US Open 2026 Preview: Full Schedule, Top Seeds and Favorites as Sinner Withdraws With Knee Injury Ahead

NEW YORK — The 2026 US Open begins its main draw Sunday at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, closing out the tennis season's four Grand Slam tournaments with a field reshaped by injuries, retirements and a wide-open race for the title on both the men's and women's sides.

Play in Flushing Meadows runs from Aug. 30 through Sept. 13, with the men's and women's quarterfinals beginning Sept. 8. The women's singles semifinals are scheduled for Sept. 10, followed by the men's singles semifinals on Sept. 11. The women's final is set for Sept. 12, with the men's championship match closing the tournament Sept. 13.

The biggest storyline entering the tournament is the absence of world No. 1 Jannik Sinner, who withdrew after failing to recover from a right knee injury that has sidelined him since he won Wimbledon this summer. The Italian pulled out of both the Montreal and Cincinnati hard-court tournaments that typically serve as warmups for the US Open, and he said he was "very sad and disappointed" to miss the year's final major. Sinner's absence also means fans will not see a rematch of last year's men's final, when the Italian faced Spain's Carlos Alcaraz.

Alcaraz, seeded second behind top seed Alexander Zverev, returns to defend his US Open title after a four-month layoff caused by a wrist injury. The Spaniard is chasing his third US Open championship. Zverev enters as the tournament's top seed on the strength of his Wimbledon title in June, his first Grand Slam championship, though he was eliminated in the fourth round at last week's Cincinnati Open, raising questions about his form heading into New York. France's Arthur Fils, seeded 23rd, is being floated as a potential surprise semifinalist after claiming his first Masters 1000 title in Cincinnati with a win over American Frances Tiafoe.

Novak Djokovic, seeded sixth at age 39, continues his pursuit of a record 25th Grand Slam singles title, a chase that has stretched on since he won his 24th major at this same tournament in 2023. The Serbian reached this year's Australian Open final and the Wimbledon semifinal but struggled with the heat and humidity at the Cincinnati Open earlier this month.

On the women's side, top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka is aiming for a third consecutive US Open title, while 2023 champion Coco Gauff, seeded fourth, will look to reclaim the trophy she first won in New York. Sabalenka has struggled for consistency this season, suffering early exits at Cincinnati, the Toronto Masters, Wimbledon and the French Open, where she said the loss left her wanting to quit. World No. 2 Elina Rybakina sits close behind Sabalenka in the rankings, trailing by 434 points, 8,141 to 8,575, entering the tournament. Jessica Pegula, seeded third at 32, is the oldest player in the women's top 10 and has reached the final or semifinal in New York in each of the past two years.

Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva, seeded fifth, arrives in New York fresh off her first Grand Slam title at the French Open and a career-high world ranking, though a fourth-round finish remains her best result at the US Open to date. Philippines' Alex Eala, who won her first WTA title this month at the Washington Open, is also being watched as a potential breakout performer after reaching a career-high ranking this season.

The tournament will award a record 108 million dollars in total prize money this year. The singles champions will each take home 5.5 million dollars, with the runners-up earning 2.8 million dollars. Semifinalists receive 1.45 million dollars, quarterfinalists 780,000 dollars, and players eliminated in the fourth round collect 480,000 dollars. Winning doubles pairs will split 1 million dollars.

Roger Federer, who turns 45 this year, made headlines this week with an exhibition appearance at Arthur Ashe Stadium as part of the tournament's Fan Week festivities, but the Swiss great firmly ruled out any competitive comeback along the lines of Serena Williams' 2025 return. Federer's New York appearance preceded a trip to Newport, Rhode Island, where he is set to be formally inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

Williams herself returned to Flushing Meadows this week, pairing with Alcaraz in mixed doubles in a highly anticipated cross-generational matchup, though the duo fell in the quarterfinals to Italy's Flavio Cobolli and Switzerland's Belinda Bencic. Williams and her sister Venus, both wildcard entrants, are also playing women's doubles together at the tournament, a pairing that has won the US Open twice before, in 1999 and 2009. The tournament's mixed doubles title was ultimately claimed by the Czech pairing of Karolina Muchova and Jakub Mensik, who defeated Bencic and Cobolli in Wednesday's final.

Other notable absences from this year's men's draw include Brazil's Joao Fonseca and Britain's Jack Draper, while Britain's Emma Raducanu, Canada's Victoria Mboko and American Hailey Baptiste will be missing from the women's field. Former world No. 3 Stan Wawrinka, the 2016 US Open champion, was granted a last-minute wildcard into what is expected to be his farewell tournament season, after being initially left off the wildcard list and facing several days of fan backlash over his exclusion.