Like the city of New York, the US Open promises to be a sprawling cauldron of frenzied activity. And this year’s edition is bigger than ever.
The United States Tennis Association is offering $90 million in prize money, up 20 percent from last year. The singles winners each get an unprecedented $5 million — the biggest major payoff. Wimbledon ($4.1 million) is next, followed by the Australian Open ($3.5 million) and the French Open ($2.8 million).
The USTA even threw in $1 million for the winners of the mixed doubles competition. Based on four matches at approximately one hour each, that works out to roughly $125,000 an hour for champions Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori.
We dive into some of the leading, steaming storylines:
The Rankings Races
It’s been almost a year since Aryna Sabalenka overtook Iga Swiatek for the No. 1 ranking. Sabalenka has 11,225 points, 3,292 more than Swiatek but, given the circumstances, that lead could shrink dramatically — or disappear entirely.
As the defending US Open champion, Sabalenka is defending 2,000 points in New York. Remove those, and her effective total at the start of the tournament is 9,225, compared with 7,503 for Swiatek and 7,634 for Coco Gauff — putting both within striking distance.
Swiatek, the winner at Wimbledon and Cincinnati, comes in with the most momentum. She’s a former US Open champion, as is Gauff, who in the current rankings sits just 59 points behind Swiatek.
If Sabalenka doesn’t reach the quarterfinals in New York, Swiatek or Gauff could move to No. 1 by winning the title. But if Sabalenka makes the quarterfinals (430 points), she would lock down the top spot regardless of other results.
In Cincinnati, Swiatek was asked how much she thinks about the race for No. 1.
“I don’t,” she said, “because I know Aryna is having a great season as well, so I know that this is just going to be an effect of how I play. Honestly, this season hasn’t been easy, and I had many other things to worry about and many other things to improve.”
The No. 1 doubles ranking will be on the line in New York as well. Taylor Townsend currently holds the top spot by a narrow margin (140 points) over her anticipated doubles partner at the US Open, Katerina Siniakova.
Others with a chance to move to No.1 after the US Open: Errani and Jasmine Paolini, who would be co-No.1s, will need to at least reach the semifinals. Jelena Ostapenko, Veronika Kudermetova and Erin Routliffe could do it with a title run.
At the same time, the singles Race to the WTA Finals in Riyadh is much tighter, with Sabalenka leading Swiatek by only 7,610 to 7,103.
With eight slots available, here are the next six in line: Gauff (4,944), Madison Keys (4,440), Mirra Andreeva (4,059), Amanda Anisimova (3,608), Elena Rybakina (3,511) and Jessica Pegula (3,430).
Here are the five players on the bubble: Jasmine Paolini (2,746), Elina Svitolina (2,596), Clara Tauson (2,544), Ekaterina Alexandrova (2,370), Emma Navarro (2,240).
There’s plenty of time to jump into the mix, because in addition to the US Open and the two WTA 1000s in China, there are four 500 events as well.
First-round matches we can’t wait to see
No. 11 Karolina Muchova vs. Venus Williams
No. 18 Beatriz Haddad Maia vs. Sonay Kartal
No. 30 Dayana Yastremska vs. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
No. 32 McCartney Kessler vs. Magda Linette
Barbora Krejcikova vs. Victoria Mboko
Caroline Garcia vs. Kamilla Rakhimova
Can Sabalenka major in NYC?
The numbers say yes.
The World No. 1 was on the other side of the net when Keys and Gauff won the Slams in Melbourne and Paris. She lost in the semifinals at Wimbledon to Amanda Anisimova, giving her a 17-3 record this year in the majors.
Only Swiatek, at 17-2, is (marginally) better, followed by Keys (13-2), Gauff (11-2) and Anisimova (10-3). And how about this? Sabalenka has hit 571 winners in the three Grand Slam events so far this year. Swiatek, with 440, is a distant second
The past four years, Sabalenka has been a semifinalist twice, a finalist once and, a year ago, the winner. It’s not surprising that her 28-6 (.824) overall record in New York is the best among active Hologic WTA Tour players.
Wild-card alert
Venus Williams (45): Seven-time Grand Slam singles champion, including two at the US Open.
Clervie Ngounoue (19): Former world No. 1 junior returns for the first time since 2023, when she received a wild card after winning the singles title at the USTA Billie Jean King Girls’ 18s National Championship.
Caty McNally (23): Earned her way in by winning the US Open Wild Card Challenge.
Valerie Glozman (18): Got in with a victory in the women’s singles title at the inaugural American Collegiate Wild Card Playoffs in June.
Alyssa Ahn (18): Won the singles title at the USTA Billie Jean King Girls’ 18s National Championships.
Julieta Pareja (16): The American is the No. 1-ranked junior in the world.
Caroline Garcia (31): Playing in her final Grand Slam in the tournament at which she achieved her best Grand Slam singles result, a semifinal appearance in 2022.
Talia Gibson (21): Ranked a career-high No. 107 and winner of two professional titles earlier this year, Gibson received her wild card based on a reciprocal agreement between the USTA and Tennis Australia.
Who comes out of the pack?
The US Open has a way of producing arresting narratives.
Naomi Osaka was a 20-year-old No. 20 seed when she emerged here seven years ago. Bianca Andreescu and Emma Raducanu were still teenagers when they won in 2019 and 2021.
Three young players to watch:
- Victoria Mboko, the 18-year-old Canadian, who just won the title in Montreal.
- Filipina Alexandra Eala, 20, a semifinalist at the Miami Open.
- Lois Boisson, 22, from France, was a semifinalist at Roland Garros.
Numbers, crunched
Venus Williams (2000 and 2001) and Osaka (2018 and 2020) are the only two current women with multiple titles won at the US Open. And they’re both in the field.
Chris Evert and Serena Williams have won the most women’s US Open titles, six each — Evert won four straight from 1975-78.
Serena has played more matches here (123) and won more (108) than any woman in the Open Era.
Venus, meanwhile, has appeared in the most US Open draws (24), followed by Serena and Martina Navratilova (21).
The last woman to win the title without dropping a set was Raducanu; including qualifying, she was a remarkable 20-for-20.
Kim Clijsters (2009) is the only wild card in the Open Era to win the women’s title at a Grand Slam event.
Daria Kasatkina (98), Yulia Putintseva (97) and Jelena Ostapenko (95) are approaching the milestone of 100 major matches played.
