The final Grand Slam of the 2009 Professional Tennis Season officially begins today, after five days of qualifying, and another showdown is possible between five time defending U.S. Open Champion Roger Federer, and Rafael Nadal, since they are on opposite ends of the draw, and while fans may have been looking forward to a Williams and Williams showdown once again, this year it won't happen, because although they ended up in different quarters, Serena and Venus are on the same side of the draw, which means the farthest they could end up going without one or the other being knocked out is the semi-finals.

One of the notable first round matches is between Federer and the USA's Devon Britton in the men's which starts at 11:00 at the Arthur Ashe Stadium, while Serena Williams faces off against Alexa Glatch at the same stadium on the women's side. After that sister Venus plays the second match at that Stadium against Vera Dushevina of Russia, while Andy Roddick will stand across the net from Bjorn Phau in his first match of the U.S. Open.

Day Five of Qualifying just finished for the last batch of U.S. Open hopefuls, and 27 advanced into the main draw. Notably, Tomaz Belucci effectively ended American Scoville Jenkin's chances of an appearance at this year's Grand Slam, what would have been his sixth consecutive U.S. Open. However, fellow Americans Jesse Witten, Michael Yani and Donald Young did advance. Other names that were able to make it through to the main draw were Australian Carston Ball, who was seeded 27^th, and compatriot Anastasia Rodionova, as well as Elena Baltacha and fifth seeded Angelique Kerber. Barboa Zahlavova Strycova made it through on the women's draw as well, beating Mariana Duque Marino in three sets. The U.S. Open starts this morning, making history once again for 2009.