World No. 1 Jannik Sinner withdraws from US Open with knee injury

World No. 1 Jannik Sinner withdrew from the US Open on Friday because of a persistent right knee injury, his third consecutive missed hardcourt tournament of the summer, reshaping the top of the men's draw as qualifying rounds opened Monday at Flushing Meadows.

What happened

Sinner's team announced the withdrawal in a statement two days before qualifying began for the year's final Grand Slam, first reported Friday evening. "Even though I have been working hard with my team and my medical staff, we have now had to make the difficult decision that I will not be able to compete at the US Open this year," Sinner said. "We have been back on court in Monte Carlo over the last couple of days and have realised that I still need more time to recover from my right knee issue." He added that New York "has a special place in my heart" and that he had been looking forward to "the electric atmosphere in front of the great fans there."

The withdrawal follows two earlier pullouts this summer over the same injury: Sinner skipped the Canadian Open in Toronto and Montreal, then withdrew again from the Cincinnati Open in early August. According to his team, he will remain in Europe to continue rehabilitation, with an eye toward returning for the Asian hardcourt swing in Beijing and Shanghai this fall.

Sinner had been the tour's dominant hardcourt player for much of the past two seasons, and his knee trouble first surfaced publicly in early August, when he withdrew from Canada's ATP Masters 1000 event citing the same issue. A follow-up attempt to play through it at the Cincinnati Open lasted only until the tournament's early rounds before he pulled out a second time. Between those two withdrawals and Friday's announcement, Sinner has now sat out three straight hardcourt tournaments — the traditional lead-up stretch to the US Open — without a single competitive match, leaving his form heading into the fall largely untested.

The numbers

Sinner was defending the 1,300 ranking points he earned as last year's US Open runner-up, a final he lost to Carlos Alcaraz. Losing those points will drop his points total to roughly 11,500, but tennis-ranking analysts project he will hold on to the world No. 1 spot at least until the tour reaches Beijing in early October, given the size of his lead over the rest of the field. It is Sinner's first missed Grand Slam in several years, a run that had included a Wimbledon title this July, his only major championship of the season.

How the draw changes

Alexander Zverev, the French Open champion this year and runner-up to Sinner at Wimbledon, moves up to the tournament's No. 1 seed. Carlos Alcaraz, who has been out since April with a right wrist injury that cost him both the French Open and Wimbledon, becomes the highest-ranked player actually in the field and the new betting favorite to win the title, with his odds shortening after Sinner's exit. Novak Djokovic also benefits from a softer projected path with the top seed removed from his side of the draw. Play in the main singles draw begins August 30 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens, with qualifying and the mixed doubles championship running this week, according to the tournament's official schedule. The men's final is set for September 13.

Sinner's absence also means he will not partner Katerina Siniakova in mixed doubles, an event he had entered for the first time this year. The tournament's official men's entry list reflects his withdrawal from the singles field.

Who is affected

The reshuffled draw is being read across the sport as an opening for the wider men's field, including American contenders such as Ben Shelton, in a tournament that had been expected to showcase a potential Sinner-Alcaraz final. No American man has won a Grand Slam singles title since Andy Roddick in 2003, a drought tennis writers have repeatedly noted is now in its 23rd year. With Sinner and Alcaraz between them missing three of the past four majors to injury, fans will go a full calendar year without seeing the sport's two dominant players meet in a final anywhere.

Reaction

Sinner's team framed the decision as medically necessary rather than precautionary, saying attempts to test the knee on court in Monte Carlo in the days before the deadline confirmed he was not ready. Tournament organizers have not commented beyond confirming the withdrawal and updating the official tournament news page. Coverage of the field changes has focused on the practical consequences for seeding rather than direct comment from rival players, none of whom had issued public statements on Sinner's absence as of Monday.

Sinner is not alone in carrying a physical toll into the final major of the year. Alcaraz's return from his own four-month layoff is itself being watched closely, with his announcement of a comeback — a short video posted the day before Sinner's withdrawal — setting up his first competitive matches since the spring on a surface and stage where he has previously reached a Grand Slam final.

What happens next

Sinner's stated target for a return is the Asian swing this fall, meaning his next competitive matches would come in Beijing or Shanghai. Whether he can defend enough points elsewhere on the calendar to hold the No. 1 ranking through that stretch will be one of the tour's storylines heading into autumn. In New York, attention now shifts to whether Alcaraz can win the title in his first tournament back from injury, or whether Zverev converts his elevated seeding into his first US Open championship.