Alcaraz Returns From Wrist Injury to Defend US Open Title
The 2026 US Open main draw begins Sunday at Flushing Meadows without world No 1 Jannik Sinner, who is out with a knee injury.
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A Depleted Men's Field
Carlos Alcaraz arrives at the 2026 US Open in New York as defending men's singles champion, having not played a match in four months while recovering from a wrist injury. The Athletic reports the 23-year-old is coming back from what it calls the injury tennis players fear most.
World No 1 Jannik Sinner is absent from the tournament with a knee injury, leaving Germany's Alexander Zverev as top seed. Sky Sports notes it is the first time Zverev has been top seed at a Grand Slam, and that he arrives with an 18-2 record at major level this year after winning the French Open.
Novak Djokovic, who is 39, has played one match since Wimbledon, according to The Athletic. TSN reports he is chasing a 25th Grand Slam title.
The Draw
Sky Sports presenter Gigi Salmon describes the bottom half of the men's draw as stacked, containing all five former US Open champions still in the field: Alcaraz, Djokovic, Daniil Medvedev, Stan Wawrinka and Marin Cilic. TSN also places four past champions in that half alongside Alcaraz.
The second quarter is led by Australian sixth seed Alex de Minaur, who is projected to meet Zverev in the quarter-finals. That section also holds former finalist Taylor Fritz, French Open finalist Flavio Cobolli and last year's semi-finalist Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada.
Aryna Sabalenka heads the women's draw as world No 1. The sources do not give further detail on how the women's draw is laid out.
American Drought and Fan Week
The Athletic writes that no American has won a Grand Slam singles title in 23 years, since Andy Roddick at the 1993 US Open. Taylor Fritz won the D.C. Open, Ben Shelton won the Canadian Open and Frances Tiafoe was a set from winning the Cincinnati Open, though Sinner and Alcaraz did not play those events.
No man has successfully defended the US Open men's singles title since Roger Federer won a fifth straight in 2008.
The US Open is now a three-week event. Sky Sports reports the opening fan week featured an exhibition return by Federer, and Karolina Muchova and Jakub Mensik winning the mixed doubles for a first Grand Slam title. Serena Williams returned to Flushing Meadows during that competition; The Athletic reports she and sister Venus, who last played the US Open in 2022, are entering the doubles.
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