Carlos Alcaraz Returns to US Open as Defending Champion

Carlos Alcaraz walks back into New York as the defending US Open champion, but this time with a question mark strapped to his right wrist.

The Spaniard has not played a competitive singles match for more than four months. Inflammation in that playing wrist forced him to miss both Roland Garros and Wimbledon, tearing a hole in the season of a player many expected to dominate the summer. The injury did not require surgery, but it did demand patience, and patience has never been Flushing Meadows’ strongest suit.

Now the test comes quickly. His first serious examination is Russia’s Roman Safiullin in round one – a dangerous opponent for a man trying to rediscover match rhythm under the harshest floodlights in tennis. Alcaraz did dip his toes back into competition earlier this week in mixed doubles alongside Serena Williams, but singles at the US Open is another world entirely.

He will at least have the comfort of status. Despite the lay-off, Alcaraz arrives as the second seed, tucked in just behind top seed Alexander Zverev. The German, fresh from finally claiming a first major at Roland Garros in June, opens against Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego and suddenly carries the weight of expectation that long sat uneasily on his shoulders. Jannik Sinner’s withdrawal with a knee injury cleared the path for Zverev to sit at the top of the draw. Now he has to prove he belongs there.

On the other side of the men’s game, the old story refuses to fade.

Novak Djokovic begins yet another chase for history, his bid for a record 25th Grand Slam singles title starting against Argentina’s Mariano Navone. At 39, he keeps bending time, but the draw has given him no gentle glide into week two. If he comes through his opener, a brutal second-round showdown awaits against either Matteo Berrettini – the man he subdued in the 2021 Wimbledon final – or Stan Wawrinka.

Wawrinka, a three-time major champion and one of the few men who ever truly unsettled Djokovic at the biggest events, steps into what will be the final Grand Slam of his career after receiving a late wildcard. One last swing, possibly against the sport’s ultimate measuring stick. It is the sort of storyline New York loves.

Fery leads a thin British charge

The British presence in the men’s draw feels lighter this year, and that only sharpens the focus on Arthur Fery.

The 24-year-old stunned the sport with his run to the Wimbledon semi-finals in July, a surge that vaulted him into the world’s top 40 for the first time and punched his ticket to a US Open debut. That breakthrough almost earned him a seeding in New York. Almost.

Instead, Fery has been handed a rugged opener against Italian 13th seed Lorenzo Musetti, a 2025 quarter-finalist here and a player whose variety can shred rhythm in a heartbeat. It is the kind of draw that greets rising names just before the establishment decides whether to let them in or slam the door.

Ranked 37 in the world, Fery leads what is, by any measure, a sparse British contingent. Jack Draper, a semi-finalist here in 2024, withdrew last week with a long-term arm injury. Emma Raducanu, the 2021 champion who once electrified this tournament, remains sidelined by the shin fracture that already cost her Wimbledon.

Cameron Norrie did just enough to sneak into the seedings. The British No.1 takes his place as the 29th seed and opens against France’s Luca van Assche, a match that offers little glamour but plenty of jeopardy for a player trying to steady a fluctuating season.

Behind them, Jan Choinski stands as the only other British man in the main draw. At 30, he finally cracked the world’s top 100 in June, a late-career surge that has brought him to tennis’ loudest stage at last.

Sabalenka under pressure, Venus back for more

The women’s draw arrives with its own set of fault lines.

Aryna Sabalenka returns as defending champion and as the woman who has sat atop the WTA rankings for 97 weeks. That kind of dominance usually brings a sense of inevitability. Not here. Not with Elena Rybakina looming.

Sabalenka opens against Colombia’s Camila Osorio, a tricky first assignment but one she will be expected to handle if she wants to keep a firm grip on her status. Rybakina, the reigning Australian Open champion and the most obvious threat to Sabalenka’s position at the summit, starts against American teenage wildcard Thea Frodin. One is established power, the other raw promise. The stakes for the Kazakh are clear: every win keeps the pressure on Sabalenka’s ranking.

Then there is Venus Williams.

At 46, the two-time US Open champion has lost all 10 of her matches this season. The numbers are unforgiving. The aura remains. Tournament organisers have handed her a wildcard, a nod to a legacy that helped build the modern profile of this event, and she will face 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin in the first round.

It is not a sentimental exhibition. Kenin hits too cleanly, competes too fiercely for that. But Venus stepping back into Arthur Ashe or Louis Armstrong, under the New York lights, still matters. The sport knows it.

So the stage is set.

Alcaraz, with his wrist under scrutiny. Djokovic, chasing one more record in a career built on them. Zverev trying to prove Roland Garros was a beginning, not an exception. Sabalenka guarding her throne while Rybakina circles. A thin British squad, led by a Wimbledon surprise package, hoping to punch above its weight.

In two weeks’ time, the questions will have answers. For now, they hang over Flushing Meadows, heavy and enticing, waiting for the first ball to be struck.