The US Open is back for the final Grand Slam of the season, with the men’s and women’s singles tournament getting underway Sunday at Flushing Meadows. The event, which routinely begins on the last Monday in August and concludes at Labor Day weekend in the United States, features two weeks of intense competition. Among the changes to this year’s tournament is a 15-day schedule and increased player compensation.
Novak Djokovic will look to prove his fitness and reign as world No. 1 after his Cincinnati Open title defense ended in the quarterfinals with a loss to Great Britain’s Cameron Norrie. Home hopes Ben Shelton and Taylor Fritz are also in action as the first round of the main draw gets underway. On the women’s side, 2024 champion Aryna Sabalenka faces a potentially difficult path to the semifinals that includes Jasmine Paolini and Jessica Pegula.
Defending champion Jannik Sinner opens his title defense against Vit Kopriva and could face Reilly Opelka, Jack Draper, or Alexander Zverev on the road to the final. In the doubles, defending champion Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos start against the No. 6 seeds, Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe.
The US Open is held outdoors on hard courts at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens, New York City. The facility is equipped with roofs over Arthur Ashe Stadium and Louis Armstrong Stadium, and all 17 competition courts have lighting so matches can be played into the evening. The women’s and men’s singles matches feature best-of-three-sets with a tiebreaker at 6-all in the third set, and the doubles are best-of-five-sets with a tiebreaker at 12-all in the fifth.