ATP Tour

Five Challenger players to watch at the US Open

ATPTour.com highlights five players from the ATP Challenger Tour to watch during the US Open.

Zachary Svajda
The 22-year-old qualifier has had a summer to remember. Svajda won 10 consecutive Challenger matches to lift two trophies, in Newport, Rhode Island and in Lexington, Kentucky. The American dedicated his Newport title to his father, Tom, who is battling cancer and then dedicated his Lexington crown to his mother, Anita — “the hardest working person I know”, he wrote on Instagram.

Svajda will make his fifth main-draw appearance at his home Slam, where he begins against fellow qualifier Zsombor Piros. Boasting an ultra-consistent backhand and rarely allowing his body language to reveal if he’s winning or losing, Svajda could meet 24-time major champion Novak Djokovic in a second-round showdown.

Dino Prizmic
#NextGenATP star Prizmic boasts a standout 27-9 season record at the Challenger level. After a wrist injury hindered Prizmic’s 2024 season, the Croatian this year has won two Challenger titles (Zagreb, Bratislava). In his past three Challenger outings, the 20-year-old has reached the championship match on each occasion.

“It’s a good start to try and become a top player and also to try to play against very good players,” Prizmic said of his early Challenger success. “It’s a good feeling, but I think it’s something that in the beginning it’s what I have to pass to be a good player.”

Prizmic is making his US Open debut as a qualifier and will aim to upset 15th seed Andrey Rublev in the opening round. Fourth in the PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah, Prizmic is in good position to qualify for his maiden trip to the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF, which runs from 17-21 December.

Emilio Nava
On the verge of making his Top 100 debut, the American begins against last year’s finalist Taylor Fritz, who just beat Nava two weeks ago in Cincinnati. Nava is second on the Challenger match-wins leaderboard this season with 35 victories. The 23-year-old’s three trophies this year, a title haul that came amidst Nava's impressive 19-match win streak across five weeks, are the most among all Americans.

Brandon Holt
One of Holt’s career highlights came at Flushing Meadows in 2022, when, ranked outside the Top 300, he stunned then-10th seeded Fritz. Holt, 27, is now making his first US Open main-draw appearance since that memorable victory. At that time, Holt had yet to win a Challenger title, but his first two triumphs at that level have come this year, in Nonthaburi, Thailand and Bengaluru, India. Holt cracked the Top 100 for the first time on 30 June. The son of former WTA No. 1 Tracy Austin, Holt plays Nuno Borges in the first round.

Kamil Majchrzak
The Pole has split time between the ATP Challenger Tour and the ATP Tour this season and is currently at No. 76 in the PIF ATP Rankings, one spot off his career high, which he reached in 2022. Majchrzak, who has won two Challenger titles this season, reached the fourth round of Wimbledon, his career-best Slam result. He earned wins against Nicolas Jarry and Nuno Borges last week in Winston-Salem to reach the third round at the ATP 250. Majchrzak begins his US Open against Hugo Dellien.