the event. The rank is as of 23 August.

Wildcard entries

Below are the lists of the wildcard awardees entering in the main draws and in the qualifying draws.

Mixed Doubles Wildcard entries

1. Beatrice Capra / Jack Sock
2. Jill Craybas / Michael Russell
3. Nicole Gibbs / Sam Querrey
4. Carly Gullickson / Travis Parrott
5. Racquel Kops-Jones / Eric Butorac
6. Melanie Oudin / Ryan Harrison
7. Abigail Spears / Scott Lipsky

Qualifiers

Below are the lists of the qualifiers entering the main draw.

Prize money

All prize money is in dollars ($); doubles prize money is distributed per pair.