U.S. Open Top-Seeded Players Are Already Dropping Like Flies

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.