US Open men’s draw: Zverev’s path clears while Fils and Shelton block Alcaraz’s route
Jannik Sinner’s withdrawal reshapes the US Open men’s draw. Alexander Zverev inherits a kinder path. Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz faces a brutal gauntlet, with a tricky opener and potential clashes against Fils, Shelton, and likely Novak Djokovic before the final.
Carlos Alcaraz, US Open 2026 | © PsNewz
With world No. 1 Jannik Sinner withdrawn (knee), Alexander Zverev inherits the No. 1 seed and anchors a top half that looks, on paper, like the kinder route to the final of the US Open 2026. Carlos Alcaraz, the defending champion returning from a four-month wrist layoff, is the No. 2 seed marooned at the very bottom of the sheet – and his draw is anything but a gentle re-entry.
Alcaraz opens against Roman Safiullin, a dangerous, free-hitting first-rounder for a man with no competitive tennis since April.
The draw here
Survive that, and the quarter only stiffens. The real story of the bottom eighth is Arthur Fils: the No. 10 seed lands in Ben Shelton’s section, meaning Fils and Shelton, the two Masters 1000 champions this summer, are projected to collide in the round of 16, with the winner handed a quarterfinal against Alcaraz..
Fils has to earn it the hard way too: he draws Stefanos Tsitsipas in round one, a first-round tie that would headline most other sections of the draw. That corner of the bracket is stacked with heavyweight openers. Andrey Rublev (No. 23) meets Marin Cilic in a former-top-tenner clash, and there’s a genuine throwback in Matteo Berrettini vs Stan Wawrinka – a rematch of their Wimbledon second round, and a wild-card gift for the crowds.
Djokovic – Wawrinka ten years later?
And there’s an even juicier possibility one round later: should Wawrinka get past Berrettini and Djokovic see off Mariano Navone, the pair would meet in the second round — a revenge shot at the 2016 US Open final that Wawrinka won.
The top half offers its own early theatre. Lorenzo Musetti (No. 13) faces recent Wimbledon semifinalist Arthur Fery, and Spanish prospect Rafael Jodar (No. 12) meets the ever-combustible Thanasi Kokkinakis. Gaël Monfils, on a wild card in his final US Open before his Hall-of-Fame week, could run into Learner Tien (No. 14) in the second round, a rematch of their Montreal meeting, should the veteran beat Adolfo Daniel Vallejo.
Zverev’s route runs through Auger-Aliassime (No. 3) and Taylor Fritz (No. 9), his likeliest quarterfinal obstacles.
For the American men, the drought remains the throughline: Shelton (Alcaraz’s quarter) and Fritz (Auger-Aliassime’s) each carry the hope of becoming the first home men’s champion since Andy Roddick in 2003 – and both would likely have to topple a top-two seed to do it.
Theoretical US Open 2026 quarterfinals (by seed):
- Alexander Zverev [1] vs Alex de Minaur [6]
- Félix Auger-Aliassime [3] vs Flavio Cobolli [5]
- Daniil Medvedev [7] vs Novak Djokovic [4]
- Ben Shelton [8] vs Carlos Alcaraz [2]
The projected semifinals fall as Zverev/Auger-Aliassime in the top half and Djokovic/Alcaraz (already a semi-final in 2025) n the bottom – the latter the tie everyone will circle from day one.
Alcaraz’s title defence is live but freighted: no match play in four months, a tricky opener, and a gauntlet of Fils or Shelton, then Djokovic, before he even reaches a final. Zverev, by contrast, could scarcely have asked for a smoother path to No. 1’s privileges. Whether he’s the man to seize a wide-open draw – or merely the beneficiary of Sinner’s absence — is the question the fortnight will answer.
