Serena Williams to face Kovinic in US Open start after Meghan Markle podcast

Serena Williams will face Danka Kovinic of Montenegro in her first round match at the US Open on Monday a few days after she appeared as guest on Meghan Markle’s Spotify podcast.

Williams, the 23-time Grand Slam title winner who has hinted she will make the event her farewell tournament, is in the same quarter of the draw as second seed Anett Kontaveit of Estonia.

The 40-year-old American superstar, whose first Grand Slam title came at the 1999 US Open, would meet Kontaveit in the second round if both win their opening matches at the year´s final Grand Slam event.

The USTA announced later Thursday that all women´s matches in Williams´s half of the draw will be scheduled for Monday.

Williams, who is one title shy of the all-time record 24 Slam crowns won by Margaret Court, could have quite a path to the final were she to make a shock run on the Flushing Meadows hardcourts.

She could face Canada´s 14th-seeded Leylah Fernandez, a 19-year-old who was last year´s US Open runner-up, in the fourth round and Tunisia´s Ons Jabeur, this year´s Wimbledon runner-up, in the quarter-finals.

Serena indicated in interviews earlier this month that she is ready to move on with other areas of her life, including possibly having a second child. (Web Desk/AFP)