ATP Tour

Alcaraz, Djokovic in same half of US Open draw

Carlos Alcaraz’s path to a successful title defence at the US Open may be obstructed by a series of big-hitting opponents in New York.

In his first tournament after four months out due to a wrist injury, the No. 3 player in the PIF ATP Rankings is in the same half of the draw as record 24-time major titlist Novak Djokovic. That means the second-seeded Alcaraz and fourth-seeded Djokovic would meet in the semi-finals at the hard-court major, should they both make it that far.

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Alcaraz and Djokovic are level at 5-5 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series, with Alcaraz winning their only meeting in 2026 in the Australian Open championship match. Alcaraz arrives in New York as the defending champion, having won his second US Open crown in 2025, while Djokovic is a four-time titlist there.

Before any thoughts of taking on Djokovic, Alcaraz will first focus on navigating a stacked bottom quarter of the draw. The 23-year-old Spaniard will face Roman Safiullin, who defeated Alcaraz in straight sets at the 2023 Rolex Paris Masters, in his first singles match since April, while the two most-recent ATP Masters 1000 champions are both potential quarter-final opponents for Alcaraz: Montreal titlist Ben Shelton and Cincinnati winner Arthur Fils.

Meanwhile Djokovic will start his title bid against Mariano Navone. His reward for defeating the Argentine would be an intriguing second-round clash with either Matteo Berrettini or Stan Wawrinka, who is competing in the final major of his career on the 10th anniversary of his 2016 US Open triumph (for which he defeated Djokovic in the final).

The in-form Fils’ showdown with former World No. 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas is one of the first-round matches to watch in the Big Apple. Meanwhile Shelton, the World No. 9 who is spearheading the charge for a first home winner in the US Open men’s singles since Andy Roddick in 2003, opens against Tallon Griekspoor.

In the top half of the draw, top seed Alexander Zverev will meet Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego in his first-round match. The German, who won his first major crown this year at Roland Garros and subsequently reached the Wimbledon final, is 18-2 at Grand Slam level for 2026. Zverev is seeded to meet sixth seed Alex de Minaur in the quarter-finals, although the fast-rising #NextGenATP star Rafael Jodar and 2022 US Open finalist Casper Ruud are also potential last-eight opponents for the German.

Third seed Felix Auger-Aliassime and fifth seed Flavio Cobolli are also in Zverev’s half of the draw in Flushing Meadows. Cobolli is seeded to meet home favourite and 2024 finalist Taylor Fritz in the fourth round. Fritz will start his tournament against his 18-year-old fellow American Darwin Blanch.

Auger-Aliassime plays Australian Rinky Hijikata in his first match, while his section of the draw also includes 14th seed Learner Tien, 17th seed Jakub Mensik and Gael Monfils. Like Wawrinka, Monfils is playing his final Grand Slam tournament ahead of his retirement.