Jannik Sinner withdraws from U.S. Open with right knee injury
Jannik Sinner withdraws from U.S. Open with right knee injury
Jannik Sinner has withdrawn from the U.S. Open with a knee injury, less than 24 hours after Carlos Alcaraz confirmed his comeback at the tournament.
"Even though I have been working hard with my team and my medical staff, we have now had to make the difficult decision that I will not be able to compete at the US Open this year," Sinner, the world No. 1, said in a statement Friday.
"We have been back on court in Monte Carlo over the last couple of days and have realised that I still need more time to recover from my right knee issue. I’m obviously very sad and disappointed, as New York has a special place in my heart. I was very much looking forward to coming back and playing in the electric atmosphere in front of the great fans there."
The 24-year-old Italian pulled out of this week’s Cincinnati Open with the same issue, and has been undergoing medical tests in Milan and Turin throughout August to assess its severity.
Seeding shake-up
Sinner’s withdrawal means that French Open champion Alexander Zverev will be the No. 1 seed, and defending champion Alcaraz, who has been out since April with a right wrist injury, will be the No. 2 seed. The singles main draws start Aug. 30.
After meeting in three consecutive major finals in 2025, the news means Sinner and Alcaraz will not contest one in 2026. At the end of last year, with the duo having won eight Grand Slams between them in a row, that data point looked unthinkable. It also offers Alcaraz an opportunity to extend his 7-5 lead over his main rival when it comes to major titles.
How realistic that opportunity will be, given he has not played a competitive match since April 14, remains to be seen, but not having to play his only true peer on the tour the past two years cannot be anything but a boost. Like Alcaraz and his wrist, Sinner has no reason to play through discomfort or pain for the sake of the U.S. Open, even if he could take to the match court.
He is runaway world No. 1, with a 5,000-point gap to soon-to-be world No. 2 Alexander Zverev, who will replace Alcaraz in that berth when the rankings update this Monday.
‘The foils swap places’
A few weeks ago, it looked like Carlos Alcaraz would miss the U.S. Open and Jannik Sinner, arguably the world’s top hard-court player, would have a smooth ride to a sixth Grand Slam title. With the tournament a week away, the foils have swapped places.
Alcaraz is in, his wrist theoretically healed after four months of no competitive tennis. Sinner is out. A knee injury that has limited him to seven matches since the French Open, all of them played in winning Wimbledon, will force him to miss the year’s final Grand Slam.
Perhaps it’s a fitting end to a Grand Slam year that has offered plenty of chaos on the men’s side. Novak Djokovic rose from the ashes to top Sinner in a wild Australian Open semifinal in Melbourne, but Alcaraz waited out a Djokovic first-set surge in the final to become the youngest man in history to complete the career Grand Slam.
By the time the French Open rolled around, Alcaraz was out with his wrist injury. Sinner, who needed the title to complete a career Grand Slam of his own, lost to Argentina’s Juan Manuel Cerúndolo from the verge of victory, wilting in the heat of Paris and with no little help from an illness. Alexander Zverev capitalized to lift his first major title.
Sinner largely righted things at Wimbledon, but Alcaraz was on the sidelines still, creating a kind of tilted draw heavily weighted toward one side — that of Sinner and Djokovic — with the other contenders among the top 10, Zverev apart, castigating themselves for failing to take advantage of the opportunity.
Now comes the U.S. Open, and so much more curiosity and potential for chaos. Djokovic has played one match since Wimbledon and just 20 all year. Alcaraz has attended more World Cup Games than he has played elite tennis matches. Are they rested and ready to go? Or are they rusty and ripe for the taking?
A year ago there was no alternative to a Sinner vs. Alcaraz final: they met in Paris, London and then New York. The 2026 Grand Slam season will end without a single one. What was inevitable became vulnerable. Sports will do that.