With reigning U.S. Open champion Jannik Sinner sidelined this year, the path is that much clearer for the American men in the field.<\/p>\n
Can one take advantage to end the 23-year drought? The next two weeks will tell.<\/p>\n
Even with Sinner gone, Carlos Alcaraz is making his comeback to the court after a four-month layoff due to a right wrist injury. He\u2019s the favorite, with Alexander Zverev the top seed and 39-year-old Novak Djokovic still in the mix.<\/p>\n
Taylor Fritz is seen on the practice court during the US Open on Aug. 26, 2026, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y. Larry Marano\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n
Ben Shelton, Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe all are serious title contenders, with fellow Americans Learner Tien, Brandon Nakashima and Tommy Paul also ranked in the top 20. None, however, are looking at Sinner\u2019s absence as a paved road.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, not really. Still gotta beat seven guys, however you slice it,\u201d Tiafoe said. \u201cFor me, doesn\u2019t really matter if those guys are in [or] those guys are not. Carlos is still playing, Djokovic\u2019s still playing, a lot of good players. And to be honest, I\u2019ve lost the last few Slams not to any of those guys. My mind says it\u2019s not really worried about any of those guys; just trying to beat the guy in front of me.\u201d<\/p>\n
American men have enjoyed a great summer, with Shelton (Montreal) and Fritz (Washington) earning hard-court crowns and both Tiafoe (Cincinnati) and Nakashima (Montreal) reaching finals.<\/p>\n
That sextet of seeded Americans each aims to become the first man to win the home Grand Slam since Andy Roddick in 2003.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know how much quality there is in the draw,\u201d Shelton said. \u201cIt\u2019d be disrespectful to just think, \u2018Oh, there\u2019s no Sinner, it\u2019s a massive opportunity,\u2019 when you have guys who\u2019ve won Slams this year in Zverev, obviously Novak is in the draw, guys who\u2019ve won big titles and been in great form, whether it\u2019s [Rafael] Jodar, Arthur Fils, all the American guys are pretty dangerous on this surface.<\/p>\n
Frances Tiafoe of the United States is seen on the practice court
on Aug. 28, 2026, two days before the start of the U.S. Open. Anthony Behar\/Sipa USA<\/p>\n
\u201cTo discredit the group that\u2019s playing high-level tennis right now wouldn\u2019t be smart. Going into a tournament like this, I always have respect for whoever is playing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shelton may be in the best form of anybody other than Zverev, the first man to repeat in Montreal since 2019. Right behind the big-serving lefty is Fritz, who reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals this year.
Fritz lost the U.S. Open final to Sinner in 2024.<\/p>\n
Ben Shelton hits a shot during a practice for the U.S. Open on Aug. 29,
2026 at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Larry Marano\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n
Alcaraz and Sinner faced off in three finals last year \u2014 including in Flushing \u2014 but Sinner is now sidelined while Alcaraz tries to shake off the rust of a layoff.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce I started to practice a bit, I didn\u2019t know when I\u2019m gonna start,\u201d Alcaraz said. \u201cI don\u2019t know if I\u2019m gonna be ready for Cincinnati, for U.S. Open, or I\u2019m going to miss the whole American swing. [Those] thoughts were really difficult to deal with. But finally, here we are.\u201d<\/p>\n
Learner Tien hits a shot during practice for the US Open on Aug. 28, 2026 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. MediaPunch \/ BACKGRID<\/p>\n
Even though Alcaraz sat out last week in Cincinnati, Fritz isn\u2019t shocked to see him take the plunge and play in Flushing with no real runway.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat else would he do? If he feels he\u2019s healthy enough to play, why not play?\u201d Fritz said. \u201cIf you feel healthy, might as well. What\u2019s the worst that can happen? You lose. Not playing the tournament is the same thing as losing, in my opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tiafoe added: \u201cHe\u2019s always a guy we\u2019re going to look at. But a lot of guys believe they can not only get him but win the event. It\u2019s going to be an exciting U.S. Open.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ben Shelton is seen on the practice court on Aug. 29, 2026 at the US Open on Arthur Ashe Stadium. Larry Marano\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n
After President Trump\u2019s presence at the men\u2019s singles final last year caused chaos and huge delays for fans trying to get into Arthur Ashe Stadium, a spokesman said they weren\u2019t sure whether he will attend this year.<\/p>\n
Naomi Osaka skipped Cincinnati because, \u201cPeople forget my main job is to be a mom. This is like my side hustle. I just happen to be really good at it.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Saturday, she wore a shirt printed with the iconic Slam magazine Allen Iverson cover from March 1999.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, he\u2019s a trailblazer. He\u2019s also someone that I look up to a lot because he\u2019s done a lot in fashion. \u2026 He shifted the way NBA players dress. The whole conversation around clothes in sports and also just expressing yourself through style, he\u2019s someone I look up to in that regard.\u201d<\/p>\n
USTA CEO Craig Tiley on the growth of the U.S. Open: \u201cThis will become the tennis Disneyland.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With reigning U.S. Open champion Jannik Sinner sidelined this year, the path is that much clearer for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60119,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[419,1550,219,50,221,28,616],"class_list":["post-60118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jannik-sinner","tag-ben-shelton","tag-frances-tiafoe","tag-jannik-sinner","tag-sports","tag-taylor-fritz","tag-tennis","tag-us-open-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60118","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=60118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60118\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}