Five former champs headline Opening Day play

Welcome to Day 1 of the 2010 US Open. For these next two weeks, the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center will be the center of the sporting world, as tennis' top talents battle for this sport's toughest title. Indeed, everything about the US Open--from its courts upward--is hard. But every player knows that should they somehow win seven matches over the course of this Flushing fortnight, they get a very nice trophy, a very large check, and credentials that last a lifetime.

There are just seven players in this year's draws who know the singular thrill of standing alone at the end of this event--and five of them see action today. Last year's women's champion, Kim Clijsters, five-time titlist Roger Federer, two-time winner Venus Williams, 2001 champ Lleyton Hewitt and 2003 champ Andy Roddick lead the day's bill of fare. Add to that group last year's belle of the ball, Melanie Oudin, women's top talents Francesca Schiavone, Samantha Stosur, Elena Dementieva, and Victoria Azarenka, as well as men's stars such as Robin Soderling, Nikolay Davydenko, Gael Monfils and Marin Cilic and you've got a first day lineup that's second to none.

Clijsters opens the defense of her title as the tournament's No. 2 seed, having captured three tournament titles this year, second only to US Open top seed, Caroline Wozniacki. All of those titles have come on hard courts, the most recent at the Olympus US Open Series stop in Cincinnati. The Belgian owns a remarkable record here, having won each of the last two US Opens in which she's competed (2005 and 2009). She's won 20 of her last 21 matches here, including 14 consecutive. Her 29 career hard court titles are more than any other active player. You get the idea--if cement had a fan club, she'd be its president. Clijsters' first-round opponent is Hungary's Greta Arn, who has never been past the first round here in four tries. In fact, Arn has never won a set here--and this doesn't figure to be a day of firsts for the 31-year-old. In two, Clijsters moves on.

For just the second time in the last seven years, Federer is not the top-seeded man at the US Open. The Swiss star is seeded second to Rafael Nadal, just as he was in 2008. Of course, even from the bottom line, the bottom line is that few are more formidable on these hard floors than Federer, who was just one tough tiebreak away from winning his sixth consecutive US Open crown last year. Federer is 51-5 here through his remarkable career, which now includes 16 Grand Slam singles titles. Federer arrives here fresh off winning his 63rd career title on the hard courts of Cincinnati, and is playing a more offensive style under new coach Paul Annacone, which figures as bad news for anyone on the other side of the net. His opponent, 26-year-old Argentine Brian Dabul, has won three titles this year on the USTA Pro Circuit, but this is his first-ever US Open main draw appearance. It doesn't figure to last very long. In three, Federer is on to round two.

Roddick, the No. 9 seed, is playing this year's Open with his lowest seeding since 2006. Of course, that also was the last year he reached the final here, so evidently Neil Young was on to something with the theory that "numbers add up to nothing." Certainly, the former No. 1 has the stuff to go deep in this draw, and seems to be rounding back into form after a tangle with mononucleosis sapped his strength this summer. But like most of the Yankees' pitching staff these days, it remains to be seen if he can go seven. On this, his 28th birthday, this matchup with 30-year-old French journeyman Stephane Robert is a gift. Robert is playing in his first US Open main draw match, and he doesn't have anywhere near the firepower of Roddick. Happy birthday, Andy--in three, you advance.

Williams, the No. 3 seed, is the last woman to win back-to-back US Open titles, pulling off consecutive wins in 2000 and 2001. Still, her semifinal showing in 2007 is her best US Open performance in the last seven years. It's hard to tell just how far the former No. 1 can go in this draw, as a knee injury has kept her sidelined all summer. She's not played a single match since losing in the quarterfinals of Wimbledon, so this match, against Italy's Roberta Vinci, ought to provide some sense of where she stands in terms of form and fitness. The 27-year-old Vinci has one win in eight career matches here, so even with a bad knee, Williams figures to have a leg up in this one. In two, she's through.