US Open 2026: Alcaraz, Sabalenka, and Osaka's Returns

NEW YORK – Carlos Alcaraz returns to the US Open with a wrist rebuilt, a season hanging in the balance and a dangerous opponent waiting across the net.

The defending champion has not struck a ball in anger on tour since April. On Aug 31 (Sept 1, Singapore time), he walks back into Arthur Ashe Stadium to face Roman Safiullin in his first match for more than four months – and in a draw that offers him the chance to frame his year with Grand Slam trophies.

He started 2026 by tearing through Melbourne, becoming the youngest man ever to complete the career Grand Slam with his Australian Open title. Now comes the hard part: proving that version of Alcaraz is still there after a right wrist injury halted his charge just as the season was opening up for him.

Day 2 in New York is loaded. Alcaraz, Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, Naomi Osaka, Wimbledon champion Linda Noskova – all squeezed into a schedule that feels more like the second week than the first Thursday of a major.

Three matches, though, pull the spotlight.

Safiullin v Alcaraz: Rust against raw power

Head-to-head: 1-1.

On paper, a defending champion returning to his favourite stage should ease into the tournament. Safiullin makes sure that theory doesn’t hold.

The 29-year-old Russian hits heavy, flat and unafraid. At Wimbledon he bullied his way past Andrey Rublev and Joao Fonseca to reach the fourth round, where he only bowed out to Novak Djokovic in four sets. That run underlined what the locker room already knew: give him rhythm, and he can knock anyone off balance from the baseline.

Alcaraz has felt that power before. In 2023 at the ATP Paris Masters, Safiullin stunned the then world No. 2, driving him back and taking time away in a defeat that stung. The Spaniard hit back at the Paris Olympics the following year, levelling their rivalry and reminding Safiullin that his explosiveness comes with an extra gear when the stakes rise.

This time, though, the context is different. Alcaraz is not just playing an opponent; he is testing a wrist that has kept him off the circuit for months. He has spoken of demanding practice sessions, of pushing his body until the doubts faded. The message from his camp is clear: he trusts the joint, he is ready to “go 100 percent”.

Safiullin will try to find out if that is true. He will aim straight at the Alcaraz forehand, drag him into long, bruising exchanges and see how the Spaniard’s timing holds up under real pressure. For a player chasing a second Slam of the year, it is a brutal opening exam.

Sabalenka v Osorio: A champion under siege

Head-to-head: Sabalenka leads 2-0.

Aryna Sabalenka arrives in New York with two US Open trophies in her luggage and a season that has started to fray around the edges.

Back in March, she looked untouchable on hard courts. Titles at Indian Wells and Miami, stacked on top of a Brisbane crown and a run to the Australian Open final, suggested a player ready to dominate the year. Then the floor shifted.

A quarter-final exit at Roland Garros. A fourth-round loss at Wimbledon. Results that would satisfy most top players but, for a world No. 1 in full flight, signalled a clear dip. The slide has opened the door in the rankings so wide that Sabalenka could lose the top spot even if she joins Chris Evert and Serena Williams as the only women to win three straight US Opens.

Camila Osorio stands in front of her in round one, ranked 59th and with nothing to lose. The Colombian has felt Sabalenka’s weight of shot twice and come away empty both times – on grass at Wimbledon in 2021, and on clay in Madrid in 2023. Different surfaces, same outcome: Sabalenka dictating, Osorio scrambling.

Sabalenka insists the mid-season wobble has not punctured her belief. “Throw tough challenges at me, I will come back stronger,” she says. New York will test that promise immediately. The serve needs to bite, the forehand must land, and the nerves of a player defending a dynasty at Flushing Meadows cannot afford an early tremor.

Osorio will chase, counter and try to stretch rallies, but if Sabalenka finds the form she showed in March, the question becomes less about this match and more about whether she can turn a faltering year into a historic fortnight.

Osaka v Zakharova: A proven champion, a new chapter

First meeting.

Naomi Osaka does not need to be convinced she belongs in New York. The evidence is already etched into the hard courts of Queens.

US Open titles in 2018 and 2020 sit among her four major crowns, and she knows exactly what that history means. “I think I’ve proven myself here, so I can kind of bank on that and use that to have confidence,” she said recently. For a player who has spent the past few years rebuilding both her game and her life, that reservoir of success matters.

Osaka has been open about her struggles with mental health, stepping away from the sport to protect herself. She then took 15 months out to focus on motherhood before returning in 2023, a decision that reshaped her priorities and her schedule.

The tennis has started to follow. This summer she reached the semi-finals in Washington on hard courts, then pushed through to the quarter-finals in Toronto, a pair of runs that suggested the timing and aggression that once ruled this surface are returning. On grass, she produced her best-ever Wimbledon, reaching the quarter-finals in 2026 and knocking out Sabalenka along the way – a result that still echoes around the tour.

Now she comes back to Flushing Meadows, a place where her serve and first-strike game feel most at home, to face Anastasia Zakharova for the first time. The Russian, ranked 101st, will swing freely, but she steps into a stadium where Osaka’s history is heavy and the expectations are rising again.

Osaka wants a quick start, a clean statement that the player who once owned these courts is not a memory but a threat. If she finds it, the draw – and the women’s field – will have to answer a familiar question: how do you stop Naomi Osaka when New York starts to feel like hers again?