The 2010 US Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts, held from August 30 to September 13, 2010, in the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center at Flushing Meadows, Queens, New York City, United States. The tournament was initially going to finish with Men's Singles final on September 12, but was postponed due to rain on the last day and just before the men's tournament final. In the previous two years the tournament was also postponed because of weather. Juan Martín del Potro and Kim Clijsters were the defending champions. Del Potro, due to a wrist injury, opted not to defend his title. Clijsters successfully defended her title with a score of 6–2, 6–1 in the final against Vera Zvonareva.

Notable stories

Milestones

Serena Williams' withdrawal

Three-time champion and World No. 1 Serena Williams officially announced her withdrawal from the US Open on August 20 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 C 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 the US Open, 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

Day-by-day summaries

Events

Men's singles

🇪🇸 Rafael Nadal def. 🇷🇸 Novak Djokovic, 6–4, 5–7, 6–4, 6–2

Women's singles

🇧🇪 Kim Clijsters def. 🇷🇺 Vera Zvonareva, 6–2, 6–1

Men's doubles

🇺🇸 Bob Bryan / 🇺🇸 Mike Bryan def. 🇮🇳 Rohan Bopanna / 🇵🇰 Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi, 7–6(7–5), 7–6(7–4).

Women's doubles

🇺🇸 Vania King / 🇰🇿 Yaroslava Shvedova def. 🇺🇸 Liezel Huber / 🇷🇺 Nadia Petrova, 2–6, 6–4, 7–6(7–4)

Mixed doubles

🇺🇸 Liezel Huber / 🇺🇸 Bob Bryan def. 🇨🇿 Květa Peschke / 🇵🇰 Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi, 6–4, 6–4.

Boys' singles

🇺🇸 Jack Sock def. 🇺🇸 Denis Kudla, 3–6, 6–2, 6–2

Girls' singles

🇷🇺 Daria Gavrilova def. 🇷🇺 Yulia Putintseva, 6–3, 6–2

Boys' doubles

🇵🇪 Duilio Beretta / 🇪🇨 Roberto Quiroz def. 🇬🇧 Oliver Golding / 🇨🇿 Jiří Veselý, 6–1, 7–5

Girls' doubles

🇭🇺 Tímea Babos / 🇺🇸 Sloane Stephens def. 🇧🇪 An-Sophie Mestach / Silvia Njirić, walkover

Wheelchair men's singles

🇯🇵 Shingo Kunieda def. 🇫🇷 Nicolas Peifer, walkover

Wheelchair women's singles

Esther Vergeer def. 🇦🇺 Daniela Di Toro, 6–0, 6–0

Wheelchair men's doubles

Maikel Scheffers / Ronald Vink def. 🇫🇷 Nicolas Peifer / 🇺🇸 Jon Rydberg, 6–0, 6–0

Wheelchair women's doubles

Esther Vergeer / Sharon Walraven def. 🇦🇺 Daniela Di Toro / Aniek van Koot, 6–3, 6–3

Wheelchair quad singles

🇺🇸 David Wagner def. 🇬🇧 Peter Norfolk, 6–0, 2–6, 6–3

Wheelchair quad doubles

🇺🇸 Nick Taylor / 🇺🇸 David Wagner def. 🇸🇪 Johan Andersson / 🇬🇧 Peter Norfolk, 7–5, 7–6(7–4)

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 Fernández, 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.

Teams

Team Connolly Team Gibson Team Kramer Team Tilden

Results

Singles seeds

The following are the seeded players and notable players who withdrew from the event. Seedings based on ATP and WTA rankings as of August 23, 2010. Rankings and points were before as of August 30, 2010.

Men's singles

The following players would have been seeded, but they withdrew from the event.

Women's singles

The following players would have been seeded, but they withdrew from the event.

Wildcard entries

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

Men's singles

Women's singles

Men's doubles

Women's doubles

Mixed doubles

Protected ranking

The following players were accepted directly into the main draw using a protected ranking:

Qualifier entries

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

Men's singles

Women's singles

Withdrawals

The following players were accepted directly into the main tournament, but withdrew with injuries or personal reasons.

Point distribution

Prize money

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

Men's and women's singles

Men's and women's doubles

Mixed doubles

Media coverage