Can Carlos Alcaraz defend a title that no man has defended in 17 years — while coming back from the injury tennis stars fear most?Will 2026 make tennis reconsider what parity really is?Is Venus and Serena Williams’ doubles partnership the start of another ending?And what about the impact of rising ticket prices and renovating the biggest stadium in the sport?The 2026 U.S. Open promises to be a cracker. Here, The Athletic’s tennis writers, Ava Wallace and Matt Futterman, chart some of the key storylines to follow over the next two weeks.Will one of the most immovable records in men’s tennis fall?At this year’s U.S. Open, two of the longest waits in men’s tennis will collide more meaningfully than they have at any time in the past few years.It’s been 23 years since an American won a Grand Slam title. That was Andy Roddick at the U.S. Open in 2003. On paper, this tournament looks like as ripe an opportunity as there has been in a while to snap that streak.Jannik Sinner, the world No. 1, is out with a knee injury. Carlos Alcaraz, the defending champion, hasn’t played in four months. He’s coming back from a wrist injury, a terrifying plight for any player.Novak Djokovic is 39 and has played one match since Wimbledon. Alexander Zverev, the No. 1 seed, was suboptimal in the tuneups for the event.Now consider the top Americans.Taylor Fritz won the D.C. Open. Ben Shelton won the Canadian Open. Frances Tiafoe was a set away from winning the Cincinnati Open. Granted, Sinner and Alcaraz didn’t play any of those tournaments, and Djokovic lost his first match in Cincinnati, but these guys are in form.Tiafoe has been hearing about that streak his entire career. He said the state of the opposition hasn’t changed the math.“It’s the same conversation,” he said in a news conference Friday. “Still gotta beat seven guys, however way you slice it.”There’s another wrinkle. The U.S. Open men’s singles has been undefendable since Roger Federer won his fifth consecutive title in New York in 2008. A healthy and prepared Alcaraz would be a runaway favorite for the title. And while not even he knows how he will hold up in the face of competition after missing a third of a year, so much of the 23-year-old’s remarkable career to date has involved doing the near-impossible.— Matt FuttermanU.S. Open 2026 previewAva Wallace and Jen KlocknerWill the fourth Slam of the year make tennis reconsider what an ‘open’ draw really is?The most-used word in tennis this year might be “open.” Not because three of four Grand Slams have the word right there in the name, but because of the opportunities that have been available to players.When Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic lost shockingly early at the French Open, where defending champion Carlos Alcaraz was already out with an injury, that men’s draw was dubbed “open.” The same word cropped up during the men’s draw at the start of Wimbledon, when pundits questioned whether Sinner, after wilting in the sun in both Melbourne and Paris, could withstand a British heat wave.It isn’t just the men; on the women’s side, the French Open was considered somewhat open, though Mirra Andreeva was still favored, after No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka lost in the quarterfinals. Wimbledon was called the same because the group of women who had been dominating Grand Slams in recent years — Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina, Iga Świątek and Coco Gauff — were all wrangling their own on-court struggles.But tennis is a sport of order.The past two men’s major champions were then-world No. 3 Alexander Zverev, long considered the best player without a Grand Slam trophy, and Sinner. Mirra Andreeva, pegged early in her career as a future major champion, was hardly a surprise as a French Open winner. Even Linda Nosková’s triumph at Wimbledon follows a pattern — when was the last time a woman who was expected to win Wimbledon actually won Wimbledon? Ash Barty in 2021?This U.S. Open might finally convince the sport to reframe its use of the word “open,” or at least convince it that it wasn’t the right word for this year.There is no denying the opportunity that exists in the men’s draw over the next two weeks. But contenders have not been stepping up in a way that implies the sport is without hierarchy, even at the level below Sinner and Alcaraz.In the women’s draw, Gauff’s, Świątek’s and Jessica Pegula’s performances on hard courts this summer have made it clear women’s tennis is not a free-for-all, and “open” hasn’t been the correct word for some time. Depending on who wins the U.S. Open, “parity,” especially in the women’s game, might be.— Ava WallaceIs Venus and Serena Williams’ New York reunion the start of another ending?The tennis world missed out on watching Venus and Serena Williams play doubles together at Wimbledon after Serena withdrew from the event with a knee injury she sustained in her first-round singles loss to Australian Maya Joint.That makes their reunion in New York just a little more special. The sisters last played together at a Grand Slam here at the U.S. Open in 2022, the year Serena “evolved” away from tennis. They lost their first-round match that year to a Czech team featuring a 17-year-old Nosková, and doubles felt a bit like an addendum, an added perk onto what was full-blown Serena-mania in the singles draw.It’s fun this time that doubles feels like a more central event, despite that Venus has an anticipated first-round singles matchup against fellow American and former Grand Slam champion Sofia Kenin. Serena isn’t playing singles, meaning she can put all of her focus into the doubles, where she’s been looking solid lately (one popular theory earlier this summer as to why she was returning to tennis was so she could play doubles with Venus in New York near what could be the end of her sister’s career).Serena’s pairing with Carlos Alcaraz for the mixed doubles event was a great combination of loose, lighthearted atmosphere and seriously impressive tennis. In her most recent outing with Venus, at the Cincinnati Open, they took singles players Marta Kostyuk and Peyton Stearns to a third-set tiebreak and came a few points from a comeback win.However they perform, it’s always a good idea to soak up the Williams sisters in New York — and whatever happens if a match point does not go their way.— Ava WallaceHow will the U.S. Open ticketing debate affect the tournament proper?Heading into the tournament, there has been more talk about ticket prices than about tennis.Surging prices on the official resale market have seen grounds passes go at $350, while the $800M renovation of Arthur Ashe Stadium has increased the proportion of luxury seating inside the biggest bowl in the sport.The USTA, owns and organizes the event on public land, in a public park, on courts that are open to the public most of the rest of the year. It has mostly kept access to qualifying week, also known as Fan Week, free, outside of mixed doubles sessions and exhibition events. About a quarter of a million fans pass through the gates in the week leading up to the main tournament, most of them for free.The remaining unknown is how those rising prices and seating changes will affect the event proper. What will the courtside atmosphere be like when the seats right by the action are more expensive than they were before? Who will have picked up those resold grounds passes, some of which were going at six times face value? Will it feel as if there are two different tournaments, one for those who can stomach over $1,000 for a day of tennis and one for those who cannot?