{"id":56486,"date":"2026-08-24T15:10:37","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T15:10:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/56486\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T15:10:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T15:10:37","slug":"us-open-2026-can-carlos-alcaraz-aryna-sabalenka-defend-their-titles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/56486\/","title":{"rendered":"US Open 2026: Can Carlos Alcaraz, Aryna Sabalenka defend their titles?\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>CARLOS Alcaraz last took to the court four months ago. After defeating Otto Virtanen in the round of 32 at the ATP 500 Barcelona Open, Alcaraz withdrew from his match against Czech player Tom\u00e1\u0161 Mach\u00e1\u010d due to a serious wrist injury. The former ATP No. 1 was forced to miss Roland Garros and Wimbledon, and his recovery process is still not complete.<\/p>\n<p>            <a data-fancybox=\"gallery\" href=\"https:\/\/manilatimes.net\/manilatimes\/uploads\/images\/2026\/08\/24\/1188356.png\" data-caption=\"TENNIS CHAMPIONS In this 1xBet review, we look at the prospects of last year\u2019s US Open champions ahead of the upcoming Grand Slam. PHOTO FROM 1XBET\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/manilatimes.net\/manilatimes\/uploads\/images\/2026\/08\/24\/1188356.png\" alt=\"TENNIS CHAMPIONS In this 1xBet review, we look at the prospects of last year\u2019s US Open champions ahead of the upcoming Grand Slam. PHOTO FROM 1XBET\" data-alt- data-default- width=\"100%\" height=\"100%\" onerror=\"this.src=\" https:=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>            <\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n                TENNIS CHAMPIONS In this 1xBet review, we look at the prospects of last year\u2019s US Open champions ahead of the upcoming Grand Slam. PHOTO FROM 1XBET\n            <\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the dual power of recent years in men&#8217;s tennis has given way to Jannik Sinner\u2019s dominance. The world No. 1 won Wimbledon. However, in Paris, he exited early after suffering sudden dizziness caused by extreme heat. In the long-term betting market, Sinner is the clear favorite for the upcoming US Open at odds of 1.64. Alcaraz is second at 3.06.<\/p>\n<p>In 2024-2025, these two players shared the Grand Slam trophies. Back then, the odds on both men winning were roughly equal, ranging from 2.50 to 2.65. Feel the difference?<\/p>\n<p>Experts are skeptical about Alcaraz\u2019s chances, as he has now gone 120 days without competitive match practice. Several hard-court \u201cwarm-up\u201d tournaments in Washington, Montreal, and Cincinnati are held ahead of the American major. It was recently announced that Alcaraz will skip Cincinnati and return to action directly at the 2026 US Open.<\/p>\n<p>Get the latest news<br \/>\n                <br class=\"br-line\"\/><br \/>\n                delivered to your inbox<\/p>\n<p>Sign up for The Manila Times newsletters<\/p>\n<p>            By signing up with an email address, I acknowledge that I have read and agree to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.manilatimes.net\/terms-of-service\" title=\"Terms of Service\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Terms of Service<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.manilatimes.net\/privacy-policy\" title=\"Privacy Policy\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>At the moment, there is no 100 percent guarantee that the Spaniard will participate. He is listed as the No. 3 entry on the tournament\u2019s official website, but everything will depend on his condition in the second half of August.<\/p>\n<p>Andy Roddick, the 2003 US Open champion, does not recommend that Carlos return to competition in a best-of-five-set tournament. Add to that the prospect of playing every day in the high temperatures and humidity typical of New York in early autumn.<\/p>\n<p>An injured wrist poses a particular danger. The joint plays a crucial role when the racket makes contact with the ball, and it will be difficult for Alcaraz to produce his trademark shots.<\/p>\n<p>The Spaniard is also set to lose the No. 2 spot in the ATP rankings to Alexander Zverev. This means that at the 2026 US Open, Jannik and Carlos will no longer be placed at opposite ends of the draw, making a clash between the fierce rivals possible as early as the semifinals. Sinner has beaten Alcaraz in their last two meetings, but both players were in optimal condition at the time. Now, everything has changed \u2013 the Italian has at least a physical advantage. There are also rumors about the Spaniard\u2019s psychological state.<\/p>\n<p>Aryna is the undisputed favorite at all the 2026 Grand Slams, yet the world No. 1 has not won a single major this year. Sabalenka\u2019s results have been declining. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Belarusian has won prestigious tournaments in Miami and Indian Wells, but those successes came in the second half of March. On the downside, she suffered early exits in Madrid, Rome, Berlin, and Toronto. Moreover, Sabalenka consistently lost to significantly lower-ranked opponents.<\/p>\n<p>At this point, any underdog could pose a serious challenge to the defending US Open champion. The history of women\u2019s tennis over the past decade shows that Grand Slams can easily be won by players who are not even ranked in the world\u2019s top five.<\/p>\n<p>The 2026 US Open starts on August 30. Follow the thrilling battles on the courts of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center with 1xBet.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CARLOS Alcaraz last took to the court four months ago. After defeating Otto Virtanen in the round of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56487,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[71,375,5184,217,13110,8506,21184,517,2265,10942,8803,2519],"class_list":["post-56486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-aryna-sabalenka","tag-71","tag-alcaraz","tag-aryna","tag-aryna-sabalenka","tag-can","tag-carlos","tag-defend","tag-open","tag-sabalenka","tag-their","tag-titles","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56486\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}