Jannik Sinner Is Not at Flushing Meadows and the Number One Seed Went to Alexander Zverev Instead
The world number one withdrew on 21 August with a right knee problem. Alexander Zverev inherited the top seeding and Carlos Alcaraz took the number two.
The 2026 US Open is being played without the man ranked first in the world. Jannik Sinner announced his withdrawal on Friday 21 August, citing the right knee problem that had already forced him out of the Cincinnati Open earlier in the month. His statement was short: "We have realized that I still need more time to recover from my right knee issue."
The injury flared after a Wimbledon title run that anchored a season Sinner finished, at the point of withdrawal, with 44 wins against three losses and five titles. His ranking lead over the rest of the tour is large enough that he holds the number one position while sitting the tournament out.
The seeding moved beneath him. Alexander Zverev, the French Open champion, became the number one seed. Carlos Alcaraz took the number two, his first appearance at a major since April. Sinner was one of a long list of withdrawals across both draws — Tennis365 counted fourteen names, including Alejandro Davidovich Fokina on the men's side with a back injury and, among the women, Victoria Mboko, Emma Raducanu, Ajla Tomljanovic and Laura Siegemund.
That reshuffle matters more at this tournament than it might elsewhere. The US Open switched to a Sunday start in 2025, which stretches the first week and changes when the fourth round lands. Monday 31 August is a full day of play at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, Queens, with the schedule concentrated on Arthur Ashe Stadium and Louis Armstrong Stadium.
Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka arrived as defending champions, having won the 2025 singles titles. The tournament also carries the largest prize package of the four majors; the 2025 purse was 90 million US dollars and the 2026 figure has been reported as another record, though the USTA's exact total should be checked against the official release before it is quoted.
For anyone tracking the men's draw, the practical effect of Sinner's absence is that the two players who have split the last several majors between them are no longer on a collision course. Zverev's half and Alcaraz's half now each carry a genuine claim to the title, and the fourth round is where that claim starts being tested.