Ex-U.S. Open Champ, Former Runner-Up Both Withdraw Due To Injuries

The 2026 U.S. Open tennis tournament is underway, with mixed doubles action in the books and the main draw beginning on Sunday in New York City.Carlos Alcaraz, last year’s men’s title winner, will attempt to defend his crown as he looks to come back from a wrist injury that’s kept him out of play since April. He took part in the mixed doubles competition alongside great Serena Williams, who made her return to tennis in June after her retirement from the sport nearly four years earlier. Alcaraz-Williams, much like the pairing of stars Novak Djokovic and Aryna Sabalenka, fell in the early rounds last week.Czech duo Karolina Muchova and Jakub Mensik later took the W in the final.Williams, who isn’t playing in the singles competition, is set to team up with her sister Venus for the women’s doubles on Thursday. The two last played together at the U.S. Open in 2022.Top-ranked Jannik Sinner, meanwhile, has withdrawn from the tournament due to injury.On the women’s side, top-ranked Sabalenka looks to become the first woman since Williams to win three straight U.S. Open titles. Former U.S. Open champ Coco Gauff, fresh off a big Cincinnati Open win, is hoping to have similar success in Queens.The Grand Slam tournament is known to attract big names, including President Donald Trump, who has made a habit of positioning himself next to major sports events as he faces abysmal poll numbers amid his unpopular Iran war.It’s unclear whether Trump, whose appearance at last year’s men’s final prompted boos in Arthur Ashe Stadium, will return to his home borough of Queens when this year’s final goes down on Sept. 13.Check out our coverage below:Ex-U.S. Open Champ, Former Runner-Up Both Withdraw Due To InjuriesNEW YORK, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Former champion Marin Cilic and 2022 runner-up Casper Ruud pulled out of the U.S. Open due to injuries shortly after the tournament got underway on Sunday.Cilic won the only major title of his career at Flushing Meadows 12 years ago and the Croat will be replaced in the draw by lucky loser Otto Virtanen, who faces 23rd seed Andrey Rublev in the opening round.Virtanen had pulled out of his third round qualifying match against Grigor Dimitrov with injury.Organizers did not specify what the injury to the 37-year-old Cilic was. The veteran joins a growing list of withdrawals with the likes of Jannik Sinner, Jack Draper, Joao Fonseca and Holger Rune skipping the tournament this year.Ruud, the runner-up to Carlos Alcaraz four years ago, was another high-profile player to pull out earlier and his place in the opening round will be taken by lucky loser Arthur Gea. The Frenchman meets Juan Manuel Cerundolo first up.The 27-year-old Ruud had retired during the second set of his Cincinnati Open meeting with Christopher O’Connell earlier this month and said his back injury had not recovered in time.“Unfortunately, my back hasn’t healed as quickly as we had hoped,” Ruud said on Instagram.“We’ve been optimistic that I would recover in time, but my team and I have decided that we need to think long term and give my body the time it needs. I’m very sad to announce that I have to withdraw from this year’s U.S. Open singles event.“It’s never easy to miss a Grand Slam, but I know this is the right decision. I’ll take the time I need to recover properly and come back stronger.”Ruud competed in the revamped mixed doubles tournament last week partnering Diana Shnaider and the pair were beaten in the quarter-finals by Rublev and Mirra Andreeva.(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in New York; Editing by Toby Davis)Latest Live UpdatesAmerican Tennis Star Shakes Off Nerves, Wins Opening Match At The U.S. OpenNEW YORK (AP) — Third-ranked Jessica Pegula shook off nerves that contributed to a slow start against Elena-Gabriela Ruse, winning her opening match at the U.S. Open on Sunday in straight sets.Leading off at Arthur Ashe Stadium, the 32-year-old American missed her first nine opportunities to break Ruse but found a rhythm and began dominating. Coming off a trip to the final at the Cincinnati Open, which she lost to Coco Gauff, Pegula won 92% of her first-serve points on the way to a 6-3, 6-2 victory in 83 minutes.“I was so nervous,” Pegula said. “I was like sending GIFs of what I felt like. It was GIFs of people freaking out and stuff. ... The first round of a slam, there’s always a ton of nerves.”Pegula next faces the winner of the match between Venus Williams and fellow wild card Sofia Kenin. They’re set to play in the nightcap at Ashe, and Williams and sister Serena are scheduled to play doubles together.Nineteenth-seeded Jasmine Paolini also advanced in women’s singles, defeating Veronika Erjavec 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. Kamilla Rakhimova beat No. 27 seed Barbora Krejcikova 7-6 (4), 6-2.On the men’s side, Daniil Medvedev was up next at Ashe against Hugo Gaston. Novak Djokovic begins his quest for a record-extending 25th Grand Slam title on Sunday night against Mariano Navone.Djokovic at 39 most recently lost his opening match earlier this month at Cincinnati.___See AP’s full tennis coverage hereThe 2026 U.S. Open Is UnderwayNEW YORK, Aug 30 (Reuters) - The singles main draws got underway at the U.S. Open in good conditions on Sunday, with a record purse of $108 million up for grabs at the year’s final major at Flushing Meadows.Dozens of ticket holders were lined up long before Italian Jasmine Paolini kicked off the action at 11 a.m. ET against Slovenia’s Veronika Erjavec at Louis Armstrong Stadium, while Czech Jiri Lehecka faced Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta out at the Grandstand.Highest-ranked American woman Jessica Pegula will play the first match at the showpiece Arthur Ashe Stadium at against Romania’s Elena-Gabriela Ruse. The 2021 champion Daniil Medvedev was due to play in the second match against France’s Hugo Gaston.Guests piled into Flushing Meadows under sunny skies with temperatures hovering around 75 degrees Fahrenheit, as the tournament entered its second year in a 15-day format with the first round played over three days.Organisers added an extra day to the schedule in 2025 following years of runaway demand for tickets and U.S. Tennis Association chief executive Craig Tiley said that the $108 million purse, the largest in tennis history, was aimed at giving players a fair share of the revenue.The 24-times Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic will kick off the night session on Ashe against Argentine Mariano Navone.With world number one Jannik Sinner out of the tournament and defending champion Carlos Alcaraz coming to New York after a long injury layoff, this year presents a prime chance for the 39-year-old Serb to add one more major trophy to his haul.The 46-year-old Venus Williams will close out the night session against fellow American wildcard Sofia Kenin.(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York; Editing by Ed Osmond)Roger Federer Gets Emotional During International Tennis Hall of Fame InductionNEWPORT, R.I. (AP) — Roger Federer was brought to tears numerous times during his induction speech at the International Tennis Hall of Fame on Saturday.As sunset crept in at Newport’s grass horseshoe court at the entrance of the Hall, the 45-year-old Federer, dressed in a tan suit, strolled up to the stage for his speech, kissed and hugged his wife, Mirka, who had just introduced him, and realized what a challenge it was going to be.“Oh man,” were the first words from the first man ever to win 20 Grand Slam singles titles. “This is very high level and a tough act to follow.”He joked: “I don’t know if you have been practicing secretly” before praising his wife’s presentation of the 272nd Hall of Famer.Federer was inducted along with Mary Carillo, a broadcaster and former player, who was presented by Hall of Famer Billie Jean King.Federer, called the “Swiss Maestro” during the Hall’s first red-carpet show, which began on center court about 90 minutes before the start of the induction ceremony, told the crowd that he “was a little stressed to be honest.”During his nearly 30-minute speech, Federer, who showed fluid movement and a quick approach to the net with a solid one-hand backhand that earned him a record 237 consecutive weeks as the world’s No. 1 player in the ATP rankings, chocked up a handful of times.It began to get tough for him about halfway through, when he talked about his childhood hero, Stefan Edberg, when he said these are “happy tears.”Then he was brought to tears again when he spoke about his longtime coach Severin Luthi, before he wanted to thank Mirka for helping him on his journey.“Now the Mirka part,” he said, pausing before breaking into tears. “Oh gosh, this such a mess.”He tried to joke, but the tears took over like a quick return at the net.“I need tissues and sunglasses, everything to protect me right now,” he told the crowd, fighting back more tears.But, like rallying in winning one of his five consecutive U.S. Open titles from 2004-08 or reaching 10 straight Slam finals, which he won eight, Federer closed by thanking the ball boys and encouraged players to keep taking the game new levels.Federer, who celebrated his 45th birthday three weeks ago, won eight Wimbledon titles and is only one of eight men with a career Grand Slam. He captured six Australian Opens and one French Open, in 2009.“I’m thrilled to have made the journey here,” he said. “It’s amazing to see yourself in a place like this. To immerse yourself in the history of the sport means a lot to me.”Carillo, inducted as a contributor, is a member of the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame.King said: “She has earned her spot in sports journalism and she has earned her spot in Newport.”Carillo, 69, was touched standing in front of a handful of Hall of Famers.