By Roger Childs

Frances Tiafoe (11) turned in a dazzling performance to upset Daniil Medvedev (7) and return to his third U.S. Open quarterfinal in four years. –Daniel Shirley, The Athletic, 6 September 2026

The legends are now out of contention

From 2003 to 2023 sixty six of the 80 grand slams were won by Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. Fed and Rafa have retired and the Joker, having been knocked out in the first round of this year US Open, may well do so too. These three legends were very hard to beat in their time and there was always magnificent tennis when they played against each other.

Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka won three slams each at that time and played on beyond their best years. 41 year old “Stan the Man” was in the first round of the current US Open but after a couple of close sets was well beaten by Italian Matteo Berrettini. Stan is very popular at Flushing Meadows and received a great reception after what might be his last appearance.

Contenders for the US Open Men’s Singles

The number one seed and French grand slam winner Alexander Zverev is through to the fourth round as are Carlos Alcaraz, Americans Ben Shelton and Alex Mickelsen, and Karen Kharchanov. Last year in the final Alcaraz beat Jannik Sinner in a high quality match, but the Italian, currently world number one withdrew this year because of a knee injury.

Alcaraz is the likely winner in 2026 as Zverev is not in top form and needed five sets to get through each of rounds one and two. He is not an appealing player and bounces the ball 15-20 times before serving which is very boring.

There are plenty of other very good players in the draw, but only Alcaraz is in the class of the three legends.

Contenders for the US Open women’s singles

Aryna Sabalenka from Belarus won last year and as number one seed is favoured to do so again. She has her critics as she is an extravert on court, and does dress colorfully and flaunt her good looks which puts some people off.

 Her home country has supported Putin in his war against Ukraine and although Sabalenka has come out against the war, some of her opponents refuse to shake hands with her.

Other possible champions include American Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek from Poland who won at Flushing Meadows in 2024 and 2022 respectively.  Number two seed Elena Rybakina from Kazakhstan beat Sabalenka in Melbourne earlier this year to capture the Australian grand slam, her second. Also in the frame are third seed American Jessica Pegula, nineteen year old Russian Mirra Andreeva and Linda Noskova from Czechia who is seeded sixth.

A wild card who may surprise is American Emma Navarro. She is only the 26^th seed but has now qualified for the quarter finals.

Finals time

After a week of getting through the first three rounds –- the first round alone had 128 matches, the serious finals play is about to start with the last games currently being played to qualify for the quarter-finals. 

The finals take place at the weekend and spectators can expect quality matches as the best players battle to get through to the last two. The legends may have gone but there are still plenty of quality players left, many of them Americans, in the mix.