Carlos Alcaraz Returns to US Open as Defending Champion and Medical Mystery
Carlos Alcaraz walks back into New York as defending champion and medical mystery all at once.
Four months without a singles match. A right wrist that flared up badly enough to keep him out of Roland Garros and Wimbledon. No surgery, but no real answers yet either. Now the first real test comes under the lights and noise of Flushing Meadows against Russia’s Roman Safiullin in round one of the US Open.
For a player who owned this city last year, it is a very different kind of opening night.
Alcaraz, still only 23, has eased his way back into competition in mixed doubles alongside Serena Williams this week, a gentle reintroduction rather than a statement of intent. Singles is different. Singles is where the wrist will be exposed, point after point, serve after serve.
The rankings, though, have barely punished him. Despite the lay-off, the Spaniard arrives as the second seed, slotted just behind top seed Alexander Zverev. The German, fresh from finally cracking the Grand Slam code at Roland Garros in June, starts his campaign against Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego and now shoulders the responsibility of being the man to beat after Jannik Sinner’s withdrawal with a knee injury.
Alcaraz’s half of the draw will be scoured for clues about his condition from the first ball he strikes. New York remembers the swagger of last year. Now it will study the forehand, the torque on the serve, the willingness to throw himself into long rallies. The wrist will have nowhere to hide.
Djokovic’s last great chase
On the other side of the men’s draw, Novak Djokovic begins yet another tilt at history.
The 39-year-old Serb starts against Argentina’s Mariano Navone, the first step on a path that could deliver a record 25th Grand Slam singles title and finally move him clear of the rest of tennis history.
The intrigue comes early. Should Djokovic handle Navone as expected, a brutal second-round assignment looms: either Matteo Berrettini, the Italian he subdued in the 2021 Wimbledon final, or Stan Wawrinka, the three-time major champion who has announced this will be the final Grand Slam of his career after receiving a late wildcard.
Wawrinka’s farewell adds a sharp edge to that potential clash. The Swiss has been one of the few men to consistently trouble Djokovic on the biggest stages. One last meeting in New York, with everything on the line for both, would be a fitting final act.
British hopes ride on Fery
The British presence in New York feels thinner than usual, and that only amplifies the spotlight on Arthur Fery.
The 24-year-old’s run to the Wimbledon semi-finals in July changed everything: ranking, expectations, and his calendar. It pushed him into the world’s top 40 for the first time and booked his US Open debut. It almost secured him a seeding here too. Almost.
Instead, the world number 37 has drawn 13th seed Lorenzo Musetti in the first round, a punishing opener against a player who reached the quarter-finals here last year. Fery is not being eased into American hard courts; he is being thrown straight at one of the most creative shot-makers on tour.
With Jack Draper, a semi-finalist here in 2024, absent because of a long-term arm injury, and 2021 champion Emma Raducanu still sidelined by the shin fracture that also kept her out of Wimbledon, Fery suddenly finds himself leading a reduced British contingent.
Cameron Norrie did manage to cling on to a seeding, sneaking in at 29 and opening against France’s Luca van Assche. Jan Choinski, who broke into the world’s top 100 for the first time in June at the age of 30, is the only other British man in the main draw.
For a nation used to deeper benches at the majors, it is a lean-looking line-up. That makes Fery’s first steps in New York feel even more significant.
Sabalenka under pressure at the top
The women’s draw opens with a familiar sight: Aryna Sabalenka’s name at the very top.
The defending champion, who has sat on the WTA throne for 97 weeks, starts against Colombia’s Camila Osorio. Sabalenka knows the numbers, knows the dominance, but also knows the threat: Elena Rybakina, the reigning Australian Open champion, is closing in.
Rybakina begins her tournament against American teenage wildcard Thea Frodin, a match that will be watched closely by those tracking the battle for number one. Sabalenka’s margin for error is shrinking; every round here matters, not just for the trophy but for her grip on the rankings.
Venus Williams, still swinging at 46, adds another layer of nostalgia to the women’s event. The two-time US Open champion has been handed a wildcard despite a brutal season in which she has lost all 10 of her matches. She opens against 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin, a player still trying to re-establish herself at the top level.
It is a reminder of how quickly the sport can turn. One era fades, another refuses to let go, and a new one tries to crash the gates.
Questions everywhere
So the stage is set.
Can Alcaraz’s wrist withstand the strain of a two-week title defence? Can Djokovic drag himself to one more defining number? Will Sabalenka hold off Rybakina’s charge at the summit? And from a British perspective, can Arthur Fery turn a breakout Wimbledon into a sustained Grand Slam presence?
New York is about to provide its answers.