“To walk through these gates here in the company of you people, that was beyond my dreams,” she said.___See AP’s full tennis coverage hereCoco Gauff's Mom Has Just 1 'Blunt But Necessary' U.S. Open Ask — And Fans Are Here For ItCandi Gauff, the mother of 2023 U.S. Open champ Coco Gauff, took to Instagram on Thursday with a note to her loved ones: She can’t help EVERYONE see her tennis star daughter play in this year’s tournament.“I apologize in advance for this blunt, but necessary statement. I know you are very excited about Coco playing in the US Open. Me too!!! Coco’s guest ticket request have already been accounted for,” she wrote alongside a pic of her daughter celebrating her Cincinnati Open title on Sunday.“Unfortunately, I will not be able to hook you up with a ticket.”She went on to suggest that her friends and family should arrange to buy a ticket on their own and, in the future, not to ask for more than two.“Coco is grown now and she has her own friends that she is honoring tickets for the match. Thank you for your continued support,” she concluded.The comment from Candi Gauff — who, along with her husband, Corey, have rallied behind their daughter’s tennis dreams since she was a child — was met with a number of witty replies, including one user who wrote, “She said GET OFF MY PHONE 😂,” and another who suggested, “Tell em to ask Mamdani 😂” (referring to the New York City mayor’s “affordable” ticket program).Former tennis player Ayan Broomfield, who is dating men’s star Frances Tiafoe, commented, “I wish captions could be retweeted 😂😂😂😂😂😂.”Gauff hopes to ride the wave of her Cincy success in New York this year, starting with her opening round singles match against Turkey’s Zeynep Sonmez.Alcaraz, Djokovic, Sabalenka And Pegula: Here's Where The Stars Will Begin The 2026 U.S. OpenNEW YORK (AP) — Carlos Alcaraz will open the defense of his U.S. Open title against an opponent who made a strong run at Wimbledon while the Spaniard was sidelined with an injury.Alcaraz is the No. 2 seed and will face Roman Safiullin. It will be Alcaraz’s first singles match since April, after the two-time U.S. Open champion was forced to miss the French Open and Wimbledon because of a right wrist injury.Two-time defending women’s champion Aryna Sabalenka opens against Camila Osorio. The top-ranked Sabalenka, who has struggled during the North American hard-court season, could face Wimbledon champion Linda Noskova, the No. 6 seed, in the quarterfinals.Main draw play at the final Grand Slam tournament of the tennis season begins Sunday.Read more:Aryna Sabalenka Eyeing U.S. Open Three-PeatBENGALURU, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Aryna Sabalenka will attempt to become the first woman since Serena Williams to capture three consecutive titles at the U.S. Open, though a sharp dip in form has clouded what once looked like an inevitable march toward the milestone.Back-to-back titles forged by a powerful and precise game established the 28-year-old as the dominant force at Flushing Meadows, where no woman has enjoyed a comparable run since American great Williams won three in a row from 2012-14.Sabalenka looked poised to tighten her grip on the women’s game following hardcourt triumphs at Brisbane, Indian Wells and Miami but her momentum has suddenly stalled, with a 17-7 win-loss record since April underlining a loss of consistency.With Sabalenka’s world number one ranking under threat from Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina, any stumble in New York could prove costly.The four-times Grand Slam champion is well aware she has a target on her back.“Everyone wants to beat you,” she said ahead of the Cincinnati Open tune-up event, where she lost in the round of 16 to Czech outsider Sara Bejlek.“It’s the same if you’re number one, number two, number 10. It doesn’t really matter what the ranking is ... I love having a target on my back.“I like to see the younger generation looking up to me and getting inspired by me. But they’re going to be inspired even if I drop in the rankings a bit. Hopefully it’ll never happen.“As long as I focus on developing myself as a player and a person, the ranking doesn’t really matter.”ESPN commentator Mary Joe Fernandez said Sabalenka’s title defense was on shaky ground.“She has not reached a final since winning Indian Wells and Miami back-to-back,” the former world number four said.“She struggled a bit winning the big points. She’s lost a couple big leads in some events. So she’s vulnerable.”Her downturn in form prompted tennis analyst Rick Macci to question whether Sabalenka was in the right frame of mind coming into the year’s final Grand Slam.“Right now Sabalenka is competing against herself,” Macci, who previously coached Williams in the early 1990s, posted on social media.“When an athlete does this you can still get a few wins but mentally your confidence spins. This year in New York it is the U.S. WIDE Open for the WTA as 15 different players could have the final say.”(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford )Young Star's Fast Rise In Tennis Could Make Her A Main Attraction At The U.S. OpenAug 27 (Reuters) - Philippine tennis trailblazer Alexandra Eala has emerged as one of the sport’s fastest-rising players after a breakthrough season, and her growing fan base and improving game could make her one of the main attractions at the U.S. Open.Former world number four Mary Joe Fernandez said the scale and intensity of support for Eala had become increasingly apparent over the past year, recalling packed practice sessions at the Miami Open and vocal crowds at recent tournaments.“Her following, the fans that just come to watch her not just play her match, but to watch her practice, is off the charts,” ESPN commentator Fernandez told reporters on a conference call this week.“It’s just gotten bigger and bigger everywhere she goes.“It’s almost like she’s playing a Billie Jean King Cup match when she’s out there,” she added. “Every point is loud. Every point she wins, it feels like she’s won more than a point.”Eala claimed her first WTA title with a victory over Jessica Pegula in Washington this month and the 21-year-old’s triumph showed she is worthy of all the attention.“She was outstanding in Washington,” Fernandez said of Eala, who also beat Elina Svitolina and Naomi Osaka en route to the title.“Her game is really good. She backs it up.“She’s improved tremendously... She’s getting better and better.”Now ranked 18th in the world, Eala is the highest-ranked Filipino and Southeast Asian player in WTA history, and her rise presents an opportunity for the WTA to build interest in the Philippines and among its large global diaspora, Fernandez said.Fellow ESPN commentator Patrick McEnroe said U.S. Open organisers should ensure Eala gets time on one of the tournament’s larger courts.“The USTA better make sure they put her on big courts,” McEnroe said. “I think the crowd is going to be wild for her. It’s going to be a great story.”(Reporting by Rory Carroll; Editing by Peter Rutherford )Coco Gauff Hopes To Keep Winning Momentum Going In QueensAug 27 (Reuters) - After claiming her first title of the season at the Cincinnati Open, Coco Gauff will be aiming to keep her winning momentum going and make a championship run at the U.S. Open in New York as she seeks a third Grand Slam crown.The American world number four had been itching for a trophy this year, having come close on several occasions.She lost in the finals in Miami and Rome and reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon and in Toronto before defeating compatriot Jessica Pegula for the Cincinnati title.Gauff will lean on that experience heading into the U.S. Open.“It’s going to be tough in New York, but just knowing the quality wins that I had this week, knowing that I’m able to figure it out even if I’m not playing my best, but also knowing that I can play that great tennis that I felt like I was playing this week,” Gauff told reporters after her final victory.“Just learning to be more aggressive in these points and hopefully I can use the experience here in New York.”The 22-year-old also feels more confident about her game, having welcomed biomechanics specialist Gavin MacMillan onto her team last year to help address issues with her serve.She still leads the tour in double faults this season but is happy with her progress.“I think I’m just going big, honestly. I feel like I’m really confident on my serve now, so I’m going for it pretty much almost all times, unless I feel like my percentage is too low,” Gauff told the Tennis Channel after her second-round victory over Liudmila Samsonova in Cincinnati.“But I think the biggest thing that has made the difference is just mixing up the versatility. I feel like I’m mixing it up a lot on my serve, so it’s tough to read, and, yeah, I think I’m doing a good job with that and just trying to keep improving.”With a trophy under her belt, Gauff is tuning out criticism and riding a wave of momentum into New York, where she won her first Grand Slam title in 2023.“The most important part for me that I’ve learned is just to focus on me and continuing to get better,” said Gauff.“Like with everything, hard work doesn’t lie and the results will come. That’s the thing I’ve learned, just to trust the process.”(Reporting by Nicole Fernandes in Toronto; Editing by Ken Ferris)Matching Czech Duo Wins Mixed Doubles Title At The U.S. OpenNEW YORK (AP) — Jakub Mensik texted Karolina Muchova on the eve of the U.S. Open mixed doubles tournament so they could coordinate their outfits. Looking good on the court is important, he figured.Now they look like a million bucks.Muchova and Mensik won the title Wednesday night in their first time playing together, beating Belinda Bencic and Flavio Cobolli 6-3, 1-6 (10-6).The Czech duo, wearing the same pink tops and maroon bottoms they settled on Monday, pulled out match tiebreakers in both matches on the second night of the two-day event, fueled by Mensik’s powerful serve combined with some good hands near the net. He put away the final with an ace to earn $1 million for him and Muchova to share.“I think at the end, really the matching outfit made the difference for us,” Muchova said.They were a point from losing in the semifinals, erasing two match points and running off the final four to edge Mirra Andreeva and Andrey Rublev 5-4 (6), 3-5 (11-9).Quite a performance, considering Mensik said he had never played in a mixed doubles event.“My first mixed doubles, 100% win rate,” he said.Bencic and Cobolli rallied to end the run of spouses Elina Svitolina and Gael Monfils in the first semifinal with a 4-5 (7), 4-1 (10-5) victory.They appeared headed toward a matchup with Andreeva and Rublev, who were smiling and pumping their fists after opening the lead in the match tiebreaker. Muchova flung her racket to the court in disgust after missing a volley that gave the Russians a 7-5 lead.But the Wimbledon women’s runner-up never lost belief, thanks in part to her hard-serving partner, who will turn 21 next week.When Mensik first asked Muchova to play, she told him to improve his ranking. When the U.S. Open mixed doubles tournament was revamped last year, the ability to directly qualify was based on the combined singles rankings of the two players.Mensik then did his part by reaching the semifinals of the French Open.“I put a little pressure on him, but in a fun way. It worked,” Muchova said. “I’m happy we managed and we got in, that we are here now.”The final was the only match of the tournament that resembled a regular match, with standard sets to six games and a tiebreaker at 6-all. Through the first three rounds, sets were to four games, with a tiebreaker at 4-all.Bencic and Cobolli knocked Serena Williams and Carlos Alcaraz out of the tournament Tuesday in the quarterfinals.Then they dropped a set for the first time in the tournament in the semis, but began to dominate midway through the second set, winning the final 11 points to force the match tiebreaker. But they couldn’t win their second one in the final.“This year is already the second final. I never expected in my life to play a Grand Slam,” said Cobolli, this year’s French Open runner-up. “This is mixed but still something that you never forget.”It was the second year of the new format in mixed doubles, with the event shortened and moved to the week before the singles main draw begins, with the U.S. Tennis Association hoping that would get top singles players to compete.Plenty of top names did compete but much of the star power, including Williams and Alcaraz, went out early. Aryna Sabalenka and Novak Djokovic lost their opening match, as did Alex Eala and Felix Auger-Aliassime, and Jessica Pegula and Taylor Fritz.That could explain a good number of empty seats in Ashe, particularly after both semifinals went the distance and pushed the start of the final back toward nearly 11 p.m. EDT.None of the teams featuring doubles specialists survived to the final four, leaving an opening for some players still seeking Grand Slam glory such as Rublev, who has fallen 10 times in major quarterfinals.Svitolina and Monfils, who have both reached the U.S. Open singles semifinals, accepted a wild card to team up for the first time. Married since 2021, they were trying to win a championship in the final appearance in a Grand Slam tournament for Monfils, who will turn 40 on Sept. 1, before he retires.They pulled out a back-and-forth tiebreaker in the first set in which they blew a 4-0 lead, then erased two set points. They went ahead 8-7 when Bencic tried to hit a cross-court backhand but nailed Cobolli, who had strayed into the middle. Cobolli then double-faulted to lose the set.Bencic and Cobolli recovered, but then had a poor start to the final after a long break between matches. The Czechs pounced quickly, then finished well late.Their biggest challenge may have been the outfit selection. Mensik apparently wasn’t familiar with the word maroon.Now he knows and loves it.“My favorite color right now is pink and maroon, that’s for sure,” he said.___See AP’s full tennis coverage here'Big Regret': Roger Federer Names The U.S. Open Loss That Haunts HimTennis great Roger Federer has revealed that he’s haunted by his shock defeat in the 2009 U.S. Open men’s final.Federer — in an interview clip shared by ESPN’s Spanish-language tennis page on Tuesday — reflected on Argentina’s Juan Martín del Potro beating him in a match that lasted over four hours.Read more:See All Updates